BSV Ventures Closes €15M Fund, backed by NATO Innovation Fund and ILTE
BSV Ventures, a leading early Pre-Seed and Seed stage investor specialising in DeepTech, life sciences, and dual-use technologies, has successfully closed a €15 Million Fund. This final closing marks the inclusion of strategic Limited Partners (LPs) such as the NATO Innovation Fund (NIF), Lithuania’s ILTE fund under the Accelerator 2 programme, and private investors from across Europe.
With offices in Lithuania, Estonia and Finland, BSV Ventures is addressing critical gaps in both funding and specialised support that early-stage DeepTech ventures often face. Their focus is on enabling early-stage innovators from the Baltics and EU to build and internationally scale their businesses leveraging breakthrough technologies.
Since the fund’s initial close, BSV Ventures has already backed over 30 projects across the Baltics, Finland, and even as far as France - focused on its mission to empower founders working on critical, strategic scientific and technological domains from mechatronics and biotech, to functional genomics, future of computing, space technologies, AI, and beyond.
“Over the past two years, we’ve scouted and supported founders contributing to the next wave of global innovation — ranging from hydrogen and hardware, to AI-driven medical devices and resilient connectivity solutions that enable comms even in the most challenging environments,” said Andrius Milinavičius, Managing Partner at BSV Ventures. “We are honoured to welcome NIF to our LP community. It was evident from our very first meeting during the NATO Summit in Vilnius in 2023 that our missions align perfectly. We take NIF’s trust as recognition of our thesis that European, and specifically Baltic, Nordic, and CEE DeepTech has massive potential.”
The Baltic Edge: Breakthrough Innovation In Focus
The Baltics’ unique geopolitical position and high standard of education creates a unique innovation environment that has already led to significant impact across European and global markets. The region’s scientific talent and engineering culture make it a natural incubator for technologies that address critical societal challenges from sustainability to security.
“Baltic founders innovate with urgency driven by high-stakes realities. The Baltics, Nordics, and CEE regions combine world-class academic talent with mission-driven entrepreneurial energy. Look at Ukraine - the pace of innovation on the front lines is faster and more focused than anywhere else in Europe, because they understand that technological edge is a matter of survival,” said Erik Bhullar, General Partner at BSV Ventures. “DeepTech requires a different mindset - it’s a proving ground, not a playground. The innovators shaping our future need capital partners who understand the unique challenges in their journey ahead. It takes a greater level of competence and foresight the earlier stage you dare to venture - because selection and effective support both are crucial. We’re glad to be working with some of this region’s few co-investors who understand this, and happy to see more funds developing such capabilities.”
Strategic Backing: Partnering with the NATO Innovation Fund and ILTE
The NATO Innovation Fund’s role as an LP underscores the strategic importance of the region and its technologies.
“We’re excited to support the growing ecosystem of DeepTech innovators in the Baltics,” said Chris O’Connor, Partner, NATO Innovation Fund. “The region is of great strategic importance to the security and resilience of the Alliance. Our investment in BSV Ventures reflects confidence in their strong leadership, complementary expertise, and proven commitment to transforming the Baltics into a global hub for DeepTech and dual-use innovation - essential for advancing European sovereignty. We look forward to seeing how this critical capital will boost emerging technologies from Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia and beyond.”
“It is so important to have collaboration in our ecosystem between innovators, geopolitical actors, and the capital community, in order to create a positive, long-lasting impact,” said Sandra Golbreich, General Partner at BSV Ventures. “To maintain the security of our region and grow economically, we need investors with competencies to understand both the technologies and industry dynamics to produce these economic and impact outcomes. With NIF’s support, we are better positioned to advance technologies that not only have global innovation potential, but also build socio-economic resilience and strengthen the innovation capability across the wider Eastern Flank.”
“We are proud to be backing BSV Ventures, whose expertise in navigating the complexities of early-stage technologies is one of the best in the region,” said Dainius Vilčinskas, CEO of ILTE - a Lithuanian National Promotional Bank and anchor LP in BSV. “This partnership stems from ILTE’s commitment to backing initiatives that advance impactful, forward-looking technologies and talent. The BSV team's thoughtful and focused approach to fostering innovation resonates strongly with our mission to strengthen Lithuania’s position as a world-class innovation hub.”
Funds in the region have also supported the move by NIF, with Viktorija Trimbel, the Managing Director at sovereign VC fund Coinvest Capital, adding that “This first investment by NIF in the borderline Baltic-Nordic region through the fund-of-funds contribution to BSV ventures is an important signal and a truly valuable catalyst for further innovations in the dual-use ecosystem that bolsters our defence and security. We are witnessing a historic change in the European VC landscape, happening at an accelerating speed to support the dual-use and even MilTech ecosystem with increasing volumes of committed capital and sufficient dry powder. Proud to be co-investing with such partners, based on shared values and unwavering dedication to go the extra mile in supporting and enabling DeepTech founders in the region”.
The How: Turning Science Into Solutions
BSV Ventures invests in startups at the “Beyond Scientific Validation” stage, where advanced research transitions into solutions on the path to becoming commercially available at scale. By bridging academia, industry, investors, and the public sector, the team at BSV has been working hands-on in fostering a local DeepTech ecosystem at the earliest stages.
The fund has been investing actively since summer 2023, identifying and supporting visionary founders. Innovators seeking capital do not need any special referral to be considered, and can reach out directly via the form on the BSV Ventures website at: https://www.bsv.ventures/