VC Funding In CEE Report - 3Q 2020

Updated on 5.11.2020

Startup investment rounds in CEE in 3Q 2020*

> Number of funding rounds: 134
> The biggest investment round: Veriff - convertible note - €13.8M, InoBat - debt financing - €10M, Cosmose - series A - €12.6M
> Total value of disclosed funding in CEE: over €125M** 
> Countries with the majority of funding rounds: Poland - 86 rounds, Estonia - 20 rounds
> The most active VC fund:  Lemonade Stand, Shape VC, Icebreaker.vc, SATUS Starter, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Contrarian Ventures, InnoEnergy, Presto Ventures, Gapminder VC, Iron Wolf Capital, Movens Capital and TDJ Pitango Ventures.
> The most appreciated industries: Healthcare, Security, FinTech, AI and Energy Efficiency solutions

* In this report we have included the disclosed VC rounds that have been made public before the end of the quarter. It does not include grants. Additionally, although we’re always happy to see a CEE element in successful companies around the world, we have decided to focus only on companies which originated in the CEE region.

**14 rounds undisclosed in terms of the transaction value

The 3rd quarter of 2020, 134 investment rounds were secured in Central and Eastern Europe, while only 64 were fully disclosed in terms of amount, month, participating investors, startup name. According to available data, 23 of funding rounds took place in July, 13 in August and 28 in September.  Lower number of investments in August, was a result of COVID19 and holidays, which postponed or even stopped some fundraising rounds. We started the quarter with a strong July with its total funding of over €42M, went through a less active August which was related to the holidays and the period of stagnation on the VC market, to finally end with an interesting September, in which startups secured more than €30M in 28 funding rounds. The total value of investments (including the value of undisclosed ones) reached over €125M.

The most active countries in terms of the majority of funding rounds in 3Q were Poland and Estonia, which secured 86 and 20 rounds respectively. The first one, as the biggest VC ecosystem in CEE, with many active funds and private investors reached an astonishing number of investments compared to other countries. Startups from Poland and Estonia also received the largest fundings each month: Estonian Veriff -  €13.8M in July, Polish Cosmose - €12.6M in August and Estonian Klaus - €4.6M in September, while among other popular countries were Romania, Hungary and Lithuania. 

Taking a look at sectors, in the third quarter funds were mainly invested into Healthcare, Security, FinTech, AI and Energy  and the most active investors were Lemonade Stand, Shape VC, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Contrarian Ventures, Icebreaker.vc, SATUS Starter, InnoEnergy, Presto Ventures, Gapminder VC, Iron Wolf Capital, Movens Capital, TDJ Pitango Ventures and Fil Rouge.

But what are the prospects for the near future? 

“Increased activity of VC funds reported during the last months indicates there should be a busy quarter ahead of us. On the other hand, there is still much ambiguity around potential countermeasures taken by governments in relation to the recent surge in COVID cases. Should we brace for another lockdown? The next 30 days will set the tone for the rest of the quarter.” - underlines Ewa Chronowska, Vestbee Founder and Partner at Next Road Ventures, early stage VC fund. 

Following startup funding rounds will be covered in the next Vestbee report so stay tuned and in the meantime, let’s dig deeper into the startup and VC market in CEE in the 3Q 2020. 

Now let’s move to an overview of monthly analysis. The summary information was prepared based on fully disclosed investment rounds (startup name, month of investment closure, amount, participating investors).

Investment rounds in September 

> Number of funding rounds: 28
> The biggest investment rounds: Klaus - Series A - €4.6M, Elaphe Propulsion Technologies - Series A - €4.2M, HomeDoctor - Series A -  €3.7M
>Total value of funding secured in CEE: over €30M* 
> Countries with the majority of funding rounds: Estonia - 11 rounds, Poland - 7 rounds
> The most active VC fund: Lemonade Stand, Shape VC, Icebreaker.vc, SATUS Starter
> The most appreciated industries: Healthcare, Customer Service, Big Data, Automotive

*6 rounds undisclosed in terms of the transaction value
 

September was interesting in terms of both the number of investments and the variety of industries that attracted investors. The total value of funding secured in September by CEE startups was over €30M with Estonia leading the amount of closed rounds (11), followed by Poland (9). The biggest investment rounds were secured by Klaus, Elaphe Propulsion Technologies and HomeDoctor, which attracted €4.6M, €4.2M and €3.7M, respectively. The most active VC funds were Estonian Lemonade Stand, Finnish Icebreaker.vc and Polish SATUS Starter and Shape VC, whereas among the top areas that attracted investors’ attention were Customer Service, Healthcare, Big Data, and Automotive.

