Zagreb, 11 September 2025 – The LP–GP Networking Event 2025, held on 10–11 September in Zagreb, brought together an exclusive group of Europe’s leading private equity and venture capital investors for one of the region’s most curated gatherings of Limited Partners (LPs) and General Partners (GPs). Organised by the Croatian Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (CVCA), the invitation-only event once again confirmed its position as a non-commercial, high-conviction forum with an approximately one-to-one ratio of GPs to LPs, carefully curated to ensure quality over quantity in every interaction.
The 2025 edition coincided with the 20th anniversary of CVCA. From almost embryonic beginnings, CVCA has evolved into one of the largest and most active national private equity and venture capital associations in Central and Eastern Europe, bringing together more than 35 members, including 27 fund managers of alternative investment funds who jointly manage over €4.5 billion in assets across Croatia and the wider region. This year’s event, now it its third edition, drew senior representatives from leading European and international private equity and venture capital funds, pension funds, development institutions, family offices, and other long-term investors, underlining Croatia’s growing role on the European private-capital map.
In her opening remarks, Mirna Marović, President of CVCA and chair of the LP–GP Networking Event, reflected on the journey of the Croatian market and the partnership between public and private capital that has underpinned its development. “From truly embryonic beginnings, CVCA has grown into one of the largest national PE/VC associations in Central and Eastern Europe — with 27 fund managers among more than 35 members, and capital under management north of €4.5 billion, drawing colleagues not only from Croatia but also Slovenia, Austria, Poland, Romania, and Bulgaria,” said Marović. “Croatia now enjoys one of Europe’s most supportive regulatory environments for pension funds to back alternative investment funds. That evolution reflects partnership: international financial institutions like EIF and EBRD, our national development bank HBOR, and — crucially — domestic private-sector LPs who believed that collaboration between local LPs and local GPs is the engine of a healthy market.” Marović emphasised that in a world of “choice overload” for institutional investors, emerging fund managers deserve a fair allocation of capital, not as an act of goodwill but as a disciplined performance strategy backed by data. She underlined that global evidence shows emerging managers can offer stronger upside, greater alignment and differentiated strategies that respond to today’s market conditions. “The brands of tomorrow are in this room today,” she noted. “A thoughtful carve-out to emerging managers is not charity — it is a performance strategy with evidence behind it.”
The conference opened with institutional addresses from the European Investment Bank (EIB) Group and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), both long-standing partners in the development of Croatia’s venture capital and private equity ecosystem. Speaking at the conference, Slađana Ćosić, Head of the EIB Group Office in Croatia, highlighted the Group’s record financing volumes in Croatia in 2024, including substantial commitments from the European Investment Fund (EIF) that mobilised several times more in private capital. She pointed to EIF’s expanded support for early- and growth-stage funds through mandates such as CVCI II and CROGIP II, as well as the newly launched TechEU platform, designed to mobilise large-scale capital for European innovation, startups and scale-ups by 2027. Ćosić underscored Croatia’s rising role in Europe’s innovation and funding landscape, describing the country as “an emerging force” and reaffirming the EIB Group’s long-term commitment to sustainable growth.
From a global development perspective, Magdalena Šoljakova, Senior Country Officer for Croatia, Slovenia and North Macedonia at IFC, stressed IFC’s determination to support disruptive technologies and digital transformation across the region. She emphasised that IFC is ready to catalyse entrepreneurship ecosystems via venture capital and growth equity and to address critical funding gaps by mobilising early-stage and seed capital, co-investments and blended finance instruments that can crowd in private investors.
A central feature of the LP–GP Networking Event is the close partnership with the Croatian Bank for Reconstruction and Development (HBOR), which served as the event’s Gold Sponsor. HBOR has been a backbone institution for the market’s development, anchoring key fund-of-funds and co-investment programmes and acting as a catalyst for private capital. Reflecting on HBOR’s role, Željka Idžan, Specialist in the Investment Department at HBOR, noted: “Croatia’s private equity market has made strong progress in the last couple of years, though further development is needed to reach EU average. HBOR is proud to have supported industry growth and will continue prioritizing private equity investments moving forward.”
The morning programme featured keynote presentations from three leading European investors: Thomas Rubens, Partner at DN Capital; Dariusz Pietrzak, Partner at Enterprise Investors; and Danijel Višević, General Partner at World Fund. They addressed the interplay between fundraising cycles, valuation resets, the rise of AI and climate innovation, and the shifting role of public and private capital in Europe’s growth story. Against the backdrop of a more demanding fundraising environment and persistent liquidity challenges, the speakers examined how both LPs and GPs are adapting their strategies, with a particular focus on emerging managers, secondary solutions and impact-oriented strategies. In this context, Pietrzak underlined the importance of mobilising local sources of capital in Central and Eastern Europe, stressing that as capital grows scarcer across Europe, relying more heavily on local LPs is essential to capture the region’s significant private-market growth potential.
Speaking about the distinctive nature of the LP–GP Networking Event, Danijel Višević emphasised the trust and depth of discussion it enables: “The leading GP-LP event in the Adria region, curated by Mirna Marović, unites Europe’s top investors in a uniquely insightful and trust-driven setting that leaves a lasting impact.”
