Bridge
to scale

Backing early-stage startup founders to unlock international traction, capital, and scale across global markets.

Apply

before 19 November 2025

Your Shortcut to Global Scale

15 startups

12 weeks

No equity taken

Mentorship from top global
and CEE VCs

Bootcamp & Demo Day
in Warsaw

WHAT YOU GET:

Hybrid acceleration

up to 3 hours per week for online sessions, work with a dedicated mentor, with 3 days of offline events in Warsaw.

Build-up to Investment readiness

deck, data room, and investor targeting.

СEE & EU expansion support

regulatory, market entry, and fundraising guidance.

Direct investor access

curated introductions, 1-on-1s, Bootcamp and Demo Day in Warsaw.

Additional funding

opportunities from EBRD up to €120k for consultants hire and investments from 1991 Ventures.

Special track from IT Arena

the biggest tech conference in CEE: teams can receive a secured spot at the semifinals of the Startup Competition 2026.

Timeline

Oct 20 – Nov 19, 2025

Submit your startup

Dec 1, 2025

15 selected startups announced

Dec 2025 – Mar 2026

Acceleration Program

Jan 25-31, 2026

Bootcamp in Warsaw

Mar 11-12, 2026

Demo Day in Warsaw

Our Perfect Startup Fit

Legal & Operational

01

At least one founder has a documented legal status in an EU Member State (received after 24.02.2022), such as temporary protection, refugee status, residence permit, or another valid form of stay in line with national law.

Ownership Structure

02

At Ukrainian founders collectively own at least 51% of company shares at the time of application.

Geographic Scope

03

The startup is registered in or has significant presence within Poland, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, the Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Estonia, Latvia, or Lithuania.

Stage & Readiness

04

The startup is at a pre-seed or seed stage, ready to complete acceleration program.

Commitment & Compliance

05

The team commits to participate fully in all program activities (mentorship, workshops, and in-person events in Warsaw).

The application is complete and complies with standards of EBRD and 1991 Accelerator.

Founders from the 1991 community say

“Investment Accelerator delivered by the 1991 team played an important role in our journey — its advice and network supported Deus Robotics in entering the UK market and building strong international connections.”

Antonina Iermeichuk
Co-founder & COO, Deus Robotics

“1991 has an amazing team that brings together a strong and supportive community of founders and investors. Being part of this network opens up a lot of opportunities and helps you grow faster — both as an entrepreneur and as a person.”

Oleksandr Solovei
Co-founder, Finmap

“What truly stands out to us about 1991 is how founder-centric they are. Instead of burying us under hundreds of documents, they focus on what really matters, what we’re building, how we’re going to succeed, and the qualities of the founders and the team behind it. Every VC says they’re founder-centric; 1991 actually acts like it.”

Ksenia Iliuk
Co-founders, LetsData

The Ones Who Help You Get There

VC funds from CEE, Europe and UK

Blue Lake VC

We find and back extraordinary immigrant founders in the UK who are building in the B2B software space. Being immigrants ourselves, we speak your language — our mission is to help you achieve your full potential in the UK and globally. We support UK-based or UK-focused founders with SEIS/EIS funding at the Pre-Seed and Seed stages. Our focus is on B2B software, but we are sector agnostic and open to international founders. We believe in the power of immigrant founders — a self-selecting group that achieves outsized success yet is often overlooked by investors at early stages. It’s time for that to change.

1991 Ventures

1991 Ventures is a London-based £15M Venture Capital Fund that invests in mission-driven founders from CEE and Ukraine, providing pre-seed and seed funding of up to $500,000.

Blackwatch VC

Blackwatch Ventures is a venture capital firm headquartered in London and Valletta, focused on early-stage (Seed and Series A) investments in technology companies operating across public safety, homeland security, intelligence, defence, and cyber security.

Linkedin

SMOK Ventures

Bridging Silicon Valley to CEE.

