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.
CEE news & deals
Czech AI startup BottleCap AI, founded by Jaroslav Beck, Tomas Mikolov, and David Herel, has secured a $7.5 million (€6.38 million) seed round led by 20VC. The raise also includes backing from a group of prominent angel investors, among them Lovable founder Anton Osika, Canva co-founder Cliff Obrecht, Seznam.cz founder Ivo Lukacovic, Julien Codorniou, and Czech VC firm Rockaway Ventures.
Greek-founded Pallma AI has raised a $1.6M (€1.36M) pre-seed round led by Marathon Venture Capital to build the security layer for autonomous AI agents as enterprises rapidly adopt agentic AI systems. It will be spent on expanding the team across London and Athens, accelerating product development, and meeting rapidly growing enterprise demand.
Croatian InsiderCX secures a €1.5M seed round to expand its AI-powered patient experience platform. The round was funded by Led by GapMinder, with participation from existing venture partner Silicon Gardens Fund.
Munich-based Arctis AI with Polish roots raised around €1 million to further develop its AI platform to manage construction contracts across complex infrastructure projects. The round was backed by PT1 (lead), EWOR, Superangels, and angels including Alexander Schwörer (PERI), Sebastian Johnston (La Famiglia), Christian Vollmann (C1 Green Chemicals), Daniel Bronk (B+V Union), and Christian Marquart (Marvel Fusion).
EnduroSat announced that it has been awarded a contract under the Missile Defense Agency’s Scalable Homeland Innovative Enterprise Layered Defense (SHIELD) indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) program. The SHIELD contract encompasses a wide range of mission areas and is designed to enable the rapid delivery of innovative capabilities with greater speed and flexibility.
Other deals
AROBS Transilvania Software (BVB: AROBS), the largest tech company listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange, has agreed to acquire Quest Global Romania, part of Quest Global Engineering Services. The deal will be completed entirely through newly issued AROBS shares, with no cash involved and a one-year lock-up on the shares. This marks AROBS’ first fully equity-funded acquisition, aligning with its post-Main Market M&A strategy and broader growth plans.
Bulgarian luxury footwear and handbag brand BY FAR has a new owner: Krista Ruseva, daughter of businessman Spas Rusev. The original company behind the brand, founded in 2016, has gone bankrupt, and BY FAR is now operated by a newly formed entity without any of the brand’s three original founders. The new company holds the trademark licenses and plans to continue developing the brand, with a strategy focused on more measured growth and a strong emphasis on the U.S. market.
