The rise of FinTech in CEE

Over the last few years, we’ve seen record amounts invested in CEE, with 2021 seeing over double the amount invested compared to 2019. This is mainly driven by international investments. The local VC ecosystem is focusing on early stage investments, with foreign investors representing more than 90% of investments in Series B or later rounds.

UIPath has paved way for growth in enterprise software, which now attracts more than twice the share of VC funding as in the rest of Europe. Fintech investments represent 11% of regional VC funding, catching up to the 18% in other European countries. Companies like Ramp, Symmetrical, Veriff and FintechOS are now on the path to define this space. 

CEE is best positioned to win talent wars in Europe. The region is an engineering and IT talent hub for many tech companies like Revolut. Their recent success will surely have a snowball effect on the future of the local ecosystem. We already see the first generation of startups being established by previous employees of successful companies in the region (e.g. ex-Skype employee founding Bolt).