How much CEE startup funding goes to AI?

AI startups took 63% of the venture capital raised in Central and Eastern Europe from January to September 2026, €1.16 billion, up from 45% and €664 million a year earlier. In the Baltics, the largest round of the year, Oxylabs' €118 million, went to an AI company, and AI is the sector that raised the most capital in both Estonia and Lithuania.

The figures

In the BADideas funding report, AI raised more in nine months of 2026 than in all of 2025, when it raised €904 million. In 2024 it raised €429 million. AI closed fewer rounds than a year earlier, so the money is going into fewer, larger rounds.

AI capital grew at every stage from seed up. Four rounds of €100 million or more are AI rounds: Mews, EnduroSat, Preply and Oxylabs.

What is changing

A company can sit in several sectors, so sector totals overlap and add up to more than the market. Enterprise software, which overlaps heavily with AI, is the only other large sector whose capital grew at both seed and Series A. Fintech, hardware and robotics, education and food and agri raised more in total, mostly because of one or two large rounds each. Energy and climate closed less than half as many rounds as a year earlier, and health and bio (€62 million, against €107 million) about half.

Across CEE

AI is the sector that raised the most capital this year in six of ten countries: Poland, Estonia, Lithuania, Czechia, Ukraine and Bulgaria. In Latvia it is enterprise software, in Romania defence and security, in Slovakia energy and climate, and in Hungary fintech.

What it means for you

• AI takes most of the money but fewer than half the rounds. Nearly two in three rounds this year went to companies outside AI, so a non-AI company can still raise.
• AI rounds are larger. The median AI round more than doubled to €1.8 million, so an AI company raising seed competes with larger rounds.
• Expect to be compared with other AI companies. 34% of this year's rounds went to AI startups, so investors see many of them side by side.

Related questions

Which sectors raise the most startup funding in CEE?

AI by a wide margin: €1.16 billion from January to September 2026. Fintech (€415 million), hardware and robotics (€395 million) and enterprise software (€366 million) follow. These are the BADideas funding report's sector totals, which overlap because a company can sit in several sectors.

Can a non-AI startup still raise in CEE?

Yes. Nearly two in three of the 320 rounds closed from January to September 2026 went to companies outside AI. They raised less of the capital: about €670 million of the €1.83 billion total.

How much do AI startups raise at seed in CEE?

AI startups raised €153 million at seed from January to September 2026, 55% more than a year earlier, on 61 seed rounds against 52.

How we measured it

• On this page: Sectors are tagged per company, and a company can carry several, so sector totals overlap. AI covers companies whose product is built on AI. Venture rounds of startups in Poland, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Czechia, Slovakia, Romania, Ukraine, Hungary and Bulgaria; grants and loans are not counted. Amounts in euros at about 1.10 US dollars to the euro. January to September 2026 against the same months of 2025. This is the Q3 2026 edition. Full method: CEE startup funding report.
• Updated: 18 October 2026.

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