0100 Emerging Europe 2025

Managing Partner of the leading €165mn PE fund in the Baltics INVL Baltic Sea Growth Fund managed by the leading asset management group in the Baltics – Invalda INVL, active since 1991. Currently serves as deputy chairperson of the largest environmental management group’s AS Eco Baltia supervisory board and chairperson of supervisory board of its subsidiary AS PET Baltija. Before joining INVL was one of the leading M&A experts in Lithuania with extensive experience in transaction structuring and negotiations, who advised local and international clients on deals with the combined value of almost €2 billion. Deimante enjoys travelling, reading and doing sports (kitesurfing, snowboarding and running) in her free time.

Maciej Ćwikiewicz has over 15 years of experience in private equity and strategic advisory. Between 2009 and 2014 he was an Investment Director at ARX Equity Partners (a private equity fund investing in medium-sized enterprises in Central and Eastern Europe), where he focused on industrial and service sectors in Poland. In the strategic advisory, Maciej Ćwikiewicz worked, among others, for McKinsey & Co, Kolaja & Partners (now Alvarez & Marsal) or PwC. He advised primarily private equity funds during commercial due diligence or the performance improvement programs. He advised also entrepreneurs-owners of Polish manufacturing companies such as Kross, POCH, or Dr Irena Eris. On selected projects he acted as an interim manager, such as Chief Restructuring Officer for RUCH, Kross, or Sanitec Budfarfor. Maciej Ćwikiewicz gained international experience in the United States, where in 2000-2001 he worked as an Analyst in Aviation Research at Portland International Airport, and also in Indonesia where he worked at Elnusa in 2002. Maciej Ćwikiewicz graduated from the Warsaw School of Economics, Finance and Banking in 2000 and obtained his MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business in 2009. Completed the Venture Capital program at the University of California at Berkeley.

Emre is responsible for sourcing, diligence, execution, and monitoring investments, particularly in private equity. Over the last 14 years, he has worked in the private equity and investment banking, with a focus on impact investing. Before joining Sarona in 2018, Emre led fundraising and deal sourcing efforts for Fidesa Ventures – a private impact investing fund, has served as a fund of funds investor at the European Investment Bank and as an M&A advisor at Dexia in Istanbul. Emre holds an MBA in Corporate Finance from La Salle University, Philadelphia.

Elena Mazhuha joined Flyer One Ventures in 2019 as the first employee. Over the years, she worked with 2000+ startups and led 15+ investments. In 2021, Elena formed and led the PR team, securing features in top publications and partnerships with companies like Notion and AWS. In 2023, she shifted her focus exclusively to investments and was promoted to Partner. Outside of work, Elena enjoys writing about venture capital trends and hobbies like gaming, hiking, swimming, and badminton.

John Elvesjö is the CEO of The Incredible Machine, a single-family office backing 18 venture GPs across several vintages and geographies. John has seen the venture ecosystem from all sides: as a GP currently running Nordic early-stage fund node.vc, as an LP and angel investor through the Incredible Machine; and as an entrepreneur having co-founded and built Tobii, the world’s leader in eye tracking, raising $200m from e.g. Northzone and Amadeus Capital on the way. Furthermore, John serves on the board of the Swedish Space Corporation.

Katerina Zenz is heading the Austrian and CEE regions for Mutares, a leading private equity focused on special situations in Europe. With a background in audit and investment banking, she has joined the headquarter office of Mutares in Munich in 2018. After successfully executing several buy and sell side turnaround transactions in Germany, she has opened an office in Vienna in 2022 focused on the Austrian as well as Eastern European market. Currently, she is preparing the opening of a new office in Warsaw.

Sylwester is a Founding Partner of Cogito Capital Partners, a venture capital firm based in Warsaw, Poland, and New York, USA. Cogito invests in later-stage tech B2B companies (“scale-ups”) with a Central European footprint and global expansion potential, in three key sectors: enterprise software/data analytics, fintech & health tech. Sylwester holds an MBA in Strategic Management of Technology and e-Business from Cass Business School in London, UK, and a Master's degree in Economics from Gdańsk University, Poland.

Bakhrom joined Molten in 2022 from EBRD Venture Capital which he founded and managed commitments of €500m over three VC funds, investing in companies such as Docplanner, PandaDoc, PicsArt, Trendyol, among others. Previously Bakhrom was leading investments with Virgin Green Fund as a Founding Principal and TLcom Capital as Investment Director. Bakhrom was also Internet Finance Director in Virgin Media and tech investment banker with Cowen & Co and Credit Suisse. Bakhrom graduated on academic scholarships from Tashkent Technical University, Cambridge University and London School of Economics.