In this report, we have included the disclosed VC rounds that have been made public before the end of the 4Q 2021 or provided by our VC & startup community. It does not include grants and transactions below €50k. Additionally, although we’re always happy to see startups operating in CEE, we have decided to focus only on companies that originate from CEE, self-identify as CEE companies or there is a significant presence of the CEE founder. Please also be informed that the report is focused on the standard understanding of the CEE region (e.g. Turkey is not included).
Sources: Vestbee VC & startup community, startup press releases, web & social media monitoring, Crunchbase, PFR (Polish Development Fund).
Startup investment rounds in CEE in 4Q 2021
> Number of funding rounds: 245
> The biggest disclosed investment round: Docplanner - Series F - €132M (estimation), Gtmhub - Series C - €105M, Payhawk - Series B - €99.6M, Rossum - Series A - €86M, Bitrise - Series C - €53.5M, Ramp - Series A - €46.5M.
>Total value of funding closed in CEE: over €1B*
> Countries with the majority of funding rounds: Poland - 102 rounds, Estonia - 47 rounds, Lithuania - 23 rounds, Romania - 23 rounds
> The most active VC fund: Startup Wise Guys, X21 Digital, Earlybird Venture Capital, AU21 Capital, Black Pearls VC, Bonitas Ventures, Eleven Ventures, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Magnus Capital, Seedcamp, Lighthouse Ventures.
> The most appreciated industries: Ecommerce, Fintech, Analytics, AI, SaaS, Advertising, Big Data.
*35 rounds undisclosed in terms of transaction value
In the 4th quarter of 2021, 245 investment rounds were closed in Central and Eastern Europe, while only 155 were fully disclosed in terms of amount, month, participating investors and company details. According to fully disclosed data, 53 funding rounds took place in October, 41 in November and 61 in December and the total funding present on the market in 4Q reached the impressive amount of over €1B, which is slowly becoming a kind of a standard that CEE startups achieve each quarter. The number of investments in each month of the quarter basically remained at a similar level, only in November this statistics slightly decreased to 41 rounds. The most abundant month in terms of amounts of investment present on the market was December when startups collectively reached more than €480M which equates to almost half of total financing from 4Q. However, the estimated round of Polish Docplanner (approx. €132M) has been included in this calculation. During the remaining months, i.e. October and November, startups secured over €220M and €270M respectively. When it comes to the biggest disclosed investment rounds, they belonged to Polish Docplanner (Series F - approx. €132M), Bulgarian Gtmhub (Series C round - €105.6M), Bulgarian Payhawk (Series B round - €99.6M), Czech Rossum (Series A - €86M), Hungarian Bitrise (Series C - €53.5M) and Polish Ramp (Series A - €46.5M).
The most active countries in terms of the majority of funding rounds in Q4 were Poland, Estonia, Lithuania and Romania, which secured 102, 47, 23 and 23 rounds respectively. Looking closer at funding rounds amounts, Poland, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic recorded the highest value of investments reaching over €410M, €210M and €105M respectively. Estonia is also worth mentioning in this category as startups from this ecosystem raised over €88M.
When it comes to the most popular sectors, in the fourth quarter funds were mainly invested into Ecommerce, Fintech, Analytics, AI, SaaS, Advertising, Big Data, while the most active investors were Startup Wise Guys, X21 Digital, Earlybird Venture Capital, AU21 Capital, Black Pearls VC, Bonitas Ventures, Eleven Ventures, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Magnus Capital, Seedcamp, Lighthouse Ventures.
Take a look at CEE startup and VC market analysis from 4Q 2021.
Now let’s move to an overview of monthly analysis. The summary was prepared based on fully disclosed investment rounds (startup name, month of investment closure, amount, participating investors).
Investment rounds in December
> Number of funding rounds: 61
> The biggest investment rounds: Docplanner - Series F - €132M (estimation), Gtmhub - Series C - €105M, Ramp - Series A - €46.5M
> Total value of funding secured in CEE: over €480M
> Countries with the majority of funding rounds: Estonia - 17, Poland - 11 rounds, Lithuania - 8
> The most active VC fund: Startup Wise Guys, Lighthouse Ventures, BlackPearls VC, Eleven Ventures, J&T Ventures
> The most appreciated industries: Financial Services, IT, Analytics, AI, E-commerce, Internet of Things, SaaS.
