0100 Emerging Europe 2025

Thomas has more than 25 years of international experience in the financial industry. He worked with banks in Prague and New York as well as investment firms in London, Vienna and Zürich in senior roles. During his 15 years at Erste Asset Management, Thomas held various management positions. In recent years, he built up the private equity investment department and founded Erste Private Capital. Thomas holds a degree in international business at the University of Vienna, completed the private equity programme at the University of Oxford and is a CFA Institute charter holder.

Pavel Dvorak is a Principal at the EBRD where he focuses primarily on investments in venture capital and private equity funds across the EBRD region. In his previous role of a an economist at the EBRD he developed country and sector strategies, assessed the development impact of investments in a number of sectors including TMT and healthcare and developed new approaches to supporting innovation in the region. Before joining the EBRD, he was a management consultant at Deloitte in Prague. Pavel holds a Ph.D. in Economics from CERGE-EI in Prague and is a CFA and CAIA charter holder.

Xiaomin is Regional Lead, Venture Capital, Türkiye, CEU & Central Asia at International Finance Corporation. Xiaomin is a senior investment professional with over 15 years of experience in emerging market venture capital. She currently leads IFC’s VC investments CEE, Turkey and Central Asia, after spending a decade in China VC. Prior to the IFC, she was with the Boston Consulting Group in Munich, Germany. Xiaomin holds Ph.D., M.Eng, and B.S. degrees in electrical engineering from MIT.

Managing Partner of the leading €165mn PE fund in the Baltics INVL Baltic Sea Growth Fund managed by the leading asset management group in the Baltics – Invalda INVL, active since 1991. Currently serves as deputy chairperson of the largest environmental management group’s AS Eco Baltia supervisory board and chairperson of supervisory board of its subsidiary AS PET Baltija. Before joining INVL was one of the leading M&A experts in Lithuania with extensive experience in transaction structuring and negotiations, who advised local and international clients on deals with the combined value of almost €2 billion. Deimante enjoys travelling, reading and doing sports (kitesurfing, snowboarding and running) in her free time.

Maja Tomanic Vidovic has a broad range of experience in finance and investment, both in the public and the private sector, on national and international level. Since 2007 she is the executive director the Slovene Enterprise Fund in Slovenia, which manages a portfolio of cca. EUR 900 million of debt, equity and grants mandates financed by the national budget and European structural funds. The active portfolio presents more than 16.000 active projects, in which SEF invested the financial support. During this time she was responsible for the cooperation with many commercial banks in Slovenia; with many international development banks; for the establishment, fund manager selection and oversight of five VC funds in Slovenia and for the cooperation with national and European business angel associations in the area of SME, micro finance and venture capital. She is a member of the Advisory Committee of CEFOF, the Central East European fund of funds for venture capital, which is managed by the European Investment Fund, and aims to mobilise more than €600 million in investments in SMEs in CEE by 2029. She is also the member of EIF-NPI Equity Platform, which is a collaborative initiative launched by the EIF in 2016. It promotes knowledge sharing and best practices between the EIF and national promotional institutions (NPIs) across EU Member States and includes the European Commission. Its goal is to enhance access to funding for relevant projects, SMEs, and midcaps, support the defragmentation of equity markets, and match national, EU, and private sources of funding. She was the member of board of directors and still is the member of assemble of European Association for guarantee institutions (AECM) with 40 similar EU development banks and funds in 20 EU countries. In 20 years of professional carrier, she gained international experience in finance and in the European institutions. She cooperated in the field of investment banking and equity investments in the European Commission in Brussels, in EU economic surveillance and state aid, on key reforms in the entrepreneur sector in Slovenia and Balkan region. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Economics and a master’s degree in Finance and Banking from University of Maribor Slovenia.

Markus is a Managing Director on the Business Development team. Prior to joining Capital Dynamics, he worked in business development at Golding Capital Partners, a German private equity asset manager. Earlier in his career, Markus was a management consultant and project manager at the Monitor Company, where he advised international clients on corporate strategy, and also worked for Siemens on corporate strategy and M&A. Markus holds a Bachelor’s degree from Brown University, a Master’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and an MBA from INSEAD.

Ernests is a Partner at Livonia Partners, a pan-Baltic private equity firm currently investing from its €157M Fund II. He leads growth and buyout transaction sourcing, execution, and portfolio company development. Ernests specializes in international B2B software and IT services investments, with a recent focus on companies such as Wildix, Digmatix, and Scoro. He has previously also worked in early-stage technology investment fund and he holds an MBA from INSEAD.

Michał Kędzia concentrates on the FMCG, manufacturing and healthcare sectors. His most important projects to date include Advanced Protection Systems, Dino, Goodspeed, Modular System, Nu-Med Grupa and Studenac. Oversees i.a. the firm’s investments in Slovenia and Croatia. Prior to joining EI, Michał worked in the mergers and acquisitions team at Ernst & Young (today EY) in Warsaw.