Selected - The Sesamers Podcast

Alex Brunicki

Episode Summary

In this episode, Alex Brunicki, Co-founder and General Partner at Backed VC, shares how his team built one of Europe’s most distinctive frontier-tech funds, backing “obvious founders in non-obvious markets” long before the rest of the industry caught on.

Episode Notes

Key highlights

• How Backed grew from a $30M first fund to a newly closed $100M Fund III, with top-quartile returns and 5 unicorns across 100 investments.
• The founder traits they optimize for: deep competitiveness, speed under uncertainty, and “PQ” - a founder’s magnetic pull on top talent and early believers.
• Why the biggest outcomes come from betting early on markets that look strange, overlooked, or technically impossible.
• How events became Backed's secret weapon — sourcing better deals, meeting founders earlier, and building a tight-knit community through 40+ events a year.
• What it means to run a venture firm where portfolio founders also become LPs, and why this deepens alignment across every new fund.
• The frontier-tech themes they’re betting on now: financial services, manufacturing, and biotech — all at the edge of engineering and scientific breakthroughs.
• Why Backed is expanding their US presence while keeping the core of their thesis focused on European founders.

This episode is a masterclass for early-stage founders and investors navigating fast-moving markets, deep tech, and high-ambition company building.

Tune in to learn how Backed spots founders, builds community at scale, and chooses markets long before they become obvious.

Recorded live at Slush 2025 in Helsinki.