In December the amount of financing obtained by CEE startups exceeded the value of €480M secured during 61 funding rounds. This time, Estonia took first place with 17 investment rounds, and was followed by Poland and Lithuania where startups secured 11 and 8 rounds respectively. The biggest investment rounds were secured by Polish Docplanner (Series F round of €132M*), Bulgarian Gtmhub (Series C of €105M), and Polish Ramp (Series A of €46.4M). Among the most active VC funds were Startup Wise Guys, Lighthouse Ventures, BlackPearls VC, Eleven Ventures, and J&T Ventures, whereas among the top areas that attracted investors’ attention were Financial Services, IT, Analytics, AI, E-commerce, Internet of Things and SaaS.
*estimated amount
Find out more: TOP CEE funding rounds closed in December
Investment rounds in November
> Number of funding rounds: 41
> The biggest investment round: Payhawk - Series B - €99.6M, Bitrise - Series C - €53.5M, Packhelp - Series B - €40M
> Total value of funding secured this in CEE: over €270M
> Countries with the majority of funding rounds: Estonia - 13 rounds, Poland - 6 rounds, Lithuania - 6 rounds
> The most active VC fund: Startup Wise Guys - in terms of number of investment rounds, Greenoaks, Eleven Ventures, Earlybird Venture Capital, QED Investors - in terms of participating in the biggest investment round (Payhawk’s).
> The most appreciated industries: E-commerce, Financial Services, Artificial Intelligence, Mobile apps.
November was the month with the fewest financial rounds during the entire quarter, however, the value of secured funding reached the amount of over €270M. The biggest funding rounds were secured by Bulgarian Payhawk (Series B of €99.6M), Hungarian Bitrise (Series C of €53.5M), and Polish Packhelp (Series B of €40M). Once again, Estonia was leading in terms of the majority of funding rounds followed by Poland and Lithuania, however it was Bulgaria that secured the most of the funding present on the market this month (over €140M out of €270M overall funding). Except for the very active Startup Wise Guys, VC funds activity was similar in terms of the number of investments this month, but Greenoaks, Eleven Ventures, Earlybird Venture Capital, QED Investors are worth featuring due to their contribution in the biggest round this month (Payhawk Series B round). Among the most appreciated industries were E-commerce, Financial Services, Artificial Intelligence, Mobile apps.
Find out more: TOP CEE funding rounds closed in November
Investment rounds in October
> Number of funding rounds: 53
> The biggest investment round: Rossum - Series A - €86M, PVcase - Series A - €19,9M, Resistant AI - Series A - €14.3M
> Total value of funding secured in CEE: over €220M
> Countries with the majority of funding rounds: Estonia - 17 rounds, Lithuania - 9 rounds, Poland - 8
> The most active VC fund: Startup Wise Guys - in terms of a number of funding rounds and Seedcamp, Miton, LocalGlobe, General Catalyst - in terms of participating in the biggest investment round (Rossum’s).
> The most appreciated industries: AI, E-commerce, Cleantech, Fintech, E-commerce, Cyber Security
October, the first month of 4Q, was just a foretaste of what has happened on the market in the last quarter of 2021. Startups this month secured 53 funding rounds with the total amount reaching over €220M, which was the lowest amount in the whole quarter. Estonian, Lithuanian and Polish ecosystems were leading in terms of the number of secured funding rounds (by landing 17, 9 and 8 rounds respectively), when it comes to the biggest investment rounds secured - it was Czech Rossum (Series A round of €86M), Lithuanian PVcase (Series A round of €19.9M) and Polish Resistant AI (Series A round of €14.3M). Taking a look at industries, AI, E-commerce, Cleantech, Fintech, E-commerce, Cyber Security were the most popular courses of investments in October, while among investors that are worth distinguishing were Seedcamp, Miton, LocalGlobe, and General Catalyst due to participating in the biggest round of the month - Rossum’s.
Find out more: TOP CEE funding rounds closed in October
Want to explore funded startups? Let’s take a look at a quick overview of Top 50 CEE startups that had their funding rounds closed between October and December!
Top 50 CEE startup funding rounds closed in 4Q 2021:
- Docplanner - Polish booking platform and management software provider for doctors.
- Gtmhub - Bulgarian cloud-based strategy execution platform that builds OKR software for enterprises.
- Payhawk - Bulgarian financial system that combines credit cards, payments, expenses, and cash into one integrated experience.
- Rossum - Czech AI-based cloud document gateway for automated business communication.
- Bitrise - Hungarian mobile DevOps platform built to address mobile’s challenges, empowering mobile teams to deliver their best work.
- Ramp - Polish company that connects blockchain with banks using open banking APIs.
- Lokalise - Latvian translation management system built for agile teams that want to automate their processes.
- Packhelp - Polish startup that simplifies creating, ordering and managing custom and sustainable packaging.
