Do CEE startups with revenue raise more?
About the same: founders at MVP stage ask for €450,000, those with revenue €500,000. CEE founders still building their first version asked for a median of €450,000 when they applied to BADideas in 2026 so far, against €500,000 for those with early users or revenue. The big step comes at scale: €1 million.
The figures
| Round asked by company stage, CEE, 2026 (to date) | Bottom quarter up to | Median | Top quarter from |
|---|---|---|---|
| Building the first version (MVP) | €250,000 | €450,000 | €870,000 |
| Early users or revenue | €300,000 | €500,000 | €1 million |
| Scaling | €390,000 | €1 million | €1.9 million |
In BADideas application data, the ask barely rises between MVP and first revenue; the ranges overlap almost completely.
What is changing
| CEE median ask | 2025 | 2026 (to date) |
|---|---|---|
| Building the first version (MVP) | €430,000 | €450,000 |
| Early users or revenue | €500,000 | €500,000 |
| Scaling | €1 million | €1 million |
| Quarter | MVP stage, median ask | Early users or revenue |
|---|---|---|
| Q2 2025 | €300,000 | €500,000 |
| Q3 2025 | €500,000 | €600,000 |
| Q4 2025 | €430,000 | €500,000 |
| Q1 2026 | €500,000 | €500,000 |
| Q2 2026 | €420,000 | €500,000 |
| Q3 2026 | €500,000 | €500,000 |
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 | MVP stage, median ask | Early users or revenue |
|---|---|---|
| All of CEE | €430,000 | €500,000 |
| Baltics | €410,000 | €500,000 |
| Latvia | €300,000 | €500,000 |
| Estonia | €500,000 | €500,000 |
| Lithuania | €430,000 | €500,000 |
MVP stage, median ask: highest in Estonia (€500,000), lowest in Latvia (€300,000).
What it means for you
- An MVP-stage round is a full pre-seed round. Founders at MVP stage ask for close to what founders with revenue ask for, so the plan has to justify it.
- Revenue barely raises the ask. It changes how investors see the round.
- Scale is where rounds jump. Once growth is proven, asks roughly double.
- Tie the amount to the next milestone. Say what the round buys and how long it lasts. Investors judge the size against the plan, not against the stage label.
- Check your ask against the range. If you sit far above the top quarter for your stage, expect to explain why.
Related questions
How much do MVP-stage startups raise?
CEE founders at MVP stage asked for a median of €450,000 in 2026 so far, with half between €250,000 and €870,000.
How we measured it
- On this page: Company stage is the founder's answer on the application form, else what the application says. Idea-stage applicants are few, so they are not shown. This is the round founders asked for, not what they closed.
- Updated: 27 September 2026.
BADideas.fund, "Do CEE startups with revenue raise more?", updated 27 September 2026. https://badideas.fund/answers/round-size-by-company-stage-cee
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- How much do pre-seed startups in CEE raise?
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- How many users to raise B2C pre-seed in CEE?
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.