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Innovation Nest, founded last year by Onet.pl „alumni” Piotr Wilam (founder) and Marek Kapturkiewicz (COO) invested a modest sum of $250,000 into Dave McClure’s  500 Startups.

Of course I can sulk because Polish venture money go out of the country and into the US / Global seed accelerator program, but actually I think it is a pretty cool development, raising profile for Innovation Nest as a seed investor with global ambitions, and bringing more visibility to the Polish startup scene. For mere $250,000 equity investment I might add.

As if to prove my point, Wilam is touring Russia, Estonia and Croatia with Geeks on a Plane, organized by 500 Startups, as I write this.

Innovation Nest has previously invested in Polish startups iTraff (image recognition technology for mobile devices) and UXPin (UX tool developer). It shares 500 Startups approach to helping startup grow. According to Wilam, both funds focus on customer development, and devote attention to the founders personality and determination.

Some of the Eastern European startups that went through 500 Startups acceleration program are Croatian Farmeron, Estonian Import2 (a.k.a 300.mg) and Zerply, Slovenian Toshl, Romanian Brainient and Bulgarian / Hungarian / Austrian Lookk.

We probably pay more attention to the origins of the startups, that folks at 500 Startups. Brainient and Lookk are classified by the accelerator as British, and Zerply and Toshl as Californian. But here at GoalEurope we know their roots.

500 Startups, your next batch should include a Polish startup. Lookking forward.

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