We are proud and happy to share that only a few months after our soft launch, Orgnostic team raised $900k in a pre-seed investment round. The round is led by 122 West Ventures (San Francisco), including South Central Ventures (Belgrade, Zagreb, Skopje), and a group of high-profile angel investors gathered around LTSE Software CEO and founder of Serbian Entrepreneurs network, Tihomir Bajic.
This is a significant milestone for our company. Here’s why.
First, it will allow us to expand our team and deliver on our product roadmap more efficiently. That being said, the funding gives us an opportunity to make it easier for scaleups to embark on their people analytics journey. We want as many companies as possible to make data-driven people decisions seamlessly. We will do that by significantly lowering the field’s high barrier to entry.
Second, this fundraising round is not just about the money. Coming from a professional background in people ops, to me, it felt like a recruitment gig. Igor and I wanted to partner with VCs and angels who are hands-on and operationally involved with startups. We attempted to gather a band to bolster our product and business development efforts in our target market. We were looking for people to fill our competency gaps.
By partnering with AJ and Evan from 122 West, who backed and advised unicorn companies and hot startups including Patreon and Transcend in their early stages, we managed to get exactly that. Our new team’s product and business development skills complement ours, while bringing an awesome network in our target market.
We are also thrilled to have Tiho Bajic, CEO of LTSE Software, lead the angel syndicate that includes such names as Eric Ries. This list also includes notable entrepreneurs of Serbian descent gathered around the Serbian Entrepreneurs network, who’ve made global impact with their companies.
Lastly, SCV joining our band is invaluable; they have unparalleled knowledge and connections in the South East Europe startup community and vast collective experience and networks in HR consultancy and Private Equity space — areas needed to complete our ecosystem of influence.
We must emphasize the obvious: we raised our pre-seed amid the global pandemic. What might not be obvious is that we have never personally met our lead investors.
I can’t escape the feeling that we might be testifying a shift in the way capital moves around the globe. Only a year ago, it was virtually impossible for an entire team based in Belgrade, Serbia, to fundraise a significant early-stage investment from lead investors in the Bay Area, while never meeting in person. I hope this is a signal of a more substantial change in the way global startup ecosystems are empowered. Time will tell if we are one of the pioneers in this transformation process, not black swans.