Hundreds of millions of zlotys for dual-use projects

• - The Polish Development Fund is launching a new deep tech fund on Tuesday (6 May). The fund is to have a budget of PLN 300 million, which will come from the Ministry of Finance, and the same amount - also at least PLN 300 million - is to come from private and institutional investors.
• This fund will provide capital to innovative technology companies through venture capital funds selected through recruitment, informed WNP vice-president of PFR Mikołaj Raczyński. The conversation took place during the 17th European Economic Congress in Katowice.
• The new program will operate in the so-called fund of funds formula. The funds will therefore be allocated to professional teams managing venture capital funds, investing in projects with the greatest potential.
• This program is commercial, PFR is counting on profits. The funds are not EU, so VC funds will have quite a lot of freedom in managing them.

On May 6, the Polish Development Fund (PFR) is launching a new program that will be addressed to venture capital (VC) funds .

- The aim of the program and the establishment of a new deep tech fund will be to provide capital to innovative companies that implement dual-use projects, i.e. useful for both our army and the economy - said PFR Vice-President Mikołaj Raczyński in an interview with WNP during EEC 2025.

Our interlocutor emphasized that the role of PFR in building a dual-use ecosystem in Poland is important and broad. - We identify this industry as important from the point of view of broadly understood Polish security - he noted.

Raczyński also added that together with PFR Ventures and the Ministry of Finance (which is currently working on changing the system of financing innovation in the economy ), PFR is launching a program dedicated to the deep tech market, i.e. high technologies.

- We are talking about technologies from the area of ​​AI, satellites, drones. We are thinking about a program that would support local venture capital funds, which in turn would invest these funds in young companies, providing them with capital for development - informed the vice-president of PFR.

Connecting people, know-how and capital. A new ecosystem is emerging

Raczyński emphasized that PFR is involved in a number of activities aimed at developing the Polish economy and technological thought, "connecting engineers and investment funds, innovators, entrepreneurs, people from academia in order to create new technologies."

- We run various hackathons and bootcamps that are meant to connect communities from different economic sectors. We also work with the Ministry of National Defense to create solutions that have the ability to be commercialized and ultimately used in the military - our interlocutor listed.

CIS was the first to announce the construction of a new deep tech fund in March .

The assumption of the new program is to support those VC funds whose management teams are already experienced in the high-tech sector and have successfully implemented innovative and groundbreaking technologies, and on the other hand the fund's capitalization is not less than EUR 30 million , which in turn is to ensure greater security for both projects and investors.

What is also important, PFR Ventures will support the VC funds selected for the program with an amount not exceeding 50 percent of the capital needed to implement the investment . The contribution provided by PFR Ventures must be invested in the domestic market , although the investment strategy of the funds themselves may be international and go beyond the Polish market.

As Rozalia Urbanek, investment director at PFR Ventures, informed WNP, the recruitment of VC funds for the new program will take place on an ongoing basis until the full pool of funds is exhausted. - Both the management teams of the funds that apply to us and their investors will be subject to our assessment and verification - Urbanek noted.

She also added that the funds in the program are domestic, which gives the funds more freedom in their management than with EU funds. However, PFR emphasizes that it expects a return on investment at the market level . The program is completely commercial.

- Preliminary research at PFR Ventures (before the launch of the program) shows that the risk of not using some of the program funds is very low - assured Urbanek.

Our capital market is shallow and very absorbent. There are also not many tools for financing specialized technological innovations. - The program's offer can attract several (3-5) specialized funds and support from 50 to 80 projects - assessed experts from PFR Ventures.

As our interviewee emphasizes, the new deep tech program is intended to fill a gap in the market, and not to compete with existing or planned government funds that are intended to support, among other things, dual-use projects.

- What distinguishes our program is the focus on breakthrough technologies, but not those related to infrastructure or increasing our energy security - said Urbanek.

What is supposed to attract VC funds, investors and innovative companies to participate in the new PFR project is to facilitate - by establishing a special advisory committee operating at the program - contacts and the flow of information on implemented innovations with the Ministry of National Defense (MON). This committee will include, among others, representatives of our army.

Security is important not only for the state, but also for many companies.

As mentioned above, the new financial vehicle is to invest mainly in cybersecurity, space technologies and artificial intelligence , but also in so-called dual-use projects (useful for both the army and civilians).

Thermal battery - useful in Pioruns, but also in space systems

The demand for this type of projects is huge, especially when it comes to radio-electronic and anti-drone protection, geolocation systems and defence infrastructure.

Projects that may fit into the program’s formula include, for example, Liftero’s satellite engine, Aether Biomedical’s bionic prostheses, and Fresh Inset’s technologies for extending the freshness of fruit and vegetables.

A great example of dual use are also the BTR-03 thermal batteries, which are manufactured by Łukasiewicz - Institute of Non-Ferrous Metals, Poznań Branch. They power, among others, one of the hits of our armaments industry - PPZR Piorun , which is manufactured by the MESKO plants belonging to the Polish Armaments Group.

These batteries power the control systems of intelligent missile ammunition (they are used in Grom, Błyskawice, Narew and Pirat, among others). They can also be a source of power for robots, specialized machines, air targets or space systems and modules.