This was 2025 for Soulmates Ventures

Five new startups in our portfolio. Two follow-on investments. New cohort with €50M fund. Article 9 SFDR alignment and SICAV fund structure. Expanding our accelerator activities. Award nominations – and there’s more. Here’s our 2025 in review.

Startups & Acceleration

In 2025, we announced a cohort with a €50M fund and five new companies joined our portfolio: Lendorse, Better Medicine, Rightcharge, Fluosphera – and a fifth investment to be disclosed shortly –, totalling 22 startups in our portfolio.  

Moreover, we also closed two follow-on investments in Signapse and Youni.

Behind the scenes, we reviewed around 2 400 startup pitches, with several progressing through our investment process and the majority not meeting our rigorous criteria. “We are honoured to be seen as a strong lead investor partner, having led all 5 investments we made last year,” comments Hynek Sochor, our Founder. “One final 2025 investment remains to be announced.”

Highlights from our portfolio:

eAgronom has become one of Europe’s first regenerative agriculture carbon credit providers to secure certification under Verra’s VM0042 methodology for agricultural land management – a globally recognised and rigorous standard for certifying carbon offsets.

We led Rightcharge’s €1.8M seed round to boost their European expansion, while they achieved more than 20× growth in ARR during 2025.

Better Medicine secured EU MDR IIa CE certification for its BMVision Kidney platform, becoming the world’s first AI-based kidney cancer detection tool.

Signapse has laid the groundwork for U.S. expansion by developing American Sign Language (ASL) alongside their established British Sign Language (BSL) technology.

Acceleration

Our acceleration programme opens doors and networks our founders couldn’t access alone; a critical advantage in the European market – and beyond. We’re actively growing and strengthening this network, from industry partners to political contacts. In 2025, this translated into hands-on support for our portfolio companies, ranging from brand development and performance marketing to strategic guidance, product development, financial management, fundraising, and business development. 

A significant milestone in 2025 was the launch of a dedicated acceleration programme in Toronto together with the Toronto Business Development Centre – our new committed partner in North America –, with eight companies from our portfolio joining this first cohort. “Our Toronto programme isn’t just a one-time market access – it’s a direct pathway to the Canadian and U.S. markets as well as growth opportunities across North America,“ emphasises Arjun Sirohi, our Growth and Acceleration Director.

In parallel, we have helped our startups enter high‑potential South Asian markets, with a particular focus on India, alongside strategic expansion into the Middle East – enabling them to customise their go‑to‑market and scale internationally.

Sustainability & Governance

In 2025, we chose to align our €50M fund with the Article 9 classification under the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) – the highest standard for sustainable financial products. “We’ve set ourselves a clear goal. If we are saying we invest in sustainability innovations, we need to be able to prove that. Therefore, going towards Article 9 was never really a discussion for us, but rather an automatic target, focusing on deeper risk mitigation and ROI,” explains Tomáš Kabeláč, the Innovation & Sustainability Manager.

Governance

Finally, a fundamental milestone was transforming our structure into a SICAV (Variable Capital Investment Company) under Czech investment fund legislation. This transition brings Soulmates Ventures under the regulatory supervision of the Czech National Bank, aligning us with European standards through AIFMD compliance (2011/61/EU).

In the words of Jan Čapek, the Governance Director: “Transition to a SICAV isn’t just a legal milestone; it’s a renewed pledge to our partners by aligning with the highest European regulatory standards.“

Community

In 2025, we strengthened our cooperation with diverse strategic partners – including the ISFC think-tank and Applifting – and invested significant time into engaging with our ecosystem, reinforcing our presence as partners at six major conferences, including TNW Conference, Web Summit, and EU-Startups Summit. As a founding partner of CzechSIF, we have been engaged in a range of discussions and seminars with key players across the finance industry. 

The year also brought recognition on a global stage: Soulmates Ventures was named among the top five players worldwide in the Sustainable Finance Awards category at the Global Sustainability Awards 2025 in London, with our Innovation & Sustainability Manager, Tomáš Kabeláč, recognised among the finalists in the Future Leader category for his long-standing commitment to driving sustainability initiatives. 

It’s clear that none of this would have happened without the people around us. “We’re working to establish Soulmates Ventures as a leading investor in sustainability innovations at the European level. ” reflects Managing Partner, Michal Sikyta. “None of this would be possible without the exceptional investors, founders and partners who share the commitment.”

Extended thank you to all of our investors, founders, and partners for your trust and support throughout 2025. Here’s to what we’ll build together in 2026 – and beyond.

Sources:

Rightcharge building on their 10x ARR increase in 2025 – Rightcharge (Linkedin), November 2026.

Better Medicine secures €1M – Vestbee, August 2025.

eAgronom becomes one of Europe’s first providers of certified carbon offsets from farmers: What does it bring to the soil carbon ecosystem and market? – Soulmates Ventures, January 2026.