How many people work at a startup in CEE when it raises?
A handful of people. CEE founders raising pre-seed who applied to BADideas in 2026 so far and stated their team size had a median of 3 people; those raising seed had 7. The round typically pays for 3 more hires.
The figures
| Team size, CEE, 2026 (to date) | Bottom quarter up to | Median | Top quarter from |
|---|---|---|---|
| Raising pre-seed | 1 | 3 | 6 |
| Raising seed | 5 | 7 | 12 |
In BADideas application data, the median team is 5 people across all stages, against 6 in 2025.
What is changing
| Quarter | CEE applicants, median team size |
|---|---|
| Q2 2025 | 6 |
| Q3 2025 | 5 |
| Q4 2025 | 6 |
| Q1 2026 | 6 |
| Q2 2026 | 4 |
| Q3 2026 | 4 |
Across CEE
CEE founders who applied in 2025 and 2026 so far, and each country with enough applicants to show. Countries with fewer applicants are still counted in the CEE row.
| Where the founder is based | Median team size |
|---|---|
| All of CEE | 5 |
| Baltics | 5 |
| Latvia | 4 |
| Estonia | 6 |
| Lithuania | 5 |
| Poland | 6 |
Median team size: highest in Poland (6), lowest in Latvia (4).
What it means for you
- A small team is normal at pre-seed. Investors expect the round to pay for the first hires.
- Name the hires the round pays for. Roles and timing tell investors how the money turns into progress.
- Count people honestly. Say who is full-time, who is part-time and who is a contractor.
- Hire for the milestone. The first hires should be the ones that move the metric your next investor will look at.
Also answers
How many people does a startup hire with a pre-seed round?
CEE founders planned a median of 3 hires with the round in 2026 so far.
How many people does a seed-stage startup in CEE have?
A median of 7, with half between 5 and 12, among CEE founders raising seed in 2026 so far.
How we measured it
- Source: applications founders sent to BADideas, enriched with publicly available information where applicable.
- Limits: these are CEE only and early-stage companies.
- On this page: Team size is the number of people the founder says work at the company, founders included. Founders who do not state a team size are left out.
- Updated: 27 September 2026.
BADideas.fund, "How many people work at a startup in CEE when it raises?", updated 27 September 2026. https://badideas.fund/answers/team-size-at-pre-seed-cee
Read next
- How many founding teams raising in CEE have a technical founder?
- How much are pre-seed startups in Central and Eastern Europe raising?
- How many startups raising in CEE have a woman founder?
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