We are a US venture capital fund investing 100k–1M USD in early stage startups in Central & Eastern Europe and diaspora. We invest in software startups with the primary focus on software development tools, gamedev and AI. We love to work with serial entrepreneurs with a global vision who aim to build leaders in their industries.

Neulogy Ventures

Neulogy Ventures is a Bratislava-based venture capital firm focused on early-stage technology startups in Central and Eastern Europe. The fund supports innovative founders building globally scalable products, with a strong emphasis on software, deep tech, and life sciences. Beyond capital, Neulogy Ventures provides hands-on support in strategy, fundraising, and international expansion to help startups reach their full potential.

Website

Tilia Impact Ventures

At Tilia Impact Ventures, we support visionary founders tackling the world’s most pressing social and environmental challenges.

Our €30M seed-stage impact VC fund empowers bold entrepreneurs across Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). But we’re more than investors—we’re long-term partners, providing hands-on support at every stage. With half of our fund reserved for follow-on investments, we’re in it for the journey.

Website

Tenity

Tenity is a global early-stage venture fund investing in high-potential fintech, insurtech, and Web3 startups shaping the future of finance. Tenity provides capital, strategic connections, and hands-on support to help founders scale internationally. With offices in Zurich, London, Singapore, Madrid, Tallinn, and Istanbul, Tenity bridges global innovation hubs to accelerate the next generation of financial technology leaders.

Website

Big Pi Ventures

At Big Pi we bring a well-rounded perspective to tech investing - having experienced the journey from every angle. Big Pi team members have helped build tech companies from zero to global; developed groundbreaking technology with unique IP and global impact; invested across diverse industries & tech subsectors, sizes and stages; advised businesses & shareholders, from securing early and growth stage fundraising across the capital structure to executing rollup strategies, large scale M&A and multi-billion-dollar IPOs.

Our team has worked through booms and crises, with small and large enterprises across the globe. We have also demonstrated  time and again that Greece and the Southeast European region (including their diaspora) can provide fertile terrain for technology companies serving international markets, thanks primarily to exceptional talent and cost-effective operating hubs - themes that we are systematically further building on. We invest out of our two funds (early stage and growth) both our capital and expertise, helping entrepreneurs & businesses navigate their paths to success.

Website

J&T Ventures

J&T Ventures is a venture capital firm managing over €90 million across three funds, with its third fund launched in December 2024. The firm invests up to €3 million in early and growth-stage technology companies across Central and Southeastern Europe and the Baltics, with a focus on innovative sectors. With more than 30 investments across seven countries and five successful exits, J&T Ventures continues to support high-potential startups on their growth journey.

Website

Team mentors

Efi Ben Artzy

Tar Heel Capital Pathfinder

I am a highly accomplished strategy, growth, and innovation leader with extensive experience in business transformation, consulting, venture building, and sales. My expertise spans multiple industries, with a proven track record of expanding businesses into new markets and building high-performing teams. I have held key leadership roles in several companies, consistently exceeding expectations and achieving significant growth. my skills encompass business development, digital products creation, sales process optimization, operational excellence implementation, and fundraising. I am also active in the startup ecosystem, serving on various boards, mentoring entrepreneurs and supporting VCs in their scouting and investment process.

As an entrepreneur, I also established few companies, both of his own and as a venture builder. My educational background includes an MA in Modern Middle Eastern Studies, Political science and multiple professional certifications in areas such as Lean Six Sigma, strategic management of innovation, venture capital and leadership.

Tar Heel Capital Pathfinder

Efi Ben Artzy

Niklāvs Macko

Founder, CEO at SIA Alisona

An experienced leader who has built and scaled numerous startups. My strong suits are business strategy, finance, go-to-market strategy, data driven decision making. I have served a CFO and COO role in multiple startups, and currently I am offering strategic consulting to startups and scaleups, as well as building my own startup in the marketplace space.

Founder, CEO at SIA Alisona

Niklāvs Macko

Mikk Orglaan

Founding Partner, Fstage.vc

30y in IT business, serial entrepreneur. Done angel investing, moved to angel syndicate VC, business advisor for private clients, mentor in dozen of European startup accelerators. Last venture is addressing global pain in regards of finding and keeping right people to grow startups/organisations faster.

