In Q1 2025, the CEE startup ecosystem reached a total worth of nearly €243 billion with more than 3,800 active startups and 275 scaleups. The pace showcases a consistent growth from 2020’s €180 billion valuation, although with some downturns during the epidemics period and problems with late-stage funding.
In the fifth annual report on startups and venture capital in Central and Eastern Europe, Dealroom has presented its CEE startup scene in 2025 report. It was created in partnership with Cogito Capital, Shape Capital Partners, and Vestbee. AIN shares main takeaways from the report below.
General numbers
- The Central and Eastern European startup ecosystem is constantly evolving, reaching €243 billion in total worth as of 2025. The number shows a growth of nearly 24.6% since 2022 (excluding the 2021 record).
- Throughout its tech hubs, the region has more than 3,800 active startups and 275 scaleups.
- Poland is leading the way with a combined enterprise value of €58 billion as of Q1 2025, followed by Estonia with €39 billion worth and Ukraine with €30 billion total value.
- Over the past 5 years, the Lithuanian ecosystem has shown the fastest growth rate of its total enterprise value, seeing the increase of 5.9x since 2020. Serbia and Latvia are tied for second place growing 4.1x in 5 years. And Ukraine is third, with 3.7x growth.
Screenshots here and below are from Dealroom report
- In the previous year of 2024, companies from the CEE region raised a total of €2.3 billion in VC investments, which is €200 million more compared to 2023.
- The stage distribution is relatively equal: pre-seed to Series A deals had €764 million, Series B-C deals secured €703 million, while later stage companies raised €818 million.
Most prominent scaleup hubs
- Poland is also leading in total scaleup number with 60 companies. Estonia boasts the highest ratio of scaleups to population share in the CEE region with 54 companies.
- Estonia has the highest breakout capital securing €312 million, while Czechia (€255 million thanks to Rohlik and Mews), Ukraine (€182 million — Creatio and others), and Belarus (Flo Health) have seen the largest late-stage investments since 2024.
“Ukraine's tech sector has demonstrated strong resilience amidst Russia's invasion, amounting to 5% of the Ukraine GDP in 2024 with export revenues from IT services reaching $6.7 billion in 2023,” says Ketevan Lipartelian, Europe Digital Lead in IFC.
- Interestingly, one of the problems observed in the CEE region is the increasingly prominent relocation rate. Almost half of CEE scaleups moved their HQ to another country than their country of origin.
- Unfortunately, Ukraine is leading the list, with over 90% relocating to other countries, due to the full-scale war which still rages on for three years now.
Unicorns in CEE
- 57 Unicorns have emerged from the CEE region over the last five years, with 80% of them receiving VC or Growth Capital support at some stage of their development.
- A new generation of CEE startups and scaleups is being driven by former unicorn employees who have transitioned into entrepreneurship, with over 300 former unicorn employees becoming (co-)founders of new CEE startups.
Most funded industries
- Transportation, fintech, and energy sectors received the most funding in 2024, while enterprise software, transportation, and fintech sectors had the largest amounts of funding between 2020 and 2024.
- Following the russian invasion in Ukraine, CEE has also become a defence tech hub worldwide. Over 100 defense and dual-use startups, many actively deployed in Ukraine, are now based in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). Most of these startups are at their early stages, with 90% still at seed and Series A stages and 37% founded since 2020.
The main takeaway from the report is that the region's late-stage funding is still scarce, which hinders systematic value creation. SaaS historically thrived due to easier bootstrapping, while capital-intensive deep tech remains underdeveloped. The report also highlighted that overcoming these obstacles is crucial for CEE's next growth phase.
Read more: The CEE startup ecosystem is worth €243B in 2025 – Dealroom report
