Welcome to The Recursive’s new weekly roundup covering key tech developments across Central and Eastern Europe, as well as the growing impact of CEE-born founders on the global stage. Each edition brings you the latest in funding, product milestones, and emerging trends tied to the region’s potential.
This week, one of the standout global headlines came from Silicon Valley, where Thinking Machines Lab, the AI startup founded by former OpenAI CTO, Albanian-born Mira Murati, closed a record-breaking $2 billion seed round, valuing the company at $12 billion.
Back in the CEE, regional founders remain active across sectors such as defense, healthtech, DevOps, and finance. Here are the key stories from this week’s roundup.
CEE Diaspora
Bulgarian-founded Varda Space Industries has raised €160M in Series C funding to scale its microgravity drug manufacturing and hypersonic reentry tech, bringing total funding to €282M. The El Segundo-based company is pioneering space-based pharmaceutical crystallization, with a focus on monoclonal antibodies.
UK-based digital health startup Numan, founded by Greek entrepreneur Sokratis Papafloratos, has raised €49M to fuel international expansion amid surging demand for GLP-1 weight loss drugs like Wegovy and Mounjaro. Since launching its obesity treatment program in late 2023, Numan’s revenue more than doubled to €77M in 2024, with weight loss now accounting for the bulk of its business. The funding supports Numan’s shift toward becoming a key provider of medical weight loss solutions across Europe.
Spacelift, a DevOps startup founded in Poland and now based in California, has raised €43.63M in Series C funding to expand its AI-powered infrastructure orchestration platform. The company, led by Paweł Hytry and Marcin Wyszynski, helps enterprises manage complex multi-cloud environments with tools like Terraform and Ansible — used by clients including NYSE, Cisco, and Duolingo. The round was backed by Five Elms Capital, Endeavor Catalyst, and Polish Inovo.vc.
Console, a startup founded by Romanian entrepreneur Andrei Șerban, has raised €5.33 million in growth funding from Thrive Capital to expand its AI-powered IT support platform. The tool, which integrates directly into Slack, automates routine tasks like password resets and app access requests, easing the workload for IT teams.
CEE-based
Bulgarian-founded Paypercut has raised €2M in pre-seed funding to launch a BNPL aggregator for emerging Europe, aiming to simplify fragmented pay-later options for SMBs through a single integration. Founded in 2025, the platform helps merchants in markets like Bulgaria, Romania, and Greece boost conversions by connecting to multiple BNPL providers at once. The round was led by Concentric, Passion Capital, supported by RTP Global, Tuesday Capital, Robin Capital, Angel Invest Ventures, and angel investors.
Ukrainian defense startup The Fourth Law has revealed that it secured investment from a consortium of venture capital firms and angel investors located across the EU, USA, and Canada, reported AIN. The exact funding amount and identities of the backers remain confidential. The announcement was made via AIN.
Beyond borders
Thinking Machines Lab, the AI startup founded by former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati, has officially closed a $2 (€1.72) billion seed round, one of the largest in Silicon Valley history. The round was led by Andreessen Horowitz with participation from major tech players including Nvidia, Accel, ServiceNow, Cisco, AMD, and Jane Street, pushing the company’s valuation to $12 (€10.31) billion.
Founded less than a year ago, Thinking Machines Lab has yet to fully reveal its product, but Murati hinted in a recent post on X that a launch is expected in the coming months. She shared that the company’s first offering will include a “significant open source” component aimed at researchers and startups building custom AI models.
Murati also noted that Thinking Machines plans to contribute to the research community by sharing insights into frontier AI systems.
