JIC (South Moravian Innovation Centre) — Brno's University-Industry Technology Transfer Hub

JIC (Jihomoravské inovační centrum / South Moravian Innovation Centre) is a public-interest innovation agency founded in 2003 by the South Moravian Region, the Statutory City of Brno, and four Brno universities — Masaryk University, Brno University of Technology, Mendel University, and the University of Veterinary Sciences — legally structured as an association of these institutions. It is headquartered in the Czech Technology Park in Brno-Medlánky.

JIC connects researchers, students and companies through a pipeline of programs: pre-incubation and mentoring, the StarCube seed accelerator (launched 2010), and, since April 2026, JIC Ventures — a Central and Eastern European deep-tech venture fund that reached a €13 million first close toward a €16.3 million target, backed by around 40 limited partners and offering checks of up to €1 million to roughly 20 portfolio companies over four years. StarCube reported supporting 62 startups and channelling over 122 million CZK (~€5 million) of investment into them during its first five years. JIC's portfolio includes Kiwi.com (originally Skypicker.cz), enterprise-software firm Y Soft, network-monitoring company Flowmon Networks (acquired by Progress Software in 2021), and security/IoT firms Safetica, Sewio and Phonexia.

JIC's own materials currently claim more than 1,300 companies supported over its 22-year history; earlier, undated third-party listings (a Czech government-linked trade portal and an independent directory) instead cite roughly 300 companies with combined revenues of about 30 billion CZK and 6,500 jobs, a discrepancy this catalogue could not resolve — likely reflecting different points in JIC's growth rather than a contradiction, but a reminder that most performance figures for JIC originate from the agency's own reporting rather than an independent audit. No public data on JIC's own operating budget, patent counts, or formal technology-transfer deal volume was located, and no independent evaluation or critical assessment of the centre was found in the course of this research.

Read the full analysis: https://fundmomentum.vc/_api/blog/share?slug=jic-ventures-16-3m-cee-deep-tech-fund-first-close-2026