Giza Polish Ventures

Managing Partner Marek Rusiecki leads Giza Polish Ventures and drives its investment decisions. He operates the firm out of Warsaw and has been associated with GPV since its 2011 launch. Investment decisions benefit from his local market knowledge and access to the broader Giza Venture Capital partnership for technical and commercial diligence.

Giza Polish Ventures was established in 2011 as the dedicated Polish-focused venture arm of Giza Venture Capital, the Israeli fund founded by Zeev Holtzman. GPV operates with a local Warsaw-based team led by Marek Rusiecki, while leveraging Giza VC’s network, brand, and expertise in commercializing early-stage technology companies. It functions as an independent local vehicle aligned with the parent fund’s cross-border strategy.

GPV concentrates on seed and early-stage investments, often providing the first institutional check for technically strong founding teams in Poland. The firm has selective capacity for follow-on investments into Series A rounds. Its model is to de-risk technical execution early and then help portfolio companies access later-stage growth capital from larger CEE or Western European funds.

The firm’s portfolio spans enterprise software, industrial technology, artificial intelligence and machine learning, fintech, digital health, energy transition, and cybersecurity. This sector range mirrors the R&D depth in Polish technical universities and the software-export orientation of the country’s startup ecosystem. GPV tends to avoid consumer-internet plays that require heavy brand-marketing spend to scale outside Poland.

Yes, GPV regularly co-invests with other Central and Eastern European seed funds, business angels, and occasionally Western European early-stage investors. These syndicates share technical diligence and help de-risk each deal. The firm’s parent structure also allows it to introduce portfolio companies directly to Giza Venture Capital’s limited-partner network and portfolio companies in Israel and the United States.

Because GPV was created as a geographical offshoot of Giza Venture Capital, its portfolio companies gain access to a commercial corridor that stretches from Warsaw through Tel Aviv to Silicon Valley. This is a structural advantage over purely domestic CEE funds: GPV can offer founders go-to-market support, management mentoring, and potential follow-on introductions that an independent first-time fund of similar size could not provide on its own.

GPV sources technical founders through Poland’s leading universities, research institutes, and the growing cluster of startup programs and accelerators in Warsaw and Kraków. Managing Partner Marek Rusiecki’s established local reputation and GPV’s Israeli parentage create a dual-sourcing funnel — Polish founders seeking international exit paths actively seek out GPV’s backing. The firm also relies on the wider Giza VC network for inbound deal referrals.