Can a consumer app raise money in CEE?
A consumer app can get through, but less often: at BADideas, 35% of CEE consumer (B2C) startups reached our investment committee in 2025 and 2026 so far, against 57% of B2B startups. Startups selling to consumers through businesses (B2B2C) were in between, at 46%, and 50% of all CEE applicants got that far.
The figures
| Reached our investment committee, CEE, 2025 to 2026 (to date) | Share |
|---|---|
| Business (B2B) | 57% |
| Marketplace | 58% |
| Through businesses to consumers (B2B2C) | 46% |
| Consumer (B2C) | 35% |
| All CEE applicants | 50% |
Shares are of the applications whose pitch deck we read, not of every application we receive.
| CEE applicants, 2026 (to date) | Consumer (B2C) | Business (B2B) |
|---|---|---|
| Share of applicants | 18% | 58% |
| Round asked, median | €440,000 | €600,000 |
| Applied with no revenue | 67% | 58% |
In BADideas application data, consumer founders apply with no revenue more often than B2B founders: 67% against 58%. That may explain part of the gap, so read it as an association, not as a rule against consumer apps.
What is changing
| Quarter | CEE applicants building consumer products |
|---|---|
| Q2 2025 | 23% |
| Q3 2025 | 22% |
| Q4 2025 | 17% |
| Q1 2026 | 20% |
| Q2 2026 | 21% |
| Q3 2026 | 13% |
The consumer share of applicants is down from 22% in 2025.
Across CEE
CEE founders who applied in 2025 and 2026 so far. We show each country with enough applicants; smaller countries count only in the CEE row.
| Where the founder is based | Consumer (B2C) | Business (B2B) |
|---|---|---|
| All of CEE | 20% | 54% |
| Baltics | 20% | 52% |
| Latvia | 17% | 53% |
| Estonia | 17% | 55% |
| Lithuania | 28% | 48% |
| Poland | 21% | 54% |
| Ukraine | 17% | 58% |
| Romania | 9% | 64% |
| Czechia | 29% | 58% |
| Bulgaria | 35% | 42% |
Consumer (B2C): highest in Bulgaria (35%), lowest in Romania (9%).
What it means for you
- A consumer app can raise in CEE. About one in six founders pitching here builds one, and a third of consumer startups reached our committee.
- Bring usage, not downloads. Without revenue, show how many users come back.
- Show the path to paying users. Investors will ask when and how consumers start paying.
Related questions
Do VCs in CEE only fund B2B?
No, but consumer startups get through less often: 35% of CEE consumer startups reached our investment committee, against 57% of B2B startups. This is how far applications got with one fund, not what every investor funds.
How many startups in CEE build for consumers?
18% of CEE applicants in 2026 so far, down from 22% in 2025.
How we measured it
- On this page: The business model is who pays: consumers (B2C), businesses (B2B), or businesses that serve consumers (B2B2C). "Reached the investment committee" means the application got past our first screen. Committee reach is how far an application got with one fund, not whether the company raised. Shares are of the applications whose pitch deck we read, not of every application we receive. The link between what a deck shows and how far it got is an association, not a cause.
- Updated: 12 October 2026.
BADideas.fund, "Can a consumer app raise money in CEE?", updated 12 October 2026. https://badideas.fund/answers/consumer-startups-cee
Read next
- How many users to raise B2C pre-seed in CEE?
- Will an AI startup stand out to CEE VCs?
- What are startups in CEE building right now?
Who we are
We are a pre-seed and seed fund for founders in Central and Eastern Europe. We have built and sold companies ourselves, and since 2022 we have backed more than 40.
We back founders who see something about their market that others do not see yet. They want to change how a whole industry works, and they start small.
Good founders rarely fail on the idea or the product. They fail on selling it. We give your company hands-on help from go-to-market operators who grew Zendesk, Square and Scale AI.