What are startups in CEE building right now?
The most common sectors among CEE founders who applied to BADideas in 2026 so far are developer tools and infrastructure (12%), fintech (11%) and marketing and sales tools (10%). Of the eight most common sectors at BADideas, developer tools and infrastructure reached our investment committee most often in 2025 and 2026 so far, 69% of the time, and consumer and social least often, at 33%. Across all sectors, 50% got that far.
The figures
| Sector, CEE applicants | 2025 | 2026 (to date) |
|---|---|---|
| Developer tools and infrastructure | 11% | 12% |
| Fintech | 11% | 11% |
| Marketing and sales tools | 9% | 10% |
| Retail and e-commerce | 8% | 10% |
| Health | 5% | 9% |
| Consumer and social | 8% | 6% |
| Mobility and logistics | 6% | 6% |
| Property and construction | 6% | 5% |
In BADideas application data, the fastest-growing of the leading sectors is health, up from 5% in 2025.
| Reached our investment committee, by sector, CEE, 2025 to 2026 (to date) | Share |
|---|---|
| HR and work | 73% |
| Developer tools and infrastructure | 69% |
| Legal and compliance | 67% |
| Marketing and sales tools | 62% |
| Mobility and logistics | 60% |
| Fintech | 59% |
| Property and construction | 55% |
| Education | 48% |
| Retail and e-commerce | 48% |
| Food and agriculture | 39% |
| Health | 37% |
| Consumer and social | 33% |
| Climate and energy | 32% |
| Media and entertainment | 28% |
| Defence and dual use | 23% |
Shares are of the applications whose pitch deck we read, not of every application we receive. Sectors with too few applicants to show are left out of this table.
What is changing
| Quarter | Developer tools and infrastructure | Fintech | Marketing and sales tools |
|---|---|---|---|
| Q2 2025 | 11% | 12% | 6% |
| Q3 2025 | 11% | 9% | 9% |
| Q4 2025 | 13% | 11% | 13% |
| Q1 2026 | 13% | 13% | 9% |
| Q2 2026 | 12% | 12% | 12% |
| Q3 2026 | 11% | 8% | 8% |
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 | Developer tools and infrastructure | Fintech |
|---|---|---|
| All of CEE | 12% | 11% |
| Baltics | 8% | 12% |
| Latvia | 9% | 12% |
| Estonia | 10% | 16% |
| Lithuania | 6% | 7% |
| Poland | 18% | 11% |
| Ukraine | 9% | 5% |
| Romania | 18% | 9% |
| Czechia | 16% | 16% |
| Bulgaria | 15% | 12% |
Developer tools and infrastructure: highest in Romania (18%), lowest in Lithuania (6%).
What it means for you
- In a crowded sector, show what makes you different. If you are in one of the top three, expect investors to have seen your category this month; lead with what only you can do.
- A sector that gets through less often is not closed. Explain the market and the buyer clearly, because fewer investors will know it. The gap between sectors is an association, not a cause.
- Name your category the way customers do. Investors sort companies by category, and a clear label makes comparison with peers easier.
Related questions
What is the most common sector for startups raising in CEE?
Developer tools and infrastructure: 12% of CEE applicants in 2026 so far. No sector holds more than about one in eight applicants, so the field is spread wide.
Which sectors reach the investment committee most often?
HR and work (73%), developer tools and infrastructure (69%) and legal and compliance (67%) reached our investment committee most often in 2025 and 2026 so far.
How we measured it
- On this page: The sector is read from the founder's description of the product and its customers; each startup has one. "Reached the investment committee" means the application got past our first screen. Sectors are broad; a startup that could sit in two is placed in the one its customers belong to. Shares are of the applications whose pitch deck we read, not of every application we receive. The link between what a deck shows and how far it got is an association, not a cause.
- Updated: 12 October 2026.
BADideas.fund, "What are startups in CEE building right now?", updated 12 October 2026. https://badideas.fund/answers/what-startups-build-cee
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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.