Find out more: TOP CEE Funding Rounds Closed In September

Investment rounds in August

> Number of funding rounds: 13
> The biggest investment round:  Cosmose - Series A - €12.6M, Infermedica - series A - €8.6M, So.Fa.Dog - early investment round - €600K
> Total value of funding secured this in CEE: over €24M*
> Countries with the majority of funding rounds: Estonia - 4 rounds, Lithuania - 3 rounds
> The most active VC fund: European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and Contrarian Ventures
> The most appreciated industries: Energy, Energy Efficiency, Healthcare, AI

*4 rounds undisclosed in terms of the transaction value
 

August as the last month of the summer holidays was the least active in terms of startup funding rounds within the CEE region. The total investment was valued at approximately €11M and the biggests funding rounds were secured by Polish Cosmose with Series A round of €12.6M, Polish Infermedica with its series A of €8.6M and Estonian So.Fa.Dog with €600K seed round. Estonia also showed its capabilities to fueling startups by securing 4 out of 12 investment rounds this month. The second country worth noticing is Lithuania with 3 funding rounds. The most active VC funds were European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and Lithuanian Contrarian Ventures while the most appreciated industries were Healthcare, Energy and AI.

Find out more: TOP CEE Funding Rounds Closed In August

Investment rounds in July

> Number of funding rounds: 23
> The biggest investment round: Veriff - convertible note - €13.8M, InoBat - debt financing - €10M, Nasekomo - seed - €4M
> Total value of funding secured in CEE: over €42M*
> Countries with the majority of funding rounds: Estonia - 5 rounds, Poland - 5 rounds
> The most active VC fund: Movens Capital as the most active fund and NordicNinja VC, IPM Group, New Vision 3 as funds leading the investment rounds of Veriff, InoBat and Nasekomo respectively.
> The most appreciated industries: IT, Security, FinTech, Financial Services

*4 rounds undisclosed in terms of the transaction value
 

July was the most abundant month in the 3rd quarter in terms of the total value of funding which exceeded €42M. Top investment rounds were secured by Veriff - €13.8M, InoBat with its debt financing of €10M and Nasekomo with its seed round of €4M. Estonian and Polish startups secured 5 rounds each while Security, IT, FinTech and Financial Services were the most popular courses of investment in July. Movens Capital was the most active fund, but VC funds generally maintained a similar level of activity, while NordicNinja VC, IPM Group and New Vision 3 are worth distinguishing due to their leading position in investments into companies securing biggest rounds.

Find out more: TOP CEE Funding Rounds Closed In July

 

Want to explore funded startups? Let’s take a look at a quick overview of CEE startups that had their funding rounds closed between July and September!
 

CEE startup funding rounds closed in September:

• Orgnostic - Serbian human capital analytics platform enabling companies to create more efficient and data-driven teams.
• Teamscope - Estonian AI-driven platform allowing companies to better evaluate candidates and improve onboarding processes.
• Sparq - Estonian solution, which makes it easier for users to run personal finances, tracking revenues and categorising expenses.
• Elaphe Propulsion Technologies  - Slovenian company developing and producing propulsion technology which is enabling automotive companies to improve vehicle performance.
• HomeDoctor - founded in 2017, is a Polish healthcare company allowing patients to contact a doctor in the form of home visits or teleconsultations.
• Klaus - Estonian startup disrupting the world of customer service by providing companies with a conversation’s review tool.
• Outfunnel - Estonian solution allowing marketing automation combined with 2-way CRM integration. The biggest advantage of this tool is connecting sales with marketing to increase revenues.
• Cachet - Estonian platform connected with the gig-economy. The company helps with the creation of insurance for drivers fitted to individuals’ unique needs and lifestyles.
• Remato - Estonia-located software as a service solution that is digitizing the construction industry and allowing companies to optimize costs and time consumption.
• PRNEWS.io - Estonian content marketing platform for building a brand image and awareness by creating and sharing PR messages.
• Mercuryo - Estonian cryptocurrency wallet for buying, selling, and even paying with special Mercuryo cryptocurrency card everywhere..
• Sentinel - Estonian AI-powered solution allowing governments, media agencies, and other companies to protect themselves against fake and disinformation.
• IP Fabric - Prague-based network management system for infrastructure mapping, network verification, and visualization.
• Kontomatik - Polish solution designed for various aspects of a business. For banks to digitize customer journey, for lenders to simplify customer onboarding and for other fintechs to have access to banking data.
• Cyscale - Romanian startup developing cloud security and governance solutions for main cloud computing providers: AWS, Azure, GCP and Oracle.
• Versabox - Polish company producing autonomous robots and smart-logistics solutions in order to enable the digital transformation of industries.
• Surveily - Polish solution designed for companies that want to guarantee the organization’s security with the use of artificial intelligence.
• Soleadify - Romanian search engine allowing companies to find its perfect customer among over 40M records in the database, based on the provided description.
• Indoorway - Polish real-time analytics system helping companies to introduce lean manufacturing and asset utilization.
• EsportsLAB - Polish esports analytics platform providing services like team management, data collection, performance monitoring, and insights.
• Accomango - Czech software as a service marketplace optimizing the process of searching the accommodation for employees.
• Nervtech - Slovenian research and development company focused on drivers evaluation, fleet management and autonomous driving.
• GDPR Register - Estonian startup aimed to help companies manage obligations connected with GDPR regulations simplifying the process of becoming GDPR compliant.
• eAgronom -  Estonian software as a service platform simplifying the process of managing, planning and planning farming activities.
• FCapp - Polish platform helping customers with organizing sport activities.
• Pentech - Hungarian fintech developing digital factoring solution.
   

