Elevator Ventures invests in Autenti

After the investment round (series B) results were announced, we presented conversations with the new Autenti investors. Our questions were answered by Thomas Muchar, Elevator Ventures Managing Director.

Elevator Ventures is the Corporate Venture Capital entity of Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI). Fund’s primary focus is on growth and early-stage investments in fintechs and related enabling technologies in Central and Eastern Europe. Elevator Ventures leverages RBI Group’s expertise, network and corporate strength in order to help promising scaleups expand across this dynamic region and beyond.

Why did the Fund decide to invest in and support Autenti?

Thomas Muchar, Managing Director at Elevator Ventures: Autenti’s product had been proven by thousands of SMEs and numerous blue-chip enterprises. We believe that with a mix of their holistic platform architecture alongside the team's solid track record and execution skills in scaling businesses, Autenti can build a dominant position in a fragmented eSignature market.

Furthermore, we believe that exceptional mix of current investors, incl. biggest Polish banks and new investors can accelerate Autenti’s value creation activities. As Elevator Ventures we identified many potential use cases with Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI), and ways in which we could help the company scale across the CEE region.

What are the Fund's hopes associated with investing in Autenti?

Thomas Muchar: We are confident in the continued momentum of eSignature growth in the CEE region and believe Grzegorz Wójcik, Tomasz Plata and their team are ideally placed to capitalize on this momentum. We hope Autenti will ultimately become the European e Signature.

As an investor, how does the Fund assess the opportunities and prospects for Autenti's development?

Thomas Muchar: The European eSignature market still has enormous potential as its current penetration is estimated to be at around 8%-15% only, depending on the country. We believe Autenti’s platform approach, innovative technology and legal setting will help fill the gap.

Moreover, its unique marketplace model with multiple Qualified Trust Service Providers (QTSPs), eID providers and interoperability of all types of e-signatures in a one-stop-shop solution provides it with an edge over its competitors that will translate into a successful investment for our Fund.

Autenti is a “brand of success”?

Thomas Muchar: Autenti is a “brand of success”, in our opinion it is already an eSignature standard in Poland and a company well positioned to become a dominant eSignature platform in Europe. It’s accelerated document approvals with one-click electronic signatures Autenti brings a significant reduction in transaction close time giving measurable benefits and savings to its customers.

Additionally, offering multiple QES vendors and remote identification vendors to solve customer problems and scale without sacrificing their relevance.