Tech companies, startups and scaleups in the SEE region managed to raise more than €2 billion in the first half of 2022. For comparison, over the whole of last year, these companies and startups raised just over €2.5 billion, meaning the region is heading for a record year in terms of capital raising.
During the first half of 2022, The Recursive counted 63 transactions worth more than €2 billion. The biggest tech deals in 2022 took place in fintech and electric vehicles (EVs), with unicorns VivaWallet and Rimac Automobili raising €700 million and €500 million respectively.
In the biggest transaction this year, the American bank JP Morgan Chase acquired a 49% stake in Greek cloud-based neobank Viva Wallet in a deal that transformed the fintech company into a unicorn. According to Greek media, the amount of the transaction was estimated at around 700 million euros.
The second biggest deal of the year so far is for Croatian electric vehicle giant Rimac Automobili. breeding 500 million euros in a Series D funding round led by giants SoftBank and Goldman Sachs, as well as existing shareholders such as Porsche and InvestIndustrial.
Focus: the Croatian ecosystem
The latest financing values the electric vehicle manufacturer at more than 2 billion euros. Rimac is Croatia’s second unicorn, after the communications software company Infobipmarking a strong statement on the rise of the Croatian tech ecosystem in recent years.
According to experts, unicorns such as Rimac and Infobip are also leading the way for the rest of the country’s and region’s tech companies when it comes to attracting investments.
“There are a lot of tech companies in Croatia, and at the same time there is also a lot of space to hire people in emerging startups that aim to get funding,” said content entrepreneur Ivan Brezak Brkan digital company based in Zagreb at The Recursive.
This is what makes the country competitive with the rest of the Southeast European region, he adds. A recent report from Google for Startups, Atomico and Dealroom.co showed that between 2015 and 2021, Croatian startups and companies received 541 million euros in venture capital funding.
Another reason for the success of the country’s tech ecosystem is that most tech companies understood the need for B2B products and services early on.
“Our companies have learned to focus on B2B first. You can acquire the know-how and talents by working for clients abroad etc., but in most cases it is difficult to create B2C products. Only now are we looking at B2C successes like Photomath (educational technology company), built on B2B success,” Brkan told The Recursive.
The Future of Car Buying and Owning
The third largest contract of 2022 still comes from Greece, with car-as-a-service startup FlexCar. breeding €210 million, after having succeeded in increasing its turnover eightfold in just three years.
A company from Serbia is also among biggest deals in the first six months of the year – with HTEC Group, a global consulting, software engineering and digital product development company, raising $140 million in January from the growth stock investment Brighton Park Capital.
Another Greek startup – Spotawheel, which provides a technology-driven circular economy platform for used cars, raised a €100 million Series B round led by local VentureFriends.
The first Bulgarian Unicorn Payhawk is also among the top deals, with the company announcing in March that it had raised $100 million in a round led by Silicon Valley-based VC Lightspeed Venture Partners.
North Macedonia-based AI-founded business intelligence provider Cognism is also worth mentioning, having successfully secured $87.5 million in Series C funding in January, led by new investors Viking Global Investors and Blue Cloud Ventures.
| Company Name | Type of financing | Total investments | Country | Industry |
| Viva Wallet | €700 million | Greece | Financial technology | |
| Rimac Group | D Series | €500 million | Croatia | VE |
| FlexCar | Series B | €210 million | Greece | Car rental |
| HTEC Group | $140 million | Serbia | Software | |
| Spotawheel | Series B | €100 million | Greece | Car sales |
| Payhawk | Series B | 100 million dollars | Bulgaria | Financial technology |
| Cognism | C Series | $87.5 million | North Macedonia | Martech |
| Byrd | C Series | $56 million | Greece | E-commerce |
| Tenderly | Series B | 40 million dollars | Serbia | Blockchain |
| LucidLink | Series B | 20 million dollars | Bulgaria | Cloud |
| Best origin | Series A | $16 million | Greece | InsectTech |
| Druid AI | Series A | €14 million | Romania | AI |
| Orthoson | Series A | €10.4 million | Greece | Medical technology |
| euShipments | Series A | €7.5 million | Bulgaria | E-commerce |
| Sounder | Series A | $7.7 million | Serbia | AudioTech |
| Mediation | Series A | €7.2 million | Bulgaria | Health Technology |
| Flip.ro | €6.5 million | Romania | Refurbished phones | |
| Bware Laboratories | Series A | €6 million | Romania | Blockchain |
| Sporty | €6 million | Croatia | SportTech | |
| Bryq | pre-series A | 4 million dollars | Greece | AI |
| Presentiment | Series A | 4 million dollars | Serbia | Advertising technology |
| Feel the therapeutic | 4 million dollars | Greece | Health Technology | |
| MYX | Series A | €3.5 million | Bulgaria | Data analysis |
| Rabbit shell | €3.5 million | Romania | DevOps | |
| Neurolabs | Seed | $3.5 million | Romania | AI |
| Tenyks | $3.4 million | Bulgaria | AI | |
| Machinations.io | Series A | $3.3 million | Romania | Games |
| Cyscale | €3.5 million | Romania | Cyber security | |
| Archbee | Seed | 3 million dollars | Romania | Software development |
| Rushing | Seed | €2.5 million | Bulgaria | E-commerce |
| Email tree | €2.5 million | Romania | AI | |
| CoLumbo | Seed | €2.1 million | Bulgaria | AI/Medical Technology |
| Advice | €2 million | Romania | Educational Technology | |
| Ogre AI | Seed | €2 million | Romania | AI |
| Aggero | Seed | 2 million dollars | Romania | MarTech |
| EnterDAO | $1.8 million | Bulgaria | Games | |
| Tokinomo | pre-series A | $1.7 million | Romania | Retail |
| Tailor | Seed | €1 million | Romania | Beauty Market |
| Mentness | Seed | €1 million | Bulgaria | AI |
| ThingsJournal | Seed | €1 million | Bulgaria | IoT |
| XVision | €1 million | Romania | AI | |
| Adadot | 1 million dollars | Greece | SaaS | |
| Hajde | Seed | 1 million dollars | Albania | E-commerce |
Economic uncertainties heading into the second half of the year could influence valuations and transactions. However, with such impressive figures so far this year, the region is still heading into an exciting second half of 2022 which will undoubtedly see records broken and much more investment for corporates, startups and scaleups. Southeast Europe.