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The new investment destination: Southeast Europe startups & scaleups have raised $2.5+ billion in 2021

The founders of best funded Southeast Europe Startups in 2021
Image credit: From upper left clockwise: Daniel Dines, UiPath; Alex Chatzieleftheriou, Blueground; Silvio Kutić, Infobip; Teo Blidarus and Sergiu Negut, FintechOS; Konstantin Djengozov, Hristo Borisov, CEO Boyko Karadzhov, Payhawk; Ivan Osmak, Gtmhub;

As we wrap up 2021, it’s time to look at all the funding rounds in Southeast Europe that were closed during the past 12 months. When it comes to tech investments, we are saying goodbye to the strongest year in the history of the region – The Recursive team counted more than 210 deals of total value of over $2.55B (€2.25B). The number is likely higher knowing that multiple transactions have not been disclosed yet.

One of the most positive trends is that the number of businesses reaching later growth stages is increasing. While UiPath’s $750M Series F holds the crown for biggest round in Southeast Europe for 2021, we can see 25 other companies closing an investment larger than $10M. In previous years, Series B, Series C and Growth rounds were mostly exceptions, now we can see 16 of them. Next to 25 new Series A rounds.  

Enterprise software, martech, and fintech remain leading verticals with companies operating in these sectors gathering $925M (mostly UiPath and Gtmhub), $520M (mostly Infobip), and $379M respectively. It’s worth noting that the fintech industry seems the most mature one with six representatives among the top 15 best funded in 2021. Proptech has also been on the rise with over $204M raised whereas healthtech solutions have been backed with close to $50M. On the not so positive side, none of the really big funding rounds have gone to companies with female founders.

For the purposes of this summary, we are considering only companies that have been founded and grown in Southeast Europe. Therefore, the $150M round of Romanian-founded Proportunity, the $100M round of US-Bulgarian Hyperscience, the $60M round of UK-Greek Lifebit and similar are not included. 

Funding rounds in Southeast Europe in 2021

You can click on the links to learn more about the companies and their latest funding rounds.

