Since the beginning of 2024 things in the AI domain have been on a positive trajectory for Poland. In January, €73.6M Series B investment propelled Polish ElevenLabs and its text-to-speech synthesizer to a unicorn status at only 2 years of age.
Throughout the year, the Polish AI startups attracted almost €171M, almost double the 2023’s amount of €91M. Notable rounds were raised by Campus AI (€9.2M), Nomagic (€8M), Synerise (€7.8M), SKY ENGINE AI (€6.4M), and Edrone (€4.7M).
In the region, Poland leads in the number of deals, solidifying its position as a CEE hub for AI. This success is driven by its strong entrepreneurial heritage, focus on early-stage startups, substantial capital injection, and dedication to advancing AI education.
On the investment side, the past two years Polish venture capitalists are increasingly raising larger amounts of private capital and participating in higher rounds of co-investment. According to the research done for the State of AI in CEE 2024, 9 Polish VC funds raised fresh money in 2024, amounting to €430.43M.
The information in this article is based on The Recursive’s State of AI in 2024 report. Download it here and get the latest insights about the CEE startup ecosystem.
When it comes to the ecosystem, one of the most prominent stakeholders – Digital Poland Association (DPA), is on the roll. This year DPA established CEE Digital Coalition as an informal gathering of digital and advanced technology organizations from Central and Eastern Europe. They also started the AIPoland initiative to promote the Polish AI ecosystem and enable collaboration between Polish and foreign entities in various areas.
Separately, formed as a sort of a lobby group, Poland established an AI Chamber. Its aim is to support the responsible development of AI in CEE through various activities – from researching the market, through assisting in implementing AI solutions in different areas of the economy.
Last but not least, important news in the AI domain for Poland this year was the start of their Polish-language equivalent of ChatGPT, called PLLuM (Polish Large Language Universal Model), designed to be open-source and freely available.
Startups raising from local and international VCs
As data from the report shows, Poland’s startup ecosystem continues to thrive, with notable new companies gaining traction:
- CampusAI raised €10M in pre-seed funding to develop a virtual AI training platform offering customizable learning paths.
- Proofs secured €2.4M from Bek Ventures, Expeditions Fund, Step Function Ventures, RTP Global, and angel investors to streamline the proof-of-concept process for API-centric software sales.
- Zeta Labs raised €2.7M to expand its AI agent, JACE, in a funding round led by Daniel Gross and Nat Friedman, with participation from Bek Ventures, Kaya VC, Bartek Pucek, Mati Staniszewski, and others.
- Smartschool secured €1.42M from Inovo VC, The Explorer Fund, and angel investors, including Andreas Michaelides and Konrad Howard, for its K-12 AI learning assistant, Yoko.
- Quantia raised €1.14M from Inovo VC and Team X to optimize product sales for enterprises using AI-driven market insights.
Looking ahead, the Polish startup ecosystem is the one who has the potential to progress in an Western style. Given their financial capabilities, the skilled population and the country brand which already attracted names as OpenAI, this CEE country is on its way to make big waves in the startup world.