Founding Partner, Fstage.vc

Mikk Orglaan

Carlos Lesmora

Closter/Carbuddy - CEO/Founder

Professional and serial entrepreneur with over a decade of international experience in technology, marketplaces, and business development. He led global initiatives at Amazon, including launching and scaling the Service Provider Network in Mexico and Europe, and founded one of Latin America’s first circular-economy startups. With a background in finance and economics, and having studied and worked across Mexico, the US, UK, and Poland, he brings a strong analytical foundation and deep strengths in product strategy and innovation. He is currently focused on building in the AI space.

Closter/Carbuddy - CEO/Founder

Carlos Lesmora

Tudor Andrei Stanciu

Co-founder, Technology Lawyer, Ventures'n'Law

Lawyer focused on tech deals and commercial contractsRunning Ventures'n'Law, the oldest continually active law firm brand dedicated exclusively to tech companies in Romania and a future venture studio focused on compliance tools for SMEsFormer community manager in the space of fintech and legaltech.

Co-founder, Technology Lawyer, Ventures'n'Law

Tudor Andrei Stanciu

Ahmad Piraiee

Director, Startup Grind Warsaw

Ahmad Piraiee is a venture builder and startup advisor with over 20 years of experience in innovation, acceleration, and market entry across Europe. As CMO at freshmango, he supports early-stage startups and corporate partners through tailored growth programs, community-led events, and investment readiness. Ahmad is also the Director of Startup Grind Warsaw and curator of Techstars Startup Digest, playing a key role in shaping the Polish startup ecosystem. His approach blends strategic clarity with hands-on execution, helping founders turn bold ideas into sustainable ventures.

Director, Startup Grind Warsaw

Ahmad Piraiee

Matthew Scheepers

Get Prept / Founding Partner

Matthew Scheepers is a behavioural scientist and founder of Get Prept. His work draws on psychology, neuroscience, and related fields to understand how people communicate and make decisions under pressure. He previously worked with Fortune 500 companies on strategy, change initiatives, and negotiations, and now helps early-stage founders prepare for high-stakes fundraising.

Get Prept / Founding Partner

Matthew Scheepers

Delia Necula

Mentor, Investor, Professor

Delia Necula is an experienced mentor for early-stage founders, with involvement in programs like InnovX and Founder Institute. Combining corporate leadership and entrepreneurial expertise, she helps startups refine their business models, design growth strategies, and become investor-ready.

Mentor, Investor, Professor

Delia Necula

Piotr Boulange

Founder, MESGA.eu

🇪🇺 #EU Startups Scout, Mentor, Investor. 🚀 Specializes in the CEE founder mindset, founder-investor alignment. ex-WeWork Labs Manager, ex-Bolt. 🎓 My PhD and articles explore coworking spaces, corporate accelerators, and the evolution of startup ecosystems in Europe. Sociologist with Executive MBA.

Founder, MESGA.eu

Piotr Boulange

Savina Doshi

Growth at Nyalt, Associate at Mountside Ventures

A former VC turned operator, Savina now leads growth at a manufacturing scale-up, drawing on her experience investing in and supporting startups across all stages, where she honed her expertise in portfolio strategy and financial modelling. Having co-founded a drone tech spinout, she brings a deep understanding of the founder journey and remains committed to mentoring entrepreneurs on scaling their ventures.

Growth at Nyalt, Associate at Mountside Ventures

Savina Doshi

Gunce Onur

Startup Wise Guys / General Partner

Gunce Onur is General Partner at Startup Wise Guys - the leading early-stage VC fund in Eastern Europe with more than 450 portfolio companies. Between 2016-2018, Gunce Onur worked for Keiretsu Forum Angel Investor Network and helped 12 startups to raise more than 3 million dollar angel investment in total. Between 2018-2019 managed a portfolio of 60 startups in StartersHub Early Stage VC Fund. Since 2019, Gunce Onur has been part of the Startup Wise Guys Investment team and since 2021 invested in 155 startups as GP. Before her career in the startup ecosystem, she worked for an R&D department in a bank that is part of UniCredit. She has a degree in Chemical Engineering and Computational Science and successfully finished the VC Unlocked invite-only VC training program run by 500 Global and Stanford University.

