Buran Venture Capital, which invests in start-ups in Central and Eastern Europe, the Baltics, Finland and Israel, has rebranded as Flashpoint and launched a €50 million ($56 million) new venture debt fund

“Our business has expanded significantly over the past few years, and we realized that our vision is to build a leading multi-product tech investment and asset management business, and not just a successful venture capital fund,” said managing partner Alexander Konoplyasty.

“We started looking for a new name that would reflect this vision and also resonate with our core values and DNA. We think we found the right one. The flash point is the lowest temperature at which vapors of a material will ignite, when given an ignition source. We believe we create a flash point by providing capital and expertise to the startups we invest in,” added managing partner Michael Szalontay.

Flashpoint is launching a venture debt fund as part of its strategy to build a multi-product investment platform investing in software startups across Finland, the Baltics, CEE and Israel. Venture debt is a term loan aimed at helping startups finance their operations and access expertise without dilution to their cap table.

Michal Jozwiak, formerly senior vice president for private debt, mezzanine and private equity at the CEE team of Darby Private Equity (Franklin Templeton Investments), will be the managing partner of Flashpoint Venture Debt.

“We are excited to be the first to launch a dedicated venture debt fund in our geography with a target size of 50 million euros, offering technology companies an alternative option to fund their growth,” said Jozwiak.