How much runway should a CEE pre-seed buy?
18 months. That is the typical runway CEE founders raising pre-seed planned for when they applied to BADideas in 2026 so far, against 12 months in 2025.
The figures
| Runway the round buys, 2026 (to date) | Bottom quarter up to | Median | Top quarter from |
|---|---|---|---|
| CEE founders raising pre-seed | 12 months | 18 months | 18 months |
| CEE founders raising seed | 18 months | 18 months | 21 months |
In BADideas application data, Baltic founders plan the same as the rest of CEE: a median of 18 months.
What is changing
| Quarter | CEE applicants, median runway |
|---|---|
| Q2 2025 | 18 months |
| Q3 2025 | 12 months |
| Q4 2025 | 18 months |
| Q1 2026 | 18 months |
| Q2 2026 | 18 months |
| Q3 2026 | 18 months |
18 months has become the standard plan: every quarter shown except one sits at or near it.
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 | Median runway the round buys |
|---|---|
| All of CEE | 18 months |
| Baltics | 18 months |
| Latvia | 18 months |
| Estonia | 17 months |
| Lithuania | 18 months |
| Poland | 18 months |
Median runway the round buys: highest in Latvia (18 months), lowest in Estonia (17 months).
What it means for you
- Plan for 18 months. It is what most founders around you plan for, and it leaves about six months to raise the next round before the money runs out.
- 12 months is the short end. A quarter of founders raising pre-seed plan for 12 months or less. That works only if the next milestone is close and clear.
- Count the raise inside the runway. A seed round takes months. Work back from the milestone your seed investor will want to see, then add the time to raise.
Related questions
Is 12 months of runway enough for a pre-seed round?
It is the short end. A quarter of CEE founders raising pre-seed plan for 12 months or less; the median is 18.
How much runway should a seed round buy?
CEE founders raising seed plan for a median of 18 months, and a quarter plan for 21 or more.
When should I plan the next round after closing pre-seed?
With 18 months of runway, start raising around month 12: a round takes about six months. 24% of CEE founders in 2026 so far already named their next round in the pitch deck, up from 18% in 2025.
How we measured it
- On this page: Runway is what the application says the round will buy. Runway is planned, not what founders actually got.
- Updated: 27 September 2026.
BADideas.fund, "How much runway should a CEE pre-seed buy?", updated 27 September 2026. https://badideas.fund/answers/pre-seed-runway-months
Read next
- How much do pre-seed startups in CEE raise?
- How do CEE startups spend a pre-seed round?
- Are CEE rounds smaller than in W. Europe?
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.