History
SAEF was established in 1991 as a nonprofit venture capital fund under the Support for Eastern European Democracy Act of 1989 (the „SEED Act“) in order to support the transition of the Czech and Slovak Republics to a global free-market economy. It is funded by U. S. taxpayers through appropriation by the U. S. Congress.
Similar funds were established in other Central European countries, former countries of the Soviet Union, and South Africa. In 1996, it was decided that for the foreseeable future SAEF would focus activities primarily in the Slovak Republic.
