How do CEE startups spend a pre-seed round?
About a third on product, a third on sales, and the rest on people and running costs. CEE founders raising pre-seed who applied to BADideas in 2026 so far planned to spend 34% of the round on product and technology, 30% on sales and marketing and 17% on hiring.
The figures
| Share of the round, 2026 (to date) | CEE pre-seed | CEE seed |
|---|---|---|
| Product and technology | 34% | 29% |
| Sales and marketing | 30% | 33% |
| Hiring | 17% | 16% |
| Operations | 12% | 11% |
| Other, including regulatory | 7% | 11% |
The split follows the company's stage. Founders still building their first version put 37% into product; those with early users put 35% into sales and marketing. In BADideas application data, at seed, sales and marketing (33%) overtakes product (29%).
What is changing
| CEE founders raising pre-seed | 2025 | 2026 (to date) |
|---|---|---|
| Product and technology | 42% | 34% |
| Sales and marketing | 20% | 30% |
| Quarter | CEE applicants: product and technology | Sales and marketing |
|---|---|---|
| Q2 2025 | 38% | 30% |
| Q3 2025 | 31% | 29% |
| Q4 2025 | 40% | 28% |
| Q1 2026 | 33% | 33% |
| Q2 2026 | 38% | 32% |
| Q3 2026 | 30% | 30% |
Across CEE
CEE founders who applied in 2025 and 2026 so far. All stages. We show each country with enough applicants; smaller countries count only in the CEE row.
| Where the founder is based | Product and technology | Sales and marketing |
|---|---|---|
| All of CEE | 35% | 30% |
| Baltics | 36% | 27% |
| Latvia | 36% | 25% |
| Estonia | 37% | 28% |
| Lithuania | 35% | 30% |
| Poland | 34% | 33% |
| Romania | 36% | 34% |
Product and technology: highest in Estonia (37%), lowest in Poland (34%).
What it means for you
- Split the money by stage. Before launch, product first; once users arrive, sales and marketing take the bigger share.
- Budget for selling from day one. Close to a third of a typical pre-seed round goes there.
- Show the split as milestones. Investors read use of funds as a plan: what each block buys and by when.
Related questions
How much of a seed round goes to sales?
About a third: CEE founders raising seed planned 33% of the round for sales and marketing in 2026 so far.
Should an MVP-stage startup spend more on product?
That is what founders do: 37% on product at MVP stage.
How we measured it
- On this page: Shares are the average of each application's stated split, normalised to 100%. The split is a plan, not how the money was spent.
- Updated: 27 September 2026.
BADideas.fund, "How do CEE startups spend a pre-seed round?", updated 27 September 2026. https://badideas.fund/answers/pre-seed-use-of-funds
Read next
- Do CEE startups with revenue raise more?
- How much do pre-seed startups in CEE raise?
- Which sales motion do CEE B2B startups use?
- How much runway should a CEE pre-seed buy?
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.