From UiPath to ElevenLabs, Central and Eastern European tech founders have created some of the world’s most promising startups and scaleups in recent years. Yet, CEE remains underserved by venture capital. However, a flurry of new funds could change that.
One VC firm, Warsaw-based Movens Capital, is even doubling down: it is seeking to raise €60 million for its second fund, significantly up from the €14 million first fund it launched in 2020.
Seeing how much the CEE ecosystem has matured over the years, dealflow shouldn’t be a problem. According to Dealroom, the region has a strong pipeline of 3,800 startups, including more than 275 scaleups.
Still, it’s a big leap for Movens, especially if it reaches the €100 million stretch target it once floated; but early signs suggest it’s paying off. Having secured €40 million as of Q2 2025, this second fund is already active, with a first wave of deal announcements expected this summer.
Taking into account that entrepreneurs from the region often move out of necessity or for better opportunities, this fresh capital is earmarked for startups based in CEE countries, but also from its diaspora — including those from Moldova and Ukraine, where Movens won’t invest directly.
The deployment will start with first checks of €250,000 to €3 million, with follow-on investments of up to €5 million. The fund is multi-stage, from pre-seed to Series A and beyond, with Movens planning to primarily lead deals.
Playing into the region’s strengths, the Polish firm will invest across enterprise software, deep tech and climate tech, edtech, fintech, healthcare, and e-commerce infrastructure; with AI/ML as a transversal element.
Operational investors
Beyond its emphasis on AI, Movens’ team is looking to back startups with global ambitions from day one, and building towards more than €50 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR). Again, both of these often come naturally for CEE entrepreneurs, who tend to bootstrap longer and explore international expansion earlier than their peers in Western Europe.
While this tendency can be positive, it also means that a little support could help CEE churn more scaleups. “This region never lacked talent. What’s missing is the capital and operational support needed to turn early traction into global growth,” said Movens managing partner Artur Banach.
Earlier in their journey, Banach and his partners teamed up to acquire Netsprint in a management buyout from Norwegian media group Edda Media in 2014. Following the operation, Netsprint expanded beyond its origins as a Polish search engine by acquiring and integrating several companies in adtech and martech.
This gave all of them significant operational experience — plus some investment chops along the way. After selling their stakes in Netsprint, the team launched a series of special investment vehicles (SPVs), followed by their first institutional fund in 2020.
Hands-on and follow-on
According to the firm, portfolio companies from its first fund collectively went on to raise an additional €110 million. In a region where growth-stage funding is still lacking, Movens makes securing these follow-on rounds a priority.
This also helped the firm exit at least six investments to date, with a weighted cash-on-cash return of 9X. There may be more, too: among others, its portfolio includes companies like headless commerce frontend platform Alokai (formerly Vue Storefront) and telemedicine platform Doctor.one.
While its portfolio also includes startups like Attention Insight, Partory, SKY ENGINE AI, StethoMe and Talkie.ai, which all leverage AI, Movens is wary of a market that’s saturated with companies claiming to be AI-driven. This led the firm to recently refine its investment theses in AI, where it is looking for long-term defensible companies.
To these and others, Movens promises a hands-on approach on a mix of topics across hiring, scaling, product, and pricing. The latter is supported by Movens partner Maciej Kraus, which the firm describes as its in-house pricing expert.
Multiplier effects
To support its portfolio, Movens is also tapping into a broader community of advisors and tech executives, several of whom also backed its new fund. Among the 80 individual investors that invested in its new vehicle, about half are operators and entrepreneurs from across Central and Eastern Europe, according to the firm.
This new fund is also financed by the multilateral European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and by Polish government-owned fund of funds PFR Ventures, which had supported Movens’ previous vehicle with funding from the EU’s Smart Growth Operational Program.
European funding has been a catalyst in unlocking more capital for CEE founders. Orbit Capital, a venture firm based in Prague and Warsaw, recently completed a €70 million first close of its Growth Debt II fund, backed by the European Investment Fund (EIF).
The EIF had also supported the fourth fund of KAYA, formerly ENERN, which has now raised nearly €70 million for its fifth fund, whose expanded scope encompasses CEE. 40 CEE-focused funds have been launched since the beginning of last year, including 13 this year, according to data from Dealroom.
As the research firm noted, CEE startups have already achieved strong outcomes, despite historically limited capital. With more capital available, including late-stage funding, it will be interesting to watch how far they will go into scaling globally, and who the next UiPath to ElevenLabs might be.
