A few days ago, our portfolio company, SEON, announced the largest Series B round — $94 million — ever raised by a Hungarian startup. This also marks the date when Portfolion has invested in the team of SEON for the 5th time — following its CEE all-stage investment strategy. This shared milestone of SEON and Portfolion has more to it than what meets the eye. Let us tell you why.

The SEON & Portfolion Story

Our relationship with Tamas and Bence began back in 2017, when SEON was barely more than a frustrating feeling with existing fraud prevention solutions which were either prohibitively expensive, too complex to integrate quickly, or lacking in specific features. Since then, we’ve had the privilege of supporting the SEON team in building this frustration into a multi-continental, product-driven company, employing over 200 people, serving customers like Revolut, Wise, Afterpay, Patreon, Sorare, and Mollie. There have been ups and downs along the way, but year after year, we have focused on supporting the team in the way that worked best for them at the time (convertible loans, early angle buyouts, equity investment etc.). Thanks to their dedication, open-mindedness, and agility, the young founding team was able to not only overcome all challenges, but become leading innovators in the fraud prevention space, build a superstar team, and continue to learn and execute at an unrealistic speed. It may sound like a cliché, but yes, we do believe that we are still just at the beginning — and we are excited to continue the journey by increasing our investment in SEON fivefold(!).

The core of our investment thesis remains what it has been since the company’s inception. As digitization across all verticals — especially FinTech and E-commerce — increases, online fraud continues to rise, and businesses need easy-to-use yet high-ROI solutions to fight back. Our initial hypothesis proved to be right: the market did lack an accessible and flexible solution, that can deliver immediate results. SEON has engineered a product based on this hypothesis, which resulted in one of the strongest product-market fits we’ve ever seen in the region. Leads are 70% inbound as customers keep referring new ones and they keep coming back with more business year over year, which propels the flywheel with such speed that in our opinion the company achieved escape velocity. Therefore, more than 4 years later, at a valuation far away from our initial entry point, we’re buying our new Series B SEON shares with more confidence than ever — as we are uniquely positioned to do so.

CEE all-stage investing

Founders we are seeking to partner up with want to make their mark on the world by building category-leading products. This certainly takes far more time than what the old-school VC holding period would suggest, which can create unnecessary tension between investors and entrepreneurs along their shared journey. In line with this, we see the global VC landscape shifting its focus away from outdated 7–10-year investment horizons. Our track record and fund structure have enabled us to develop a flexible, multi-stage strategy that brings continuous capital support to the CEE region. By backing companies from or before 1st client all the way through global success, we act as truly long-term partners for founders who can focus on doing what they are most passionate about. As one of the very few CEE-based all-stage investors, we are in the position to develop long-lasting relationships with founders and support them in a flexible & continuous manner.

Our journey with SEON is a testament to this strategy. We celebrate this amazing, shared milestone of SEON and Portfolion with every fraud fighter of the company, with special salute to Tamas, Bence, Jimmy, Bálint, Miki, and János. Last year’s outstanding results would have also not been possible without our fantastic co-investor, Creandum and their board member Simon who is one of the most active and hardworking investors we’ve ever met. We are beyond excited to continue this journey with them as well as Michael from IVP.