Since the beginning of The Recursive, Western Balkans was a geographical category that encompassed part of the CEE region that didn’t have too much investment activity. Countries that we included in the mappings of Western Balkans were changing constantly, as some were maturing faster than the others, or as a specific year blessed one with more deals over the other. This year, there was a similar shift.
That shift pushed us to separate certain countries from the group before, and now we did same with Serbia. In 2024, the Western Balkans picture was different for that matter, as usually majority of rounds come from Serbia.
In the end, for 2025, we decided to ditch the term Western Balkans, and pinpoint for the mapping only countries that did actually have some substantial activity. That is Montenegro based and founded startup, with two Albanian/Kosovari diaspora founded ones.
Below, you can find the biggest H1 2025 funding rounds for Montenegrin, Albanian & Kosovar startup ecosystem, along with key details about the startups. Check the rest of the Central and Eastern Europe H1 2025 mappings here.
This article is part of the CEE funding mapping series, done with the support of Dealigence platform. Please feel free to contact us if we missed something: [email protected]. / If the deal’s original currency wasn’t the euro, we convert it to the ratio listed on the publishing day.
Montenegro, Albania & Kosovo Startup H1 2025 Funding
Tive
(Albanian-founded; USA based – substantial workforce in Kosovo)
About: Provides real-time supply chain visibility solutions for shippers, logistics providers, and retailers to monitor shipment location and condition, reducing delays and losses through a cloud platform and patented sensor technology.
Founders: Krenar Komoni
Vertical: Logistics
Latest round: $40M (€34.58M)
Stage: Series C
Investors: AXA Venture Partners; Plug and Play; Broom Ventures; One Way Ventures; World Innovation Lab; Fifth Wall; Qualcomm Ventures; Accomplice; Two Sigma Ventures; Hyperplane VC; NextView Ventures; RRE Ventures; Supply Chain Ventures; Sorenson Capital; SJF Ventures; Sageview Capital; Bolt; Floating Point
Total funding: €104.86M
hellocare AI
(Kosovari founded; Florida, USA-based – majority of workforce in Kosovo)
About: hellocare is an end-to-end telehealth and virtual healthcare delivery platform that enhances care delivery between providers and patients through various solutions like Virtual Patient Observation, Telehealth, and Remote Patient Monitoring, along with AI applications for fall prevention.
Founders: Labinot Bytyqi (CEO); Mimoza Bytyqi (COO); Egzon Zeneli (Chief Development Officer)
Vertical: Health
Latest round: $47M (€40.42M)
Stage: Series A
Investors: Mayo Clininc; OSF Ventures; HealthQuest Capital; LRVHealth; Bon Secours Mercy Health; UCHealth; EPOS; OSF Ventures
Total funding: €50.25M
Earthcare AI
(Montenegro based and founded)
About: Specializes in providing comprehensive climate and severe weather data analytics through one-stop platform that aggregates over 25 types of climate and severe weather data from hundreds of global sources. Serving a diverse range of clients including insurance companies, government agencies, and organizations focused on sustainability and environmental impact.
Founders: Gorjan Jovanovski (CEO), Dragan Gelevski (CTO)
Vertical: Climate tech
Latest round: $350K (€300K)
Stage: Pre-Seed
Investors: South Central Ventures; Zephyr Angels
Total funding: €404K
Other important deals and exits
In May 2025, Albania’s government has announced a €8.8 million investment in the AI startup** **Machine Thinking Lab, founded by Albanian AI expert, ex-OpenAI CTO, Mira Murati. This decision marks the first revision of the state budget for 2025.
In March 2025, Shop Circle, global software company that runs more than 100,000 e-commerce brands, has successfully concluded the Series B, securing $60 million (€51.87m) fresh capital. Over the past three years, Shop Circle has invested about $20 million (€17.29m) in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and currently employs 110 IT experts in Sarajevo, which has become the company’s main operational headquarters.
Albanian-American entrepreneur and Ava Labs co-founder Kevin Sekniqi has made his first investment through the K4S6 fund, acquiring equity in Patoko– Albania’s fastest-growing mobility and service-booking platform. Launched last year to support high-potential Albanian startups, K4S6 selected Patoko after an extensive vetting process, highlighting the growing maturity and investor appeal of Albania’s startup ecosystem.
