Day One Capital launches as Hungary's "first institutional business angel fund"

Day One Capital has launched what it claims to be the first institutional angel fund in Hungary.

The new fund aims to tackle an oh-so-familiar problem faced by much of Europe: the lack of “seed money and management mentoring for innovative early-stage tech startups”, says Day One Capital investment manager Aurel Pasztor. The fund hopes to raise €2-4m and is targeting companies in the IT, telecommunications, energy, biotech and finance sectors with investments between €200-400k.

Its founders include two former top executives at Hungary’s leading telecoms group, Magyar Telekom. The former chairman-CEO Elek Straub and György Simó who is credited with setting up the leading Hungarian news portal Origo. But perhaps more interesting is Csaba Kakosy who was the country’s economy and transport minister in late 2007 and early 2008, while Molnar is an investment director at Hungarian venture capital fund PortfoLion, owned by banking group OTP.

As for Day One Capital’s pitch, along with seed capital and “management know-how” it claims to offer a regional business network to “the best local and regional tech entrepreneurs.”