In 2025, CEE continued to produce new unicorns in various verticals: language learning, hospitality software, AI security and fintech. CEE-rooted companies proved that billion-dollar valuations are no longer the exception.
Throughout the year, The Recursive closely followed this momentum. Ukrainian-founded language learning platform Preply reached a $1.2 billion valuation after raising a $150 million Series D, while Czech-born hospitality tech company Mews surged to a $2.5 billion valuation. AI security startup Cyberhaven, with Romanian and Ukrainian roots, joined the unicorn conversation alongside Monobank, the Ukrainian fintech that hit the $1 billion mark.
In 2026, The Recursive surveyed 22 CEE VCs to uncover the unicorn potential of regional players.
Check out the list below (in alphabetical order).
Bible Chat
(Romania)
About: Provides a faith-based app that aims to help Christians seek peace and support daily through biblical teachings.
Founders: Marius Iordache, Laurențiu-Victor B.
Vertical: FaithTech
Latest round: €12.76M
Stage: Series A
Investors: True Ventures, Early Game Ventures, Play Ventures, Silicon Gardens, Underline Ventures
Total funding: €12.76M
DruidAI
(Romania)
About: Human-centric agent-based AI platform that develops and manages intelligent agents for enterprises, simplifying processes, enhancing interactions, and delivering measurable business impact with enterprise-grade security, governance, and on-premises, cloud or hybrid deployment options.
Founders: Liviu Dragan (late), Andreea Plesea
Vertical: Enterprise AI
Latest round: €26.37M
Stage: Series C
Investors: Cipio Partners, Hoxton Ventures, Karma Ventures, Smedvig, TQ Ventures, Alfabeat, GapMinder Venture Partners, SeedBlink, and others
Total funding: €69.75M
EnduroSat
(Bulgaria)
About: Engineers, builds, and operates satellites for space missions in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and beyond, managing everything from mission design to launch and operations. Targets customers in the space industry seeking streamlined satellite solutions.
Founders: Raycho Raychev
Vertical: Space tech
Latest round: €90M
Stage: Series B / Growth
Investors: Riot Ventures, Google Ventures (GV), Lux Capital, the European Innovation Council Fund, Shrug Capital, Founders Fund, Ceecat Capital, Morphosis Capital, Freigeist Capital, Neo Ventures
Total funding: €152.25M
Oddin.gg
(Czech Republic)
About: B2B esports betting provider delivering an end-to-end ecosystem: multi-award-winning odds feed, risk management, iFrame solution, widgets, live esports data, 24/7 content and marketing services.
Founders: Marek Suchar, Prokop Simon
Vertical: B2B iGaming
Latest round:€3.83M
Stage: Series A
Investors: Genting Ventures, Presto Ventures, Velo Partners
Total funding: N/A
Orqa FPV
(Croatia)
About: Designs and manufactures advanced FPV and unmanned aerial systems for defense and enterprise clients, with vertically integrated design-to-production control that enables component-level optimization across the supply chain.
Founders: Srđan Kovačević, Ivan Jelušić, Vlatko Matijevic
Vertical: Defense Tech
Latest round: €5.8M
Stage: Seed
Investors: Lightspeed Venture Partners, Radius Capital, Decisive Point, Day One Capital
Total funding: €6.97M
Pactum AI
(Estonia)
About: An AI-based system enables global companies to conduct automated, personalized commercial negotiations at scale, facilitating win-win agreements through a user-friendly chat interface that incorporates effective negotiation strategies.
Founders: Kaspar Korjus, Martin Rand, Kristjan Korjus
Vertical: Enterprise AI
Latest round: €45.93M
Stage: Series C
Investors: Karma Ventures, Tyson Ventures, 3VC, Atomico, Maersk Growth, PortfoLion, Project A, Superangel
Total funding: €92.71M
ResistantAI
(Czech Republic)
About: AI-powered document fraud detection platform that verifies PDFs and images (bank statements, IDs, pay stubs, utility bills, tax forms) across languages via drag-and-drop or API.
Founders: Lukas Machlica, Jan Jusko, Martin Gril, Karel Bartos, Martin Vejman, Josef Stach, Jan De Waard
Vertical: AI Fraud Detection
Latest round: €21.26M
Stage: Series B
Investors: DTCP, GV (Google Ventures), Notion Capital
Total funding: €46.78M
SEON
(Hungary)
About: Fraud prevention and AML compliance platform for companies that enriches customer profiles, flags suspicious behavior, and streamlines compliance workflows.
Founders: Tamas Kadar
Vertical: RegTech
Latest round: €68.04M
Stage: Series C
Investors: Sixth Street Growth, Creandum, Firebolt Ventures, Hearst Ventures, IVP, Discovery Ventures, PortfoLion
Total funding: €159.91M
