In this conversation with The Recursive, Alexey Gubarev discusses what Cyprus has achieved, where its support for founders remains incomplete, and what it will take for more global technology businesses to originate on the island.
The Recursive’s weekly roundup aims to cover key tech developments across Central and Eastern Europe, as well as the growing impact of CEE-born founders on the global stage. Take a look at the latest news in funding, startup milestones, and emerging trends tied to the region’s innovation potential.
That stock option package looks great on paper, but turning it into cash is a whole different story. Long private delays, heavy tax burdens, and strict transfer rules are leaving European tech employees with empty pockets. How to determine what is your equity grant actually worth?
As the global AI race shifts toward infrastructure, sovereignty and real-world deployment, GITEX Global 2026 will bring technology leaders, governments and investors to Dubai to explore the breakthroughs, investment priorities and partnerships shaping 2027.
UFORCE, the Ukrainian company behind the MAGURA sea drones, has raised €630M ($700M) at a €5.4B ($6B) valuation in a round co-led by Valor Equity Partners and the UK National Wealth Fund.
How is digital transformation changing consumer lending, and what role will AI and human judgment play in the future of banking?
In this episode of The Recursive Podcast, we sit down with Mircea Gologan, Head of Consumer Lending Business at DSK Bank, to explore how one of Bulgaria's largest banks is rethinking lending in an increasingly digital and data-driven world.
In this conversation, you will hear about:
✓ How DSK combines customer feedback, behavioral analytics, and automated credit decision-making to deliver more personalized financial services.
✓ How banks balance digital innovation with responsible lending practices.
✓ How traditional banks are responding to growing competition from fintech companies.
✓ The growing role of AI-powered assistants in banking and financial services.
✓ Why human expertise remains essential in an increasingly automated industry.
✓ What the next generation of consumer lending could look like.
AI is transforming how companies operate, make decisions, and interact with customers. But as businesses rush to adopt new tools and increasingly autonomous AI agents, a critical question emerges: Are they moving faster than their security and governance can keep up?
In this episode of The Recursive's Roundtable, we explore the growing tension between innovation and control, and what it takes to adopt AI responsibly without slowing down progress.
The discussion brings together three experts from the AI, technology, and telecommunications sectors:
Plamen Nakov, Founder & CEO, DSS & alDentix
Tsvetina Lungarova, Data Protection Officer, Vivacom
Botty Dimanov, Co-founder & CEO, Tenyks
The conversation explores the risks of shadow AI, the differences in risk appetite between startups and large enterprises, and the challenges of protecting sensitive corporate and personal information. The speakers also discuss the role of trust, employee education, and human oversight, as well as AI's potential to strengthen cybersecurity by identifying vulnerabilities before attackers exploit them.
Key topics discussed:
☑️ Innovation vs. regulation: Is Europe's approach to AI governance slowing down innovation and putting European companies at a competitive disadvantage?
☑️ Data privacy and shadow AI: What happens to sensitive corporate and personal data shared with AI tools, and how can companies manage the risks?
☑️ AI agents and human oversight: How much autonomy should businesses give AI systems, and when should humans remain in control?
☑️ Trust, risk, and cybersecurity: How can companies balance AI adoption with security, and can AI itself become a tool for identifying and preventing cyber threats?
Three guests, three very different jobs, one thing in common: they're all in their twenties and already taking on a level of responsibility that usually comes later in a career.
In this episode of The Recursive Roundtable, we talk with Viktoriya Markileva (Head of Space Services at EnduroSat), Georgi Nichev (Marketing Specialist at Helios Marine, Co-Founder of Scylla), and Maria Nikolova (Strategic Partnerships Development Manager at BESCO) about what it's actually like to be trusted with real responsibility this early — what makes someone trust you with it, how they handle it, and whether a career needs to follow a clear path at all.
In this episode, we explore:
🟣 How Gen Zs think about failure,
🟣 what hustle culture looks like from the inside,
🟣 what progress actually means to them,
🟣 and whether they'd be willing to wait years for the next step in their career.
💡 This conversation is essential for entrepreneurs looking to hire young talent, and for any Gen Z professionals wondering if they are ready to take the leap into a leadership role.
Worker.ai, a company operating system for small businesses backed by Veeam founder Ratmir Timashev, has acquired Prague-based DeltaGen. All three founders are joining, and the team of around 10 people stays in Prague.
With an Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund already among its clients, Model ML has opened a Dubai office to expand across the GCC. Ajinkya Patwardhan explains why banks and investors are moving beyond general-purpose LLMs, how agentic AI is changing finance, and where human judgement remains essential.
Vilnius-based Biomatter has raised €16.2M ($18M) in a Series A led by Astanor. The money will go into a new enzyme design and testing facility in Vilnius and a bigger push into the US.
Following its expansion across Europe and beyond, the European Defense Tech Hub has brought its hackathon format to Sofia, gathering more than 80 participants.
Think serendipity is just luck? Diplomacy veteran Ewa Emilia Geresz disagrees. She argues that scaling Europe’s tech scene requires intentionally engineering chance encounters, from Berlin to Taipei. But first, regional ecosystems must trade old rivalries for genuine collaboration.
Czech medtech startup Kardi AI has raised €5.3M in a Series A round led by Callisto Health, which values the company at €23M. The money will fund its launch in Germany, India and the UAE and the development of models that predict the risk of arrhythmias.
Two months after acquiring Bulgarian legal tech company Praven Intelekt, Lexroom has launched lex, a WhatsApp-based AI agent designed to help lawyers manage daily tasks, conduct legal research, and draft documents.
From AI dental diagnostics to lab-grown skin, AI Dental and Ingenskin are expanding into Austria, drawn by research partnerships, access to public funding, and a stable environment for growth.
Aleksandra Tyurina of 13books Capital shares practical insights on approaching VCs, building investor relationships, scaling beyond domestic markets, and why execution matters more than previous founding experience.
Hedepy, the Prague-based online therapy platform operating in nine European countries, has secured €4M in venture debt from Orbit Capital to fund acquisitions and expand into clinical care and AI tools — aiming to consolidate Europe’s fragmented mental health market.
Valkyrie Dynamics, the Ukrainian-Lithuanian defense startup building a 100-gram radar seeker that lets low-cost drones intercept targets through cloud and fog, raised €1M in a pre-seed round led by Paris-based venture studio Hexa — developed and field-tested alongside operators in Kyiv.
As LAUNCHub Ventures continues with its third fund, General Partner Petar Tsachev explains what the firm looks for in early-stage founders, why AI alone is not a competitive advantage, and how investors can help startups prepare for their next funding round.
