In 2025, we at @smokvc made a clear decision: 👉 double down on the CEE diaspora and become the go-to early-stage fund for founders with CEE roots building anywhere in the world. Some highlights from the year: - 12 new investments, one per month - 60% of SMOK II deployed across 33 companies - Strong follow-on rounds (incl. €12m and $3m rounds) - 40% of the portfolio now CEE diaspora founders - 200 angels joined @smok_angels in its first 6 months Clear proof that CEE founders building in SF, London or NYC — while keeping teams in Warsaw, Kraków, Kyiv or Bucharest — have a structural edge If you’re a CEE founder building something ambitious — or you know one I should meet — this is exactly what we’re looking for and why. 📖 SMOK Ventures in 2025: Doubling Down on the CEE Diaspora: michuk.medium.com/smok-ventu… Let’s keep building this ecosystem — globally. #ceevalley

This is dangerous for Europe. We should act super fast & together. Our best chance is all hands on board to accelerate @MistralAI, the only European company that has models on nearly the same level than the US and Chinese leaders. All European national sovereign funds should immediately put 1B EUR each into Mistral and make sure the company always stays European (not just French). And as soon as reasonably possible, we should start using those models day to day for work, first in governments and state companies, then elsewhere. The only way to win is to stay independent and own the tech ourselves.

"founders don't realize that their main job is increasing the valuation of their companies" @SadMCK

Everyone in European tech got excited about @euinc_petition. Where is it now? Unfortunately the project turned out to be too revolutionary to the EU bureaucrats. The community version got stripped of basically all the stuff that made it interesting for startups like: - one court for all EU Inc companies - one standardized set of investment documents - no differences in how EU Inc companies are treated in all the EU member states. Instead, we got a monstrous bill proposal that doesn't solve any real startup or VC needs in Europe. That's why we can't have nice things :( The picture is from the @infosharepl panel "From Delaware to EU Inc - A scalable or fragmented road." with @mkurleto, @petkofler and Maria Goikoetxea Gomez de Segura that turned out to be unexpectedly sad: both concerning the panelists' moods regarding the initiative and in that almost nobody showed up in the audience :) Meanwhile, I made 3 more investments in Delaware C-Corps. Mr Trump is happier than ever! #euinc #delaware #ccorp #eu

As an Eastern European founder I gotta admit it's always been super hard making in the Valley. Getting feedback, investor intros and generally any help without the network built was a challenge in 2011 when I first started as a founder as well as in 2021 when my first portfolio companies tried the same path. But it has gotten WAY easier in 2026. We now have at least four initiatives aimed specifically at helping Eastern European founders make it in the San Francisco Bay Area: Teleport SF by @agata_mrocz SF Startup Labs by @AgataKrajewska2 @Reaktor_X by @Stirbat_Luca European Startup Embassy by @VCincurova7829 If you're a CEE founder moving to SF, check them all out. Those are the people genuinely willing to help you make it in California as a startup founder & builder! Are there any other initiatives that I have missed?