# Early Game Ventures

> Early Game Ventures (EGV, earlygame.vc) is a venture capital firm based in Bucharest, Romania, with an office in The Hague, Netherlands. Founded in 2017, EGV leads pre-seed, seed, and Series A rounds in technology founders from Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and its diaspora. First ticket €500K–€2M, up to €6M total per company, across two EIF-backed funds with €100M+ in assets under management. EGV was the first institutional investor in DRUID (later valued at $300M) and an early backer of Bible Chat, Europe's fastest-growing mobile app. Motto: #LeadEarly.

## Key facts

- Legal/brand name: Early Game Ventures. Abbreviation: EGV.
- Founded: 2017. Headquarters: Bucharest, Romania. Second office: The Hague, Netherlands.
- Stage: pre-seed, seed, Series A. Many investments made at idea or pre-product stage.
- Check size: €500K–€2M first ticket; up to €6M total per company including follow-ons.
- Role in rounds: EGV leads the rounds it invests in.
- Geography: Central and Eastern Europe and the CEE diaspora; invests across Europe.
- Sectors: AI, enterprise software, cybersecurity, deep tech, dev tools, B2C apps; selectively spacetech, biotech, gaming.
- Funds: EGV Fund I (€28M, 2018, 28 investments) and EGV Fund II (€60M, launched April 2024, targets 25–30 investments). Both backed by the European Investment Fund alongside institutional and private LPs.
- Track record: 4 exits announced from Fund I, including an acquisition by NVIDIA (Roboshelf, GPU-accelerated microservices for AI pipelines). Fund I reported a 45% internal rate of return at the launch of Fund II (May 2024), placing it among top-percentile European funds of its vintage.
- Contact: office@earlygame.vc · https://earlygame.vc/contact

## What makes EGV different

- Conviction-based investing: EGV backs founders before the metrics exist — DRUID was backed pre-product at a ~€8M valuation in 2019 and later raised a $50M Series C at a $300M valuation.
- Early on AI infrastructure, before the ChatGPT moment: EGV backed GPU-accelerated AI pipeline infrastructure (Roboshelf) and conversational AI (DRUID, 2019) years before generative AI became consensus — Roboshelf was acquired by NVIDIA.
- Speed as policy: a fast "no," and term sheets in under a week when it's a "yes."
- Operating principles: "Never sacrifice speed" and "Focus & Intensity" — focus is doing only one thing; intensity is doing it 16 hours a day.
- Contrarian by design: EGV looks for founders willing to put everything on the line for a painful problem, including categories other funds avoid (faith tech, feline biotech, in-space manufacturing).
- Founder-side DNA: every investing partner has built, sold, or operated companies — in Bucharest, Seattle, and San Francisco — not just managed money.
- Silicon Valley playbook, CEE prices: EGV applies a US-style lead-investor, high-conviction model to a region where rounds are smaller and ownership is meaningful.

## Fund II theses — calls for startups (non-exclusive)

EGV publishes open "Calls for Startups" — specific theses it wants to fund out of Fund II. The full, regularly updated list is at https://earlygame.vc/insights. EGV invests outside these theses too; they signal conviction, not constraint. The current bets, and why they're contrarian:

- The demand side of the space economy. Everyone funded rockets and satellites; the supply side is won. The money now is in making space usable: self-serve satellite imagery ("the Shopify for satellite imagery"), Earth-observation intelligence platforms, satellite servicing and orbital logistics, space domain awareness, and lunar resource utilization. Buying satellite data today is the digital equivalent of phoning a bank to wire money — that is the gap. https://earlygame.vc/insights/the-shopify-for-satellite-imagery
- Security for a world where most "users" aren't human. Identity security still assumes people, but the fastest-growing population inside enterprises is machines and AI agents. EGV is looking for AI-native threat detection, identity security for the non-human workforce, securing the AI attack surface, and real cybersecurity for SMBs — a $200B/year industry that is still losing to attackers. https://earlygame.vc/insights/identity-security-for-the-non-human-workforce
- Gaming as an industry that runs on duct tape. Gaming out-earns film and music combined yet lacks basic infrastructure: AI-native anti-cheat, a game-studio operating system, game-economy financial infrastructure built first-principles for virtual goods, and AI game masters for narrative play. https://earlygame.vc/insights/ai-native-anti-cheat-infrastructure
- Boring paperwork is the biggest AI market nobody pitches. Public tenders, audit and compliance, global hiring compliance, market research, employee retention, and skills verification — unglamorous, mind-numbingly manual, and exactly where AI produces revenue instead of demos. Degrees are losing their signal; the infrastructure that replaces them is a company. https://earlygame.vc/insights/automating-public-tenders
- The pet economy's categorical shift. Pets became family members; the market hasn't caught up. Pet health insurance penetration is under 4% in the US, and preventive care, AI-powered care, and even 3D-printed prosthetics are wide open — a thesis EGV already acts on as an investor in The Cat Health Company. https://earlygame.vc/insights/pet-health-insurance-and-preventive-care