CEE startup funding rounds closed in August:

• Infermedica - Polish company developing an AI-driven platform delivering rapid symptom triage and instructions to speed up patient healthcare and make it easier to guide patients to the right medical care.
• Cosmose - Polish - Chinese startup developing AI-driven platform for predicting and influencing the consumers’ shopping habits and behaviours.
• Redtrack.io - founded in 2017, is the Lithuanian affiliate marketing tracking & analytics platform. They make it easy for media buyers to consolidate and report data through sophisticated technology and human assistance.
• Innoship - Romanian advanced multi-carrier shipping software for retail businesses allowing its clients to manage more efficiently their own courier contracts.
• Inion - Lithuanian company, which develops control and monitoring software mainly for solar plants, biotechnology and health industry.
• FuseBox - Estonian startup, which creates an opportunity for companies to earn money by reducing unused energy consumption and making the planet cleaner.
• Trafi - Lithuanian platform for mobility solutions, powering the world's leading companies and cities.
• Kira Core - Czech decentralized finance technology company that focuses on blockchain and cryptocurrency. They develop the first decentralized solution that enables permissionless asset exchange.
• So.Fa.Dog - Estonian startup changing the way people consume news by providing exclusive 10-second video news in a visually appealing and user-friendly app.
• Coursy - Estonian training management system, which supports companies in the whole training process - from recruitment to yearly performance assessment.
• MIRET - Croation producer of footwear made almost entirely of ecological materials.
• Uplify - Estonian influencer marketing platform allowing to monetize their activities more efficiently.
• Kamon - Croatian startup developing tools to monitor company’s services
   

CEE startup funding rounds closed in July:

• Veriff - Estonian startup, which helps businesses to prevent fraud by providing the end-to-end identity verification tool backed by AI.
• InoBat - Slovakian R&D company innovating the batteries production market with an emphasis on environmentally friendly solutions of the future.
• Verestro - formerly known as uPaid, now Polish startup develops a complex end-to-end API platform for banks and financial institutions.
• StethoMe - Polish AI-backed solution for respiratory system abnormalities detection, combining wireless stethoscope and complex application.
• Travel Manager - Polish company, which develops a business travel management software under the brand Hotailors. It is a one-stop-shop for organizing, booking and managing trips within a company.
• Coinfirm - Polish-British startup develops a solution for blockchain & cryptocurrencies analytics and AML.
• Kinderpedia - Romanian company developing a management and communication tool for kindergartens and schools.
• Questo - Romanian startup combines travelling with the gamification experience in a form of play & explore application powered by local storytellers.
• Wolf3D - Estonian company, which uses only your photo to create a 3D avatar, to be used in games, AR/VR, or fashion.
• altFINS - Slovakian platform for digital assets which provides investors many functions like real-time data analytics, coin screener, trading or portfolio management.
• LetyShops - Hungarian cashback service provider which has already partnered with more than 2,5K companies.
• EvoEstate Estonian real estate marketplace which allows its customers to invest across a deal-flow of more than 20 partners.
• Montonio Finance - Estonian financing platform that allows online shoppers to browse through various instalments offered by creditors.
• Talkie.ai - Polish AI-powered solution providing phone customer service and therefore reducing costs.
• AerinX Hungarian aircraft solution allowing companies to optimize costs and decrease the time consumption of maintenance and inspections.
• Nasekomo - Bulgarian company, which is fighting for a sustainable world by producing animal feeds from organic waste.
• Modsly - Polish startup, which simplifies the creation of fashion brands. With Modsly, everybody can start a brand without design skills and knowledge.
• BeeSage - Latvian beehive monitoring system allowing beekeepers to optimize the daily operation and perform real-time analytics.
• roboGaze - Hungarian driver monitoring system using artificial intelligence to increase road safety.
• SafeRE - Lithuanian real estate investment platform allowing investors to gain cost-efficient access to real estate opportunities.
• iERP.ai - Slovakian company provides various businesses with AI-powered software to optimize their processes and predict the future.
• contactless.io - Estonian event management solution simplifying the process of event creation by implementing smart forms, real-time reporting and insights.
• Dynamic Division - Croatian robotics startup developing ecosystem of human-friendly robots.
  
   

*We are aware no report is perfect, so if you have any insights, drop me a line! We’ll keep this one updated!

Want to get the more detailed view on the CEE Startup & VC Scene in 3Q 2020?

Discover our monthly reports:
TOP CEE Funding Rounds Closed In July
TOP CEE Funding Rounds Closed In August
TOP CEE Funding Rounds Closed In September
 

Sources: Vestbee VC & startup community, startup press releases, web & social media monitoring, Crunchbase, PFR (Polish Development Fund).