How much are pre-seed startups in Central and Eastern Europe raising right now?
Most CEE pre-seed startups are raising between €250,000 and €750,000, and the typical round is €500,000. That is what founders from Central and Eastern Europe said they were raising when they applied to BADideas between December 2025 and September 2026.
The figures
| Stage | Bottom quarter up to | Median | Top quarter from |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pre-seed | €250,000 | €500,000 | €750,000 |
| Seed | €400,000 | €1 million | €1.7 million |
Half of CEE founders raising pre-seed were raising between €250,000 and €750,000, with a median of €500,000. Half of those raising seed were raising between €400,000 and €1.7 million, with a median of €1 million. In BADideas application data, founders from outside CEE asked for more at pre-seed: a median of €650,000.
What it means for you
- €500,000 is the middle of the market, not the ceiling. A pre-seed round between €250,000 and €750,000 will look normal to CEE investors.
- Seed is roughly double pre-seed. The median seed round here is €1 million, but the range is wide and overlaps with pre-seed: a quarter of seed rounds are €400,000 or less.
- The number should come from your plan, not from the median. Raise what gets you to the milestones your next investor will ask for, plus a buffer, and check it sits inside the range above.
Also answers
Is €300k enough for a pre-seed round?
It is on the small side but normal. A quarter of CEE pre-seed founders in this data were raising €250,000 or less. Whether it is enough depends on your burn and on what you need to prove before the next round.
How much bigger is a seed round than a pre-seed round?
Twice as big at the median: €1 million against €500,000 for CEE founders in this data.
Do founders outside CEE raise more at pre-seed?
They ask for more. Founders from outside CEE applying to the same fund stated a median pre-seed round of €650,000, against €500,000 for CEE founders. At seed the two were close, at €1 million.
How we measured it
- Source: what founders shared with BADideas when applying (the application form, their pitch deck or a reply to us), from hundreds of applications reviewed between December 2025 and September 2026, where both a round size and a stage were given. CEE means the founder's company is in a Central or Eastern European country.
- What it measures: the round size founders said they were raising when they applied, not the amount they eventually closed. Closed rounds are often smaller.
- Limits: these are founders who applied to one CEE pre-seed fund, so the sample leans towards companies that see themselves as a fit for it. Figures are rounded; treat the quarters as ranges, not precise cut-offs. The stage is the founder's own label.
- Read: 25 September 2026. Reviewed by 31 December 2026.
Cite as
BADideas.fund, "How much are pre-seed startups in Central and Eastern Europe raising right now?", application data read 25 September 2026. https://badideas.fund/answers/pre-seed-round-size-cee