StartupsNov 5, 2026, 4:35 PM UTC·2 min read

Erste, Pekao and PKO BP Add PLN 500m to Innovate Poland Program

Erste Group, Bank Pekao and PKO BP are joining PFR Ventures' Innovate Poland, lifting the fund of funds to about PLN 3bn and the program to PLN 4.5bn.

Warsaw skyline with financial district office towers symbolising Polish banks investing in innovation funds. — Image: MamStartup

Three financial institutions (Erste Group, Bank Pekao and PKO BP) have become new investors in Innovate Poland, the program run by PFR Ventures, part of the Polish Development Fund (PFR) group. Together they are contributing more than PLN 500m, which raises the Innovate PL FoF fund to about PLN 3bn and the whole program to roughly PLN 4.5bn.

Until now the investors were PFR itself, insurer PZU and state-owned Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego. Mikołaj Raczyński of PFR Ventures called the banks' entry a breakthrough and proof that the largest financial institutions are ready to play a key role in equity financing for Polish companies. The program operates under the patronage of the Minister of Finance and Economy, Andrzej Domański, who stressed that it combines public and private capital to create new sources of funding for growth.

First six funds receive PLN 500m

Innovate PL FoF is a fund of funds, so it does not invest in companies directly. Money flows to other managers. PFR Ventures has announced the first six, which have been allocated PLN 500m in total. Some 60% goes to private equity funds, and 20% each to private debt and venture capital funds, so support should reach companies at different stages of development.

The accredited managers are AMC, Avallon, Cogito Capital Partners, Innova, Inovo.vc and MidEuropa. Through them, financing, in the form of equity or debt, is expected to reach companies such as Oshee, Inglot, Smyk and Nomagic, which builds intelligent robotic systems for logistics and e-commerce.

Multiplying capital, more investors expected

Funds working with the program must raise money from other, private investors. According to PFR Ventures, each zloty from the program mobilises three more zlotys of private capital. On that basis the PLN 4.5bn budget should translate into well over a dozen billion zlotys invested in Polish businesses.

The six funds were chosen from several dozen applications. PFR Ventures is now reviewing another 40 bids and talking to new institutions interested in joining. Rozalia Urbanek of PFR Ventures said further investors could appear next year, including foreign entities from outside the financial sector.

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Tags:innovate polandpfr venturespko bpbank pekaoerste groupventure capital