Silicon Gardens Fund

The Silicon Gardens Fund (SGF) was created as a product of a community of computer enthusiasts who first organized various events and lectures on the subject of computing and entrepreneurship. At that time, community members did not yet have their own capital, so they could only help novice entrepreneurs with advice. Then, in 2012, one of the members, Jugoslav Petković, sold his company Mimovrste and proposed the creation of a fund to invest in start-ups.

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At the time, the entrepreneurs raised a total of 300,000 euros and invested in ten startups. To date, the investment has paid off twice. Above all, entrepreneurs have gained much needed experience and confidence in investing through their first investments.

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In 2017 and 2018, the Slovenian founders sold two more companies, Outfit7 and Klika. This allowed them to form a second fund in 2019 and invest a total of six million euros in it. Investors in this second fund have already been more than thirty. They invested between 50,000 euros and up to half a million euros in an individual start-up company.

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The fund invests in companies at a very early stage, when startups on the market do not yet have their product, but only have a good idea. Assessing which companies have such an idea is very challenging, and investors are constantly gaining new experience in this area. About half of the startups in which the fund invests are expected to fail, about a third will double the investment, and about a fifth will typically realize a high return — up to twenty times the original investment. One of the most successful startups they've invested in is Bird Buddy, which developed a smart birdhouse. Bird Buddy then managed to raise as much as four million dollars on the online crowdfunding platform Kickstarter to develop the product.

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The SGF is currently forming a third fund that will have tens of millions of euros available for investment. About fifty investors will contribute funds to it.

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The effects of these investments will be fully reflected only in ten years. According to the experience of the fund managers, the view of Slovenians towards entrepreneurship has changed significantly since its inception. Now investors are no longer catching up with all the opportunities to invest. They also place great emphasis on mentoring and sharing knowledge and experience with all those in whom they invest.