Gunce Onur is running masterclass and VC Academy programs to support entrepreneurs and investor candidates, also advising new VC funds in emerging markets.

Startup Wise Guys / General Partner

Gunce Onur

Akhil Menon

Founder, notnull ventures

Akhil Menon is the founder of notNULL, working with top incubators and accelerators backed by major investment banks. He is a 3x founder with 1x exit and has raised several million in venture funding. Akhil has guided founders in investment readiness, fundraising, and market expansion, running masterclasses and bootcamps to help startups scale. He has also worked with leading venture builders including Nesta’s Mission Studio, Antler, and Entrepreneur First. With experience on both sides of the table, he brings a unique perspective on building strong, lasting founder–investor relationships.

Founder, notnull ventures

Akhil Menon

FAQ

Who can apply?

Ukrainian founders collectively own at least 51% of company shares at the time of application. At least one founder has a documented legal status in an EU Member State, such as temporary protection, refugee status, residence permit, or another valid form of stay in line with national law.

How can I apply?

Applications are submitted online via the official programme page. The link is available on the _________ website and partner channels.

Which countries are eligible?

The startup is registered in or has a significant presence within Poland, Romania, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, or Estonia.

When should the company have been registered?

After February 24, 2022.

Can I apply if I don’t have a registered company yet?

Your startup should already be operating in one of the eligible countries.Bridge to Scale is designed for early-stage founders who are already building and ready to grow.

Do all founders of the startup need to be Ukrainian?

Not necessarily. However, at least 51% of the company's ownership must be held by Ukrainian founders.

What happens after my startup is selected?

Selected startups will:

  • Receive an official confirmation email from the 1991 Team;
  • Be sent a draft Acceleration Agreement for review;
  • Be asked to confirm in writing whether they agree to participate;
  • Once confirmed, they will sign the Acceleration Agreement before the start of the programme.

This agreement outlines the rights, responsibilities, and conditions of participation in the Bridge to Scale. It ensures transparency and mutual understanding between the organisers and participants.

What language is the programme in?

All workshops, mentoring sessions, and activities are held in English, with Ukrainian language support available when needed.

Is the programme online or offline?

Hybrid. The acceleration runs online from early December 2025, followed by an offline Bootcamp in early February and a Demo Day in mid-March 2026 in Warsaw. Attendance at both offline events is mandatory.

Where is the Bootcamp and Demo Day held?

Warsaw, Poland.

Do I need to pay to join?

Bridge to Scale is an equity-free programme.

Is funding or investment guaranteed?

Direct investment is not guaranteed, but startups will receive hands-on preparation for fundraising and exposure to active investors.

How are mentors assigned?

Each startup is matched with a mentor based on its sector, stage, and specific needs. Mentorship is continuous throughout the programme.

What happens after the programme?

You’ll join the 1991 Community and gain lasting access to a network of top mentors, investors, partner perks, and public visibility to support your next milestone. 1991 Ventures, may consider follow-on investment opportunities and continued advisory for selected startups.

Organizers

The EBRD works across three continents to support the transition to successful market economies. Their focus is on delivering prosperity by enabling a well-run and sustainable private sector.
1991 is a venture fund and an accelerator that supports early-stage startup founders from Eastern Europe and Ukraine. 1991 Accelerator has over 100 active alumni startups that have collectively raised over $46M, while 1991 Ventures makes pre-seed and seed investments of up to $500,000.

1991 track record

300+
startups supported through 1991 Accelerator since 2016
$45,8M+
raised by our alumni
7
startups in 1991 Ventures investments portfolio
$10M
allocated to 98 startups as fund operator of Google for Startups Ukraine Support Fund