New fund to capitalise on US partnerships, Cyprus startup momentum

Business accelerator Kinisis Ventures on Monday announced the launch of Kinisis Venture Fund II (KVF II), a new investment fund under the KV Kinisis Ventures Fund in Cyprus.

According to an official announcement, the new fund seeks to build on the success of its first fund and recent US partnerships.

In addition, the move seeks to capitalise on promising developments in the Cypriot startup ecosystem.

“When we launched KVF I, the first CySEC-registered VC fund focusing on Cypriot startups, our expectation was that more institutional and private investors would begin adding capital to the ecosystem,” said Andreas Panayi, Partner at Kinisis Ventures.

Panayi went on to highlight the recent launch of the Cyprus Equity Fund, the relaunch of the Cyprus Business Angel Network (CyBAN), and increasing local participation from Cyprus-based family offices such as Exerte Partners.

These developments, according to Panayi, are “the progress we hoped for and our cue to launch the next stage in our KVF strategy”.

“As we are gradually moving out of the investment stage and ramping up the value creation phase of KVF I, we are increasingly leveraging our US resources and focusing on the US market,” he explained.

“Now, with KVF II, we are expanding our activity further around US-based investors, co-investments and strategic deal-flow review and consideration,” Panayi added.

With KVF II, Kinisis Ventures will continue its mission to identify and nurture startups that can disrupt sectors, create significant market shifts, and achieve exits in the US market.

Reflecting on the performance of KVF I, Chris Droussiotis, another partner at Kinisis Ventures, said, “The launch of KVF II is a natural evolution”.

“We are doubling down on our commitment to helping startups achieve US growth and eventual exits by providing capital, experience and cross-disciplinary support,” he added.

Droussiotis also pointed to Threedium, one of KVF I’s early investments, as a prime example of this strategy in action.

“In less than three years, Threedium has experienced remarkable growth, expanding from Cyprus into Europe and now generating the majority of its revenues from the US market,” he said.

“Their revenue has surged more than 300 per cent compared to last year, with approximately 60 per cent of their total revenue now coming from the US,” he added.

According to the announcement, KVF II will not only focus on identifying new startups but will also closely monitor and invest in the more mature portfolio companies from KVF I as they raise growth capital.

This approach will allow the fund to build on existing success stories while sourcing new opportunities both from Cyprus and the US.

Commenting on the firm’s approach, Kinisis Ventures partner Yiannos Georgiades said “our experienced multi-disciplinary team and strong access to US co-investor networks offer a unique value proposition to our portfolio companies”.

“We provide them with the resources and support needed for their growth,” Georgiades added.

KVF II will continue to target early-stage startups, particularly in sectors where the investment team can offer significant strategic insight.

However, a key evolution with this new fund is its broadened scope. KVF II will now actively source deals from both the US and Cyprus.

“Strategically blending teams, ideas, and expertise has always been central to the KVF investment philosophy,” said KVF portfolio manager Carolos Georgallis.

“By integrating new experiences, different thinking, and expertise from both the US and Europe into the same portfolio, we expect to accelerate value creation across the board,” Georgallis concluded.