Our last edtech list ranked the region by how much money it had raised. This one goes the other way, to the early end — the pre-seed and seed teams quietly building things worth paying attention to. Here are five CEE edtech startups to watch before everybody else catches on.
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.
Shelly's founders have agreed to a €1.2 billion offer from Schneider Electric, which wants to bring the Bulgarian company's home energy platform into its global business.
After operating without external funding for over a decade, Prague-based internet infrastructure provider CDN77 has sold a minority stake to private equity giant CVC.
After a decade of bootstrapping, Lithuanian web intelligence company Oxylabs took its first external investment at a €3.1B valuation. Its leadership explains why it chose a partner now and why it believes Europe can build global tech companies on its own terms.
In this episode of The Recursive Podcast, we sit down with Rakuten Viber CEO Ofir Eyal to discuss how the company is evolving beyond messaging through its partnership with OpenAI, the rise of AI-powered communication, and the long-term vision behind building a "super app."
The conversation explores how the company approaches privacy and responsible AI adoption, and why Europe has yet to embrace the super app model seen across Asia.
Ofir also reflects on his own journey from product manager to CEO, the leadership lessons he learned while navigating one of Viber's most challenging periods after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine.
In this episode:
☑️ Why Viber partnered with OpenAI
☑️ The future of AI inside messaging apps
☑️ Can Europe build a successful super app?
☑️ Privacy, security, and responsible AI adoption
☑️ How Viber makes money beyond messaging
☑️ Leadership lessons from scaling a global platform
☑️ Rebuilding after losing 40% of the business overnight
🎙️ Subscribe to The Recursive Podcast for conversations with the founders, investors, and technology leaders shaping the future of innovation across Central and Eastern Europe and beyond.
Can We Safely Live with Humanoid Robots? 🤖 In this fascinating episode of The Recursive Podcast, we sit down with Emily Kate Genatowski, an AI PhD candidate, historian and domestic robotics researcher who provides a unique, hands-on perspective on our future with machines. Unlike most researchers who work in controlled labs, Emily lives full-time with a humanoid robot named Tova (a Unitree G1) in her apartment in Vienna.
As the founder of PSL (Proportional Stake Liability), an insurtech startup bridging the liability gap in robotics, Emily’s career is dedicated to uncovering the practical, legal, and social friction points that arise when AI gains a physical body. She moves beyond the "AI hype" to explore how humanoid robotics will realistically intersect with our legal regulations, physical infrastructure, and the daily fabric of our communities.
🧠 Why Watch?
Whether you’re a tech optimist, a skeptic, or someone worried about the future of work, this conversation offers a grounded, practical look at the challenges ahead. Emily moves the needle from philosophical fear to practical empowerment, showing us that we are still the architects of the future we want to see.
What does AI engineering actually look like inside modern enterprises — and how close are we to truly autonomous software development?
In this episode of The Recursive Podcast, we sit down with Karol Przystalski, Chief Data and AI Officer at Exadel, to explore how organizations are moving beyond AI experimentation and into AI-native operations.
We discuss the evolution from AI copilots and coding assistants to fully orchestrated engineering systems, why many companies are measuring AI success incorrectly, and how enterprise leaders should think about ROI, productivity, and organizational change in the age of autonomous engineering.
Karol also shares insights into Exadel Colleague — an AI-powered engineering teammate designed to support entire software teams—and explains why the future of AI isn't about replacing humans, but helping them focus on higher-value work.
In This Episode:
🔹 Why AI adoption is shifting from experimentation to real business value
How enterprises have moved beyond AI proof-of-concepts and are now focused on productivity, efficiency, and measurable outcomes.
🔹 The difference between AI-enabled development and AI-native engineering
Why coding assistants are only the first step—and how autonomous systems are transforming entire software development lifecycles.
🔹 How to measure AI ROI beyond token usage
The metrics that actually matter, including productivity gains, human-equivalent hours saved, accuracy, and business impact.
🔹 The future of autonomous engineering and the role of humans
Why AI won't replace software engineers, but will fundamentally change how teams work and what skills will matter most.
🧠 Whether you're an engineering leader, CTO, product executive, or simply curious about the future of software development, this conversation offers a practical look at where enterprise AI is headed next.
Polish co-founded mika has raised €6M ($6.85M) in a seed round led by Smedvig Ventures. The startup's AI platform handles bookkeeping, VAT returns and annual accounts for more than 750 small German companies, with in-house accountants checking the work.
Make's Martin Hýravý cuts through the hype ahead of the Startup Revolution AI Summit, revealing why founders must ditch flashy tech for dull, reliable automations that actually bring value and drive revenue.
Think your business is saving millions on AI? Think again. Comparing cheap token bills to human salaries is a trap quietly blowing up enterprise budgets. How to redesign workflows to measure what actually matters?
Fresh off reaching profitability, FintechOS secured $28M in debt and equity to drive its US expansion. Backed by Santander CIB, Romanian-founded fintech is bringing AI to legacy banking, and aiming for massive growth across the pond.
The Belgrade-, Los Angeles- and Singapore-based firm is writing $200K to $1M cheques at pre-seed and seed, and it is betting that the region's best companies want a route out of the region.
Heading to Bucharest for How to Web Conference 2026? Investors from Eurazeo, Passion Capital, and Acurio spill what actually gets deals signed, and the red flags that kill pitches fast. Hint: faking the details won't fly.
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.
AI can churn out agency proposals swiftly, but speed has a risky side effect: perfectly formatted estimates that are completely wrong. Before you hand pre-sales over to algorithms, see why skipping human technical discovery costs far more than it saves.
86 global unicorns were (co)founded by someone from CEE. Together they are worth about $1.8 trillion. Only six of the 86 were founded in the founder's home country.
Estonian billing and monetisation startup Creem has raised €5 million in a seed round led by Polish fund Inovo VC, bringing its total funding to €7 million.
The Bulgarian satellite manufacturer has secured a massive new round to standardise spacecraft production, and blown past $1B valuation. By building satellites like drones, EnduroSat wants to slash the cost of space data and turn orbit into a profitable layer for any business.
Romanian-founded Veridion has raised a $20 million Series A led by Hoxton Ventures to expand its real-time "living digital replica" of the world's businesses. It is the company's largest round to date, and the latest sign of Hoxton's growing conviction in Romanian enterprise AI.