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Company name Total investments in 2021: USD Country Industry Funding type
UiPath $750M Romania Enterprise software Series F
Infobip $500M Croatia Martech Debt
Blueground $180M Greece Proptech Series C
Gtmhub $150M Bulgaria Enterprise Software Series B + C
Payhawk $132M Bulgaria Fintech Series A + B
Rimac Automobili $85M Croatia Automotive Growth equity
Viva Wallet $80M Greece Fintech Growth equity
FintechOS $60M Romania Fintech Series B
Flexcar $59M Greece Automotive Series B
ReversingLabs $56M Croatia Cybersecurity Series B
Hellas Direct $38M Greece Fintech Growth equity + Debt
LearnWorlds $32M Greece Edtech Growth equity
Gideon Brothers $31M Croatia Shipping and logistics Series A
Fonoa $25M Croatia Fintech Series A
Plum $24M Greece Fintech Series A
Photomath $23M Croatia Edtech Series B
Byrd $19M Greece Shipping and logistics Series B
Causaly $17M Greece Healthtech and life sciences Series A
Tenderly $15.3M Serbia Dev Tools, Blockchain Series A
TileDB $14.6M+ (undisclosed) Greece Dev Tools, Growth Equity
EnduroSat $14.1M Bulgaria Deep tech and space Series A + Debt
Cognism $12.5M North Macedonia Martech Series B
Intelligencia $12M Greece Healthtech and life sciences Series A
Hack the box $10.6M Greece Cybersecurity Series A
.lumen $10.1M Romania Healthtech and life sciences Grant
OfficeRnD $10M Bulgaria Proptech Series A
Humans $9.6M Romania Digital media Crypto sale
Memgraph $9M Croatia Dev Tools Seed
Flowx.ai $8.5M Romania Enterprise Software Seed
Cube RM $8M Greece Enterprise Software Series A
Augmenta $8M Greece Agritech Series A
Instant Factoring $7.1M Romania Fintech Series A
BoBConcierge $6.8M Romania Proptech Series A
Dronamics $6.8M Bulgaria Deep tech and space Beam market + Crowdfunding
Deep Sea $5.7M Greece Shipping and logistics Series A
Orgnostic $5M Serbia HR tech Seed
Anodyne Nanotech $4.2M Greece Healthtech and life sciences Seed
Locktrip $4.1M Bulgaria Traveltech Growth equity
Prosperty $3.7M Greece Proptech Seed
Seedblink $3.6M Romania Fintech Series A
Pop Market $3.4M Greece Retail and eCommerce Seed
Scaleflex $3M Bulgaria Dev tools, Martech Series A
Better Origin $3M Greece Agritech Seed
Leanpay $2.8M Slovenia Fintech Series A
FameUp $2.8M Romania Martech Seed
Druid AI $2.6M Romania Enterprise Software Series A
Kriptomat $2.5M Greece Fintech Seed
Phos $2.3M Bulgaria Fintech Seed
Ambire $2.2M Bulgaria Fintech Seed
Perceptual Robotics $2.2M Greece Cleantech and green energy Seed
Ariadne Maps $2.2M Greece Retail and eCommerce Seed
Frisbo $2M Romania Shipping and logistics Seed
Kinderpedia $2M Romania Edtech Series A
Anari $2M Serbia Dev tools Seed
Code of Talent $1.9M Romania Edtech Series A
Econic One $1.9M Bulgaria Transportation and mobility Seed
Rolla $1.8M Bosnia and Herzegovina Sportstech Series A
Bright Spaces $1.7M Romania Proptech Seed
Biopix-t $1.7M Greece Healthtech and life sciences Seed
Orqa $1.7M Croatia Deep tech and space Seed
Trickest $1.6M Serbia Cybersecurity Seed
FantasticStay $1.6M Bulgaria Proptech Seed
Be-On $1.5M Croatia Fintech Seed
CodeBGP $1.5M Greece Dev Tools, Cybersecurity Seed
Global Database $1.5M Romania Enterprise Software Seed
Wasp $1.4M Croatia Dev Tools Seed
Questo $1.4M Romania Traveltech Seed
Mindsmiths $1.3M Croatia Enterprise Software Seed
Bunnyshell $1.3M Romania Dev Tools Seed
Ondo $1.2M Bulgaria Agritech Seed
Stailer $1.2M Romania Beauty tech Pre-Seed
Bespot $1.2M Greece Retail and eCommerce Seed
Finloup $1.2M Greece Fintech Pre-seed
ZenArt $1.2M Bulgaria Digital media Seed
Robotiq.ai $1.1M Croatia Enterprise Software Seed
Milluu $1.05M Romania Proptech Seed
Daibau $1M+ (undisclosed) Slovenia Construction Series A
Coursedot $1M Bulgaria Edtech Series A
Klear Lending $0.95M Bulgaria Fintech
Petmall $0.95M Bulgaria Retail and eCommerce
WeSave $0.95M Bulgaria
Cleantech and renewable energy
SanoPass $0.9M Romania Healthtech and life sciences Seed
Quendoo $0.89M Bulgaria Traveltech Series A
Plant an app $0.86M Romania Dev Tools Seed
BeMe.ai $0.8475M Bulgaria Healthtech and life sciences Pre-seed
Avrio $0.83M Cyprus Enterprise Software Pre-seed
Extasy $0.775M Romania Martech Seed
Telios Care $0.73M Romania Healthtech and life sciences Seed
Processio $0.73M Romania Enterprise Software Seed
ProductLead $0.7M Romania Martech Seed
Assen Aero $0.7M Bulgaria Deep tech and space
Addit.tech $0.63M Bulgaria Retail and eCommerce Seed
Storis (Voxa) $0.63M Romania Digital media Seed
Noviotik $0.62M Bulgaria
Healthtech and life sciences
Rubicon $0.6M Albania Fintech Seed
Finqware $0.6M Romania Fintech Seed
Boleron $0.6M Bulgaria Fintech Seed
Hyperhuman $0.6M Romania Sportstech Seed
Oveit $0.6M Romania Martech Seed
Metasim $0.6M Bulgaria Edtech Seed
Vital Concept $0.6M Bulgaria Food & Beverage
Siscale $0.56M Romania Cybersecurity Seed
Sypher $0.5M Romania Enterprise Software Seed
EcoTree $0.5M Romania Cleantech and renewable energy Seed
Upgrade Academy $0.47M Romania Edtech Seed
Yload $0.43M Romania Shipping and logistics Seed
Yepp $0.4M Romania Gaming Pre-seed
PlanDelta $0.4M Bulgaria Fintech Pre-seed
Rush $0.3M Bulgaria Retail and eCommerce Pre-seed
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On top of those we can add ~70 investments of total value around $9M made by Bulgarian pre-seed fund Innovation Capital; 4 investments made by Morningside Hill totaling $3.6M; 17 investments of total value of $2.7M made by Vitosha Venture Partners, and 4 small funding rounds facilitated via Seedblink’s crowdinvesting platform, which put together add up to $1.09M.

+++To stay up-to-date with the 2022 investments in Southeast Europe, be sure to subscribe for The Recursive newsletter.

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https://therecursive.com/author/etienyovchev/

Etien Yovchev is a co-founder and Chief Editor at The Recursive, online media dedicated to the emerging tech and startup ecosystems in Southeast Europe. He has told the stories of over 200 ventures from the region and aims to provide high-quality constructive reporting on the progress of the SEE innovation ecosystem, making sure that the stories of promising local founders reach global audiences. Etien holds a MSc degree in Innovation Management from RSM, Erasmus University Rotterdam and has more than 4 years of experience in the commercialization of new products, having worked with many early-stage companies and a few corporate innovation departments across Bulgaria, The Netherlands, and the USA.