Although South Eastern Europe may be a small region compared to the rest of the continent, it has a rich history of innovation and recent years have seen an increase in the number of startups originating from these countries.
However, the region has not remained immune to current macroeconomic developments and many startups have felt the consequences consequences investors and venture capitalists are becoming more cautious in their investments.
Therefore, for most regional startups, fundraising during a downturn has proven to be a real challenge. However, these circumstances have not stopped them from being innovative, as more and more startups are offering new products and services in verticals such as Fintech, HRtech and AI.
In this article, we are currently sharing some of the regional startup fundraising by obtaining seed capital, funding from angel investors or venture capital firms.
Fundraising for startups in North Macedonia
FinqUp
FinquUP is an investment app for beginners that provides an intuitive program where just one click separates potential users from hundreds of verified and profitable trading strategies. The app seeks to simplify how users can find strategies and invest their money, resulting in more responsible decision-making. After hitting the ground running for the first year, the promising startup is now raising a seed round that it will use to grow its platform and expand into global markets.
Task and departure
Task and departure is a North Macedonia-based platform for automating existing task management platforms, with measurements, analytics and predictions. After a year and a half of startup and an initial investment of $150,000, the startup now has two angel investors as well as local accelerator BAU. The fundraising is still open, as the company plans to use the funds to launch its second version and focus on marketing and sales.
Conceptual
Founded in 2019, Conceptual is a startup working at the intersection of edtech and HRtech. Its main product is called Coach, a micro-learning platform which detects and fills knowledge gaps and enables companies and their HR departments to provide their employees with interactive training with gamification elements. After obtaining an initial investment of €100,000 at the end of 2021, the Macedonian startup is now launching a funding round in order to develop its business and expand into markets such as the United States.
Fundraising for startups in Albania
Rubicon
Rubicon is an Albania-based financial technology company that provides financial solutions and develops a payment processing network. In May last year, the company raised €450,000 in pre-seed funding to launch its innovative FinTech platform in Albania.
Earlier this year, the Albanian company also announced a new, expanded partnership with Mastercard, which sees Rubicon become a core member as a payments technology company.
Fundraising for startups in Bulgaria
Humans in the Loop
Humans in the Loop is a social enterprise specialized in data annotation for the computer vision industry. Their employees perform manual labeling and verification to train machine learning models, working on projects in the field of autonomous driving and flights, medical AI, agri-tech, robotic vision and others. The Bulgarian company is currently raising a funding round worth €1 million, led by Sofia Angels Ventures.
NitroPack
NitroPack is a Bulgaria-based startup that helps e-commerce, content publishers and web agencies achieve exceptional results in optimizing the speed of their websites. So far, the company has completed a financing round worth 200K€in 2018 and led by Eleven Ventures.
Fundraising for startups in Slovenia
Cultivate
Cultivate is a SaaS platform integrated with Slack&Teams, specifically designed to bring hybrid workers together and maintain a strong team culture. The Slovenian startup’s solutions help companies strengthen engagement, improve virtual culture and improve communication.
Founded by entrepreneurs Goran Gasic and Sabina Veronika Golob, the startup has already raised around €500,000 from Croatian VC Fil Rouge Capital, Startup Wise Guys and the Slovenian public enterprise fund.
Fundraising for startups in Romania
TypeDNA
TypeDNA is a Romanian fintech that seeks to improve security without compromising user convenience through its suite of continuous authentication and 2FA products.
The startup’s patented biometric entry technology aims to become the most accessible authentication technology on the market and works with any keyboard, on any device, runs passively behind the scenes and begins to identify intruders with a single keystroke sample beforehand.
Ronin
Ronin is a blockchain crowdfunding platform based in Bucharest for businesses that want to grow. Ronin’s assignment is to facilitate the connection between entrepreneurs and crowd-type investors and allow everyone to become an investor with a minimum investment of only 100 euros.
At the end of last year, Ronin secured an initial investment of €500,000 and launched its platform, working to support entrepreneurs in developing a promotional campaign to raise funds.
Nestor UP
Nestor is a Romanian HR software startup based in the United States that aims to deliver 50% more employee performance by connecting people with technology.
Launched in 2018, the intelligent coaching tool help organizations build their corporate culture focused on leadership. The software gives managers AI insights into the performance of their team members.
The Romanian company is currently targeting 2 million euros to try to expand into existing markets.
RepsMate
RepsMate is an AI and data analytics startup that analyzes customer needs and behavior, to transform representatives who interact with customers into more successful ones. The Romanian startup deploys its virtual coach for sectors such as retail, finance and banking, healthcare, insurance and BPO, and communications.
Sense4FIT
Sense4FIT is the first Romanian Fit2Earn project on Elrond Blockchain, with the mission to revolutionize the wellness industry and help its users discover the benefits of an active and healthy lifestyle, by making fitness fun, exciting and accessible.
The project uses technologies such as blockchain, AI and VR to gamify fitness and create an incredible new experience, through competitions between friends and rewards.
Our list is not final, so please send us your updates on startups from different ecosystems.