Lukasz Obuchowicz

Łukasz Obuchowicz is a Partner (and co-founder) of Kogito Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm based in Warsaw. He runs the fund alongside Wojciech Niesyto, with Tomasz Bolek serving as Partner/CFO. Kogito was founded around 2016 and operates within the Polish PFR Starter program; its second fund is reported at roughly PLN 83m, earmarked for approximately 25 companies. As of 2026, the firm has backed 27–28 companies, investing primarily at the seed stage in Poland-based startups.

Before venture capital, Obuchowicz built a career in investment banking focused on mergers and acquisitions. He worked in the M&A departments of Espírito Santo Investment Bank (BESI) and later served as a Vice President in the M&A department of Haitong Bank. This transactional, finance-driven background informs his emphasis on unit economics and clean cap tables when evaluating startups.

His education spans finance and business: an MSc in Finance and Banking from SGH Warsaw School of Economics, a Finance and International Business program at Aarhus University (Denmark), and an Executive MBA from Quantic School of Business and Technology (2023–2024). He has also held supervisory board roles, including at Packhelp and Mzuri CFI 2.

Beyond investing, Obuchowicz is active in the startup community as a mentor — he has mentored with Techstars since 2020 and was previously an Angel Squad member with Hustle Fund. He is a visible commentator on the Polish VC scene, appearing on the Poland.vc podcast and writing/speaking about founder readiness and the impact of AI on early-stage company building.

• Stage: Pre-seed and seed; explicitly "actively seeking pre-seed and seed stage projects."
• Check size: Initial PLN 0.5m–3m tickets, follow-ons up to PLN 5m (≈50% of the fund reserved for follow-on).
• Generalist by design: Kogito believes "there are amazing founders and venture-compatible businesses to be built in almost any industry," favoring flexibility over rigid sector theses.
• MVP is now table stakes: In his own words, "It's hard to justify the lack of even a simple MVP today" — a startup without an MVP is "a red flag."
• Real product vs. AI wrapper: He scrutinizes AI startups, asking "What is an actual product versus merely a simple wrapper on someone else's AI?"
• Team quality: "A solo founder always represents greater risk, but if they possess adequate motivation..." — he prefers complementary co-founding teams but will back exceptional, highly motivated solo founders.
• Financial literacy: Founders should know their "rough numbers" (grube liczby) and business mechanics, even without a polished model.