For Occam Investments we have established the EuVECA Fund

For Occam Investments, we established the EuVECA fund (European Venture Capital Fund) – historically the second such fund in Slovakia. The fund infrastructure in Slovakia has a number of commercial, legal and tax and accounting problems (I have specifically named them X times in various forums, including our professional conferences: https://lnkd.in/eA5e9-TC). And that is why, for many of the investment structures we have set up in Slovakia, emotional reasons (e.g. love of country) have weighed in Slovakia’s favour. However, Slovakia still has certain characteristics that can be attractive also for rational reasons. For example: 🚩 it is generally cheaper,
🚩 dividends are not taxed in PO,
🚩 lower regulatory and tax risks, or
🚩 we are in the EU. And it was the EU (its legislation) that brought about the EuVECA “institute”. Think of it as a sort of compromise between a fully formalised and expensive solution and a ‘knee-jerk’ solution that may work but may not enjoy the confidence of investors. Reasons why a Slovak EuVECA may make sense for a fund manager are, for example, some interference by the National Bank of Slovakia, a predictable investment policy, the possibility of “passporting” or even a certain required level for “corporate governance”. For investors, it means that they are entering a more institutional and predictable environment and that it is not something “on the knee”. Thank you Marek Kalma and Peter Andits for your confidence. As we account for the fund at Highgate Accounting, we will certainly be monitoring its progress closely. P.S. We set up the first EuVECA fund in 2021 for G-Force and it is doing positive publicity for Slovakia around the world. And while the world may not seem completely round to some, this is how that country’s advertising should be done.