In line with its core mission, the event devoted significant space to LP perspectives. The LP panel “Inside the Minds of LPs: What Drives Allocation in 2025 and Beyond” brought together Michal Kosina, Manager Institutional Mandate Relationships Nordics, Baltics & CEE at EIF; Željka Idžan of HBOR; and Samo Lubej, CEO of Prosperita Family Office, moderated by Dominic Maier, Partner at Atlantic Vantage Point (AVP). The panellists discussed allocation priorities in a higher-interest-rate environment, the balance between established and emerging managers, the role of ESG and sustainability as value and risk factors, and how liquidity constraints are reshaping portfolio construction. They also examined what LPs expect in terms of strategy clarity, governance and reporting from CEE-focused funds in order to commit capital to new vintages.
A hallmark of the conference is the dedicated session for emerging fund managers. This year, strategies were presented by Fil Rouge Capital, Dream Ventures, Feelsgood Capital Partners and BlackPeak Capital. In his presentation, Julien Coustaury, Partner at Fil Rouge Capital, outlined the evolution of one of the region’s most active early-stage teams. Building on that, the session highlighted new and differentiated approaches to venture and growth investing that are emerging from and into the region.
From the pan-European perspective, Dream Ventures Partner Oli Harris shared his observations from conversations with LPs over the past year: “Numerous conversations confirmed to me that macro issues, both economic and political, remain the biggest cause of paralysis in LP allocations.” His remarks resonated with participants navigating interest-rate uncertainty, geopolitical tensions and shifting regulatory frameworks, all of which influence the pacing and direction of capital flows.
Impact-focused investing featured prominently through the participation of Feelsgood Capital Partners. In a fireside chat moderated by Dr. Paul Stubbs, Emeritus Senior Research Fellow at The Institute of Economics, Zagreb, Managing Partners Renata Brkić and Domagoj Oreb discussed the firm’s approach to aligning financial performance with measurable social outcomes across Croatia and Slovenia. Their joint reflection on the event captured both the momentum and the atmosphere of the Croatian ecosystem: “Participating in CVCA events as part of Croatia’s vibrant and growing investment ecosystem feels good!” Stubbs added his own perspective on the importance of embedding broader societal objectives into investment frameworks, noting: “It is good to see the Investment Community in Croatia continuing to emphasize the importance of social and environmental impacts in all investment decisions.”
BlackPeak Capital, one of the event’s Silver Sponsors, was featured in a dedicated fireside chat with Managing Partner Niklas Pichler and Senior Investment Associate Marko Dabić, moderated by Mirna Marović. The conversation focused on their minority growth-equity strategy in Southeast Europe, including buy-and-build platforms, hands-on value creation and robust minority protections. Reflecting on the session and the event, they stated: “The conference highlighted the importance of a distinctive investment approach, providing an excellent platform to present our minority growth equity strategy that uniquely positions us within our target regions.”
The conference also included a keynote presentation by Christian Blume, Manager of Corporate Strategy & Investments at Rimac Group, on “Rimac’s Unicorn Journey: Building a strong European ecosystem of premium & luxury tech companies”. He shared insights into how Rimac has expanded from a pioneering Croatian technology company to a global innovation platform at the forefront of electrification and high-performance mobility, and how this journey illustrates the potential of Croatian and regional innovators to compete on a global stage.
Beyond the formal sessions, the format of the LP–GP Networking Event remained central to its impact. The programme included a family-office-only breakfast, held under Chatham House Rule and moderated by Virginia Mortari, which provided a confidential setting for European and regional family offices to exchange views on portfolio construction, co-investment, and intergenerational governance. A structured LP–GP speed-dating session offered pre-arranged one-to-one meetings, enabling LPs and GPs to align on strategies, sector focus and capital needs in an efficient, targeted format.
The afternoon was dedicated to showcasing Croatia’s innovation capacity through a guided visit to the Rimac–Bugatti Campus, including a presentation and technology demonstration, followed by a closing reception and gala dinner at the Okrugljak restaurant. These off-site elements reinforced the event’s ethos of combining serious, content-driven discussions with immersive experiences that bring Croatia’s entrepreneurial and industrial capabilities to life.
Several participants reflected on the significance of the event for Croatia and the wider region. From the perspective of regional family offices, Prosperita Family Office CEO Samo Lubej underlined the positioning impact of the event: “With this event Zagreb / Croatia is firmly added on Private Equity and Venture Capital map of Europe.”
The LP–GP Networking Event 2025 was organised by the Croatian Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (CVCA), the national voice of private capital in Croatia. CVCA represents private equity and venture capital fund managers and investors active in Croatia and the broader CEE region, engages with policymakers, and promotes responsible investment as a driver of innovation, growth and competitiveness.
CVCA extends its sincere thanks to the Gold Sponsor, the Croatian Bank for Reconstruction and Development (HBOR), and to the Silver Sponsors – BlackPeak Capital, Feelsgood Capital Partners, Fil Rouge Capital and N Venture / N-Vision Ventures – for their continued partnership in building a sophisticated, internationally connected investment ecosystem in Croatia.
For more information about the LP–GP Networking Event 2025 programme, speakers and partners, as well as upcoming CVCA initiatives, please visit www.cvca.hr