KAYA VC

KAYA VC
IndustryVenture capital
PredecessorEnern (venture capital activities)
Founded2021
Headquarters
Prague
,
Czech Republic
Area served
Central and Eastern Europe
Key peopleTomáš Obrtáč, Tomáš Pačinda, Martin Rajčan, Karel Zheng (general partners)
Websitewww.kaya.vc

KAYA VC is a Czech venture capital firm based in Prague. It invests mainly in early-stage technology companies in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), as well as in companies founded abroad by entrepreneurs from the region. The firm grew out of the investment group Enern, which began investing in technology companies in the early 2010s.

KAYA and its predecessor have backed companies such as the online grocer Rohlik, the healthcare booking platform DocPlanner and the appointment-booking company Booksy.

In 2025, it announced the first close of its fifth fund at €70 million.

History

Enern

Enern was founded in 2010 by Petr Šmída, Pavel Mucha, Radek Švec and Radovan Nesrsta. The group initially invested in renewable energy projects. Its first internet investment was the Czech daily-deals site Slevomat.

Enern went on to back several other companies co-founded by the entrepreneur Tomáš Čupr, including the food-delivery company DámeJídlo and the online grocer Rohlik.

DámeJídlo was acquired by the German company Delivery Hero in 2015.

Enern raised €50 million for its third technology fund in 2015 and opened an office in Berlin. Its investments at the time included Slevomat, Rohlik and Twisto. In 2016, it invested in DocPlanner, a Polish healthcare booking platform.

KAYA VC

In March 2021, Enern's venture capital business became an independent firm operating under the KAYA brand. The change coincided with the launch of a fourth venture fund, worth about €72 million. TechCrunch reported that the four venture funds had around €250 million in assets under management. Enern retained its other activities, including real estate and venture debt. Since then, KAYA has focused on early-stage companies, primarily in Czechia, Poland and Slovakia.

In June 2025, KAYA announced a first close of nearly €70 million for its fifth fund.

Investment strategy

KAYA focuses on pre-seed and seed investments. Initial investments from its fifth fund were between €1 million and €3 million.

Investments

Enern was an early investor in Rohlik, backing the company in 2014. In July 2021, Rohlik reached a valuation of €1 billion, becoming the first Czech startup to achieve unicorn status. KAYA later sold part of its Rohlik stake in secondary transactions.

The firm also invested in DocPlanner, which was reported to have reached a valuation of about $1 billion in September 2021.

KAYA later invested in the AI infrastructure startup E2B, the observability platform Better Stack and the mRNA biotech Sensible Biotechnologies.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Butcher, Mike (31 March 2021). "Kaya VC launches its new $80M fund, focusing on Prague, Warsaw and the CEE region". TechCrunch. Retrieved 1 October 2026.
  2. 1 2 Brejčák, Peter (18 June 2024). "Stáli u zrodu startupového Česka. Kaya spravuje miliardy, má dva jednorožce a otevírá pátý fond". CzechCrunch (in Czech). Retrieved 1 October 2026.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Enern plánuje investovat 1,4 miliardy do internetových firem. Novým partnerem skupiny je Tomáš Čupr". Hospodářské noviny (in Czech). Economia. Czech News Agency. 17 August 2015. Retrieved 1 October 2026.
  4. 1 2 "Nové jméno i strategie. Enern vyděluje agendu rozvojových investic". Forbes Česko (in Czech). MediaRey, SE. 31 March 2021. Retrieved 1 October 2026.
  5. 1 2 "KAYA secures €70M first close for its fifth fund". Vestbee. 25 June 2025. Retrieved 1 October 2026.
  6. 1 2 Kopřiva, Michal; Černý, Aleš (8 January 2015). "DámeJídlo a JídloTeď mění majitele. Kupuje je německá firma Delivery Hero". Hospodářské noviny (in Czech). Economia. Retrieved 1 October 2026.
  7. ↑ "Český Enern investuje 150 milionů korun do Docplanneru, provozovatele portálu ZnámýLékař.cz". Hospodářské noviny (in Czech). Economia. Czech News Agency. 7 June 2016. Retrieved 1 October 2026.
  8. 1 2 Lawrence, Cate (25 June 2025). "KAYA raises €70M to support CEE region startups". Tech.eu. Retrieved 1 October 2026.
  9. 1 2 Brejlová, Iva (20 July 2026). "Tomáš Pačinda (Kaya VC): Firmy se potřebují smrsknout a okleštit od lidí, kteří nemají správné AI nastavení". Lupa.cz (in Czech). Internet Info. Retrieved 1 October 2026.
  10. ↑ Holzman, Ondřej (1 July 2021). "Tomáš Čupr to dokázal. Rohlik překročil hodnotu miliardy dolarů a je prvním českým startupovým jednorožcem". CzechCrunch (in Czech). Retrieved 1 October 2026.
  11. ↑ Bełcik, Anna (16 September 2021). "Jest pierwszy polski jednorożec". Puls Biznesu (in Polish). Bonnier Business. Retrieved 1 October 2026.
  12. ↑ Nuñez, Michael (2025). "How E2B became essential to 88% of Fortune 100 companies and raised $21 million". VentureBeat. Retrieved 1 October 2026.
  13. ↑ Wiggers, Kyle (25 January 2024). "Observability platform Better Stack secures $10M cash infusion". TechCrunch. Retrieved 1 October 2026.
  14. ↑ Czech & Slovak Private Equity and Venture Capital Report 2023 (PDF) (Report). Czech Private Equity and Venture Capital Association and Slovak Venture Capital and Private Equity Association. 2023. Retrieved 1 October 2026.