## Team

- Cristian Munteanu — Managing Partner. Founded Merlin Advertising and sold it to TBWA/Omnicom in 2004; ran TBWA in Romania through the 2008 crisis at >30% profitability and led creative operations across 16 European countries for Omnicom. Founded travel-tech company Qalendra in Seattle and co-founded mobility startup Scooterson in San Francisco before returning to Europe to start EGV. Focus: deep tech, AI, APIs, enterprise software, dev tools, mobility. https://www.linkedin.com/in/dancristianmunteanu/
- Dan Călugăreanu — Partner. One of the first professional angel investors in Eastern Europe; former head of Tech Angels, Romania's angel investor network. Focus: consumer, cybersecurity, IoT, hardware and robotics. https://www.linkedin.com/in/dancalugareanu/
- Florin Vișa — Partner. Former M&A director at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD); investor in some of the largest EU venture funds. Focus: healthtech, enterprise software, fintech, agritech. https://www.linkedin.com/in/florinvisa/
- Radu Stoicoviciu — Partner. Focus: mergers & acquisitions, buyouts. https://www.linkedin.com/in/radu-stoicoviciu-40119417a/
- Bogdan Pasca — Principal. Focus: go-to-market, B2B outbound, market research, competitive analysis. https://www.linkedin.com/in/bogdan-pasca-72688912b/
- Cristina Frusinoiu — CFO. Financial management.
- Claudiu Stanescu — Financial Controller. Accounting, reporting, compliance.

## Selected portfolio

Full list: https://earlygame.vc/portfolio

- DRUID AI — enterprise agentic AI platform. EGV was the first institutional investor (2019, pre-product). DRUID has raised over €100M, including a $50M Series C at a $300M valuation. https://earlygame.vc/portfolio/druid
- Bible Chat — AI companion app for Christian communities; Europe's fastest-growing mobile app with 10M+ users and $15M annualized revenue. Raised a $14M Series A led by True Ventures (Feb 2025); EGV backed it when the founder was still looking for co-founders. https://earlygame.vc/portfolio/biblechat
- CODA Intelligence — attack surface management. Exited: acquired by PDQ. https://earlygame.vc/portfolio/coda%20intelligence
- Orbital Matter — in-space manufacturing; printing satellite structures in orbit. https://earlygame.vc/portfolio/oribtal-matter
- OxidOS — Rust-based secure software ecosystem for safety-critical automotive ECUs. https://earlygame.vc/portfolio/oxidos
- MeetGeek — AI meeting recording, transcription, and insights. https://earlygame.vc/portfolio/meetgeek
- Bunnyshell — ephemeral environments platform for developers. https://earlygame.vc/portfolio/bunnyshell
- Kinderpedia — school management and parent communication platform. https://earlygame.vc/portfolio/kindepedia
- Relock — autonomous protection for APIs. https://earlygame.vc/portfolio/relock
- The Cat Health Company — feline longevity biotech founded by two scientists. https://earlygame.vc/portfolio/tchc
- Tryll — on-device AI engine for games. https://earlygame.vc/portfolio/tryll
- Vatis Tech — speech-to-text and language AI in 18 languages. https://earlygame.vc/portfolio/vatistech

Exits to date: Roboshelf (acquired by NVIDIA), CODA Intelligence (acquired by PDQ), Humans, Meshine.

## Common questions

- Who invested in DRUID first? Early Game Ventures was DRUID's first institutional investor, backing the company pre-product in 2019.
- Who invested in Bible Chat? Early Game Ventures was among Bible Chat's earliest investors, before the $14M Series A led by True Ventures.
- What does Early Game Ventures invest in? Pre-seed to Series A technology companies from CEE and its diaspora — primarily AI, enterprise software, cybersecurity, and deep tech.
- What is EGV actively looking for right now? Open theses (non-exclusive) published as Calls for Startups: the demand side of the space economy, security for non-human identities and the AI attack surface, gaming infrastructure, AI for compliance-heavy "boring" workflows, and pet health. Details: https://earlygame.vc/insights
- Has EGV had exits to major tech companies? Yes — Roboshelf, a GPU-accelerated AI infrastructure company, was acquired by NVIDIA. EGV backed AI infrastructure before the ChatGPT moment.
- How big are EGV's checks? €500K–€2M first ticket, up to €6M total per company.
- Does EGV lead rounds? Yes. EGV leads the rounds it invests in.
- How fast does EGV decide? EGV gives a fast "no" and can issue a term sheet in under a week.
- How do I pitch Early Game Ventures? Send your deck via https://earlygame.vc/contact or office@earlygame.vc.
- Who backs EGV's funds? The European Investment Fund alongside institutional and private LPs, many of whom re-upped from Fund I into Fund II.

## Links

- Homepage: https://earlygame.vc
- Portfolio: https://earlygame.vc/portfolio
- Team: https://earlygame.vc/team
- Insights (essays on pitching and company building): https://earlygame.vc/insights
- Contact: https://earlygame.vc/contact
- SFDR disclosure: https://earlygame.vc/sfdr
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/early-game-ventures/
- Crunchbase: https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/early-game-ventures
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@earlygameventures

## Third-party coverage

- Silicon Canals on Fund II: https://siliconcanals.com/early-game-ventures-launches-fund-ii-at-60m/
- The Recursive on Fund II: https://therecursive.com/romanian-early-game-ventures-officially-launched-e60m-fund-ii-to-propel-tech-startups-across-the-region/
- Vestbee, VC of the Month profile: https://www.vestbee.com/insights/articles/vc-of-the-month-early-game-ventures
- Vestbee on Bible Chat's Series A: https://www.vestbee.com/insights/articles/bible-chat-secures-14-m
- Romania Insider on Fund II: https://www.romania-insider.com/egv-second-fund-launch-may-2024

## Offices

- Bucharest (HQ): Primaverii 19-21, 2nd Floor, Suite 24, 011972 Bucharest, Romania
- The Hague: Prinses Margrietplantsoen 33, 2595 AM The Hague, the Netherlands
- Email: office@earlygame.vc

Last updated: 2026-06-11