聚焦高成长企业

March 2025 Table of Content Co-authors: Sylwester JanikGeneral PartneratCogito CapitalPartners Norbert KruszewskiPrincipalatCogito CapitalPartners Scope of The ReportExecutive SummaryIntroduction Andreas NemethManaging PartneratSHAPE CapitalPartners Georg IoannidisManaging PartneratSHAPE CapitalPartners 1.A Promising Scaleup Pipeline2.CEEʼs Scaleup Hubs3.CEEʼs Next Growth Sectors4.The Investors Behind CEE Scaleups5.OutlookMethodology & Definitions Konrad KoncerewiczHead of Startups & VCatVestbee Ewa ChronowskaCEOatVestbee LouisGeoffroy-TerrynHead of Research OpsatDealroom.co Aliaksei VinchoResearch AssociateatDealroom.co With contributions from: Ketevan LipartelianiEurope Regional Lead,Disruptive Tech & FundsatIFC Patric GreskoHead of Mandates &Institutional Relationsfor CEEatEIF Scope of the report CEE diaspora & affiliated startups Startups founded and scaled abroad, with (co-)founders from, and/or intellectualproperty grown, and/or funding secured in, the region CEE-founded startups Startups originating in the region, which moved their main place ofbusiness elsewhere as they scaled. Scope of the analysis CEE countries in this reportAlbania, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, This report covers startups, i.e. companies designed to grow fast(see methodology section,fromthe CEE region.This year, the report focuses onscaleups,i.e. startups at breakout stage, which have raised €15M+ since inception. Estonia, Hungary, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Montenegro, NorthMacedonia, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Ukraine. Executive summary CEE Scaleups are hungryfor internationalexpansion. Unlocking late-stagefunding to propel CEE'snext growth phase. Strong outcomes in CEEdespite historicallylimited capital. CEE startups have achieved strongoutcomes,despite historically limitedcapital. Enterprise value and VC fundinghave grown, but on a per capita basis(EV/capita, scaleups/capita, funding/GDP),the region remains under tapped. To scale effectively, internationalexpansion is essential.Half of CEEscaleups relocate, often to markets like theUS, where presence is essential for globalexpansion, or where scaling is easier,notably owing to the availability of(growth) capital. Late-stage funding remains scarce in theregion,limiting systematic value creation.CEE countries vary widely in startupdensity, funding volume, and growth.Historically, SaaS thrived due to easierbootstrapping, while capital-intensiveDeep Tech remains underdeveloped.Unlocking these barriers is key to CEEʼsnext growth phase. ▊Early▊Breakout & Late The CEEEcosystem isworth €243B In 2021 public markets sawtech stocks soar withseveral public CEEunicorns reaching highvaluations which weresubsequently partly offsetowing to marketcorrection. The CEEEcosystem grewfaster thanEurope in thelast decade CEE createsvalue in spite oflimited fundingavailable, butthere is muchuntappedpotential tounlock Scaleups in CEE grow fasterand reach $1BN throughbootstrapping more oftenthan their Europeancounterparts. This isremarkable, given the limitedavailability of growth capitalin in the past 10 years. Butmuch more can be achievedgiven the underindexing ofthe region on most maturitymetrics. 1A Promising Scaleup Pipeline 2CEEʼs Scaleup Hubs 4The Investors Behind CEE Scaleups 5Outlook Appendix: Methodology The CEE Unicorn Club50+ Unicorns 80% of CEE unicorns were backed byVC or Growth Capital at some point Central and Eastern Europe hasproduced 57 unicorns Share of VC-backed v bootstrapped unicorns by country of origin Former employees of CEE Unicorns turn to entrepreneurship, shaping the nextgeneration of startups and scaleups in the region 300+ former unicorn-employees turned (co-)founders of CEE startups*» view more 74% of CEEʼs VCinvestment hasgone to breakoutand late stagefunding Between 2020 and 2024,there were around 250breakout and late stagerounds in CEE, which isaround 4% of all CEE VCrounds, and 4850 in Europe,accounting for approximately7% of all European VCrounds. CEE companiesraised €2.3B ofVC in 2024 €442M has been raised in Q12025, which is 78% of theamount raised in Q1 2024. Breakout stage raised over €700Min VC investment in 2024 Early-stage investment in 2024was at 89% of the 2023 level and53% of the 2021 peak After a drop in 2023, late stage VCinvestment has nearly tripledcompared to its previous level Marketing:no-code CRM automationplatform Health:femtech app Food:online grocery delivery service Top rounds inCEE since 2024 €182MJun 2024 - Late VC Energy & Transportation:EV batterymanufacturer Travel & fintech:property managementsystem Transportation:autonomous mobilitysolutions €100MDec 2024 - Series C €100M + €68MMar 2024 - Late VCMarch 2025 - Late VC €100MFeb 2024 - Series A Robotics & transportation:autonomousdelivery services Real Estate:rental managementplatform €81MFeb 2024 - Late VC €60MDec 2024 - Growth Equity VC €81MSep 2024 - Series A