- SatRevolution - Polish manufacturer of nanosatellites.
- Infermedica - Polish digital health company specialized in AI-powered solutions for preliminary diagnosis and patient triage.
- PVcase - Lithuanian tool that automates 3D terrain-based solar engineering.
- Photoneo - Latvian provider of robotic vision and intelligence.
- Resistant AI - Polish startup protecting AI systems from targeted manipulation, adversarial machine learning attacks and advanced fraud.
- Spacelift - Polish operator of a terraforming platform used to manage any cloud, infrastructure, or service.
- Ready Player Me - Estonian metaverse avatar platform.
- Wolf3D - Estonian developer of 3D printing and scanning platform for virtual reality and games.
- kevin - Lithuanian open banking platform.
- FlowX.Ai - Romanian AI platform for digital transformation.
- Ampler Bikes - Estonian e-bikes producer.
- Roofit.Solar - Estonian producer of photovoltaic modules to be used as a replacement of standard roofing materials.
- Lingvist - Estonian language learning software based on mathematical optimization and statistical analysis.
- Higo Sense - Polish telemedical system for remote diagnostics
- Monimoto - Lithuanian designer and manufacturer of GPS trackers.
- Orgnostic - Serbian human capital analytics platform for startups.
- Ondato - Lithuanian startup working on KYC and AML management suite.
- Leanpay - Slovenian omni-channel POS financing company that aims to disrupt the consumer loans segment.
- Ambire - Bulgarian product company that develops the Ambire AdEx (previously AdEx Network) and Ambire Wallet (formerly AdEx Wallet).
- Kinderpedia - Romanian startup that simplifies communication between kindergartens, teachers and parents, by bringing them on the same platform.
- Recoshelf - Estonian startup using computer vision to empower retailers to sell more.
- Okredo - Lithuanian startup building an open data platform that allows companies to assess the credibility, financial strength and sales potential of business partners and other clients, and therefore make better business decisions.
- epeer - Polish deep-tech startup with a mission to revolutionize the customer risk assessment process.
- Vsight - Lithuanian augmented reality remote support and remote assistance software platform.
- Virbe - Polish SaaS startup offering a platform, where companies can create interactive Virtual Beings by utilizing existing tools and pipelines or designing them with Virbe platform built-in features.
- Amano.app - Polish startup reinventing the approach to post-shopping communication.
- Frisbo - Romanian e-fulfillment platform that is matching online stores with a network of trusted fulfillment operators & smart logistics providers.
- HeavyFinance - Lithuanian startup working on a marketplace connecting the global investor community with farmers.
- Doctor.One - Polish startup introducing a next-generation virtual clinic by allowing doctors to create and run a private medical practice in a subscription model.
- Talis - Estonian startup focused on helping higher education institutions reach their strategic goals around teaching & learning and student experience.
- wasp - a Croatian startup working on a programming language for building full-stack web applications.
- Licenseware - Romanian license management app ecosystem.
- Scramjet - Polish reactive data processing startup.
- Meredot - Latvian universal solution for wireless charging electric transport.
- Bonapp.eco - Romanian app that allows retailers to sell their goods nearing the expiration date to consumers.
- Erbeo - Czech startup building embedded financial products for merchants on marketplaces and platforms.
- DRONAMICS - Bulgarian aerial systems for shipping commercial and special cargo applications.
- TeamScope - Croatian talent analytics platform for executive search professionals.
- Juicy Marbles - Slovenian producer of marbled plant-based steaks.
- Credefi - Bulgarian startup connecting crypto lenders with SME borrowers from the fiat economy.
- Gelatex Technologies - Estonian startup developing special technology to produce nanofibers for various industries.
- Searadar - Lithuanian platform that offers yacht booking concierge services for charter captains.
If you have some insights about the report, drop me a line!
Want to get a more detailed view on the CEE Startup & VC Scene in 4Q 2021?
Discover our monthly reports:
TOP CEE funding rounds closed in October
TOP CEE funding rounds closed in November
TOP CEE funding rounds closed in December
Sources: Vestbee VC & startup community, startup press releases, web & social media monitoring, Crunchbase, PFR (Polish Development Fund).
Related Posts:
VC Funding in CEE Report - 3Q 2021 (by Konrad Koncerewicz, Head Of VC & Startups, Vestbee)
VC Funding in CEE Report - 2Q 2021 (by Konrad Koncerewicz, Head Of VC & Startups, Vestbee)
VC Funding in CEE Report - 1Q 2021 (by Konrad Koncerewicz, Head Of VC & Startups, Vestbee)
