Non-dilutive financing solutions take centre stage as

Croatia’s private capital market continues to mature

ZAGREB, 9 April 2025 – The Croatian Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (CVCA) hosted the Venture Debt, Growth Debt, and Private Credit Business Breakfast at Hotel Esplanade Zagreb, bringing together more than 40 participants from the investment, banking, and entrepreneurial communities to explore the next frontier of alternative financing in Croatia and the broader CEE region.

The event marked another important step in CVCA’s 20-year mission to diversify and deepen Croatia’s financial ecosystem, emphasizing the role of private credit, venture debt, and growth debt as non-dilutive tools for scaling businesses and strengthening economic resilience.

In her opening remarks, Mirna Marović, President of CVCA, underlined the significance of these financing tools:

“CVCA has been at the forefront of building Croatia’s private equity and venture capital ecosystem over the past two decades. Today, as our members manage over €4 billion in assets, we are proud to actively promote the growth of venture debt, growth debt, and private credit — alternative, non-dilutive financing solutions that remain largely underdeveloped across the CEE region.”

Speaking at the event, Slađana Ćosić, Head of the European Investment Bank (EIB) Group Office in Croatia, emphasized the EIB Group’s pivotal role in shaping Croatia’s alternative financing landscape:

The EIB Group, through its European Investment Fund (EIF), has committed €395 million across 14 Croatian funds and co-investments, playing a pivotal role in catalysing Croatia’s private equity and venture capital markets. Looking ahead, the development of private credit and venture debt represents a logical progression to further reinforce the country’s innovation ecosystem and support long-term, sustainable growth.

Martin Quiniou, Private Credit expert at the European Investment Fund (EIF), delivered a keynote presentation on private credit’s role in Europe’s evolving financial architecture, noting:

“Private credit has firmly established itself as an all-weather asset class, offering resilient, non-dilutive capital options particularly crucial for SMEs and growth-stage companies. With continued bank retrenchment expected, the role of flexible, risk-tolerant lenders is more important than ever.”

Wiktor Namysł and Jerzy Rozłucki, Partners at Orbit Capital, provided practical insights into the deployment of growth debt and venture debt strategies in CEE, addressing the persistent funding gaps in the scale-up stage:

“Companies in CEE raise only about half the growth capital compared to their Western peers. Growth debt is an effective solution to fuel expansion without the high cost of equity dilution, especially for technology and tech-enabled companies with strong unit economics and predictable revenues,” said Wiktor Namysł.

During a fireside chat moderated by Mirna Marović, panellists explored the myths and realities of venture and growth debt.

Martin Quiniou emphasized risk mitigation techniques such as covenants, warrants, and performance-linked structures:

“Structured properly, venture and growth debt offer attractive, risk-adjusted returns.”

Jerzy Rozłucki shared hands-on experiences from Orbit Capital’s portfolio:

“Growth debt works best when deployed proactively to fund expansion, bridge to profitability, or postpone equity dilution, ensuring founders retain control while scaling responsibly.”

The event concluded with an engaging Q&A session focused on how private credit strategies will evolve in CEE, with broad consensus that Croatia is well positioned to lead in adopting these innovative financing models.

Selected photos are available for download at the following link.

For more information about CVCA and upcoming initiatives, please visit: www.cvca.hr