CEE Startups Funding Rounds
05 May 2020·8 min read

Anna Kazmierczak

Analyst, Next Road Ventures

10 Top CEE Funding Rounds Closed In April 2020

Despite dubious times, we do not stop our monthly series and keep searching for the most interesting investment rounds in the CEE region. Today’s review is dominated by Polish startups, which were most active in the region this month. Let’s have a look at April deals. 

Speakly

Location: Tallinn, Estonia
Launch date: 2016
Funding Round: Seed €900K
Funding Source: Superhero Capital, Contriber Ventures, Trind Ventures, TrueSight Ventures, business angels
Total funding received: €900K

Estonian-based startup Speakly raised a seed round of €900K from the Finnish Superhero Capital, Estonian Trind Ventures and Contriber Ventures, as well as Stockholm & London based TrueSight Ventures accompanied by business angels. Speakly is a language learning app aimed at those willing to master their vocabulary in a convenient and holistic way. The innovation behind the tool is the research-backed methodology of teaching, which is by delivering users the words with a high statistical usage rate. That way you will first learn the vocabulary most relevant for the day-to-day communication and shorten your active studying part. The startup was founded by Ott Ojamets and Ingel Keskpaik, people who know insides out of the language teaching art, having vast experience in teaching and translating. What is more and definitely worth mentioning, each of them speaks 7 different languages!

ResistantAI

Location: Prague, Czech Republic
Launch date: 2019
Funding Round: Seed €2.5M
Funding Source: Credo Ventures, Index Ventures, Seedcamp, Daniel Dines, Michal Pechoucek
Total funding received: €2.5M

Prague-based Resistant AI is here to ensure, that machine learning and AI-based solutions adapted by the B2B customers in finance and e-commerce sectors are secured from any kind of online fraud or manipulation. The startup delivers two specialized products named Resistant Documents and Resistant Transactions. The first one prevents official virtual documentation from being scammed, whilst the second one ensures the online credit scoring process protection, fraud detection and Anti Money Laundering. The core team behind the project proved its expertise and strong skills when working at Cognitive Security, which was later acquired by Cisco Systems in 2013. A few days ago ResistantAI pocketed a €2.5M from a seed round lead by Credo Ventures and Index Ventures, accompanied by Seedcamp, UiPath CEO Daniel Dines and Avast CTO Michal Pechoucek.

Hyper Poland

Location: Warsaw, Poland
Launch date: 2017
Funding Round: €500K
Funding Source: equity crowdfunding
Total funding received: €4.7M

Hyper Poland is without a doubt a venture to keep an eye on. The company works on a hyperloop - inspired solution for a railway sector. The high-end magnetic levitation technology and autonomous control systems developed by the research team of Hyper Poland will allow the new generation of commercial railways to move with speed up to 300 km/h. In the next step, the technology can be transformed into a vacuum system hyper rail, which could be two times faster, hitting the speed limit of 600 km/h. In April the company has closed its second equity crowdfunding round amounting to €500K. The funds will be allocated to further research on the passive levitation technology, adapting to the existing railway infrastructure and building a complete test track.

inSTREAMLY

Location: Warsaw, Poland
Launch date: 2019
Funding Round: Pre-seed €216K
Funding Source: SMOK Ventures
Total funding received: €216K

A Polish startup inSTREAMLY delivers a tool for displaying ads via different streaming channels at the same time, with the help of one complex analytics and management dashboard. The brands have access to over 40 000 small and medium streamers who are willing to share the ads and earn on that. With big names among clients like P&G, KFC, mBank, inSTREAMLY proves the market fit of its product. Furthermore, the rising demand for streaming platforms, especially during the lockdown period, seems like a good time for inSTREAMLY to thrive. The April pre-seed round collected from polish VC SMOK Ventures was the first financing pocketed by the company from a VC and amounted to €216K.

Mission Critical

Location: Bucharest, Romania
Launch date: 2016
Funding Round: Seed €500K
Funding Source: Neogen Capital
Total funding received: €500K

Mission Critical secured a €500K seed round from for the expansion of the operational team and further product development. The investment was done by Neogen Capital, an early-stage VC from Romania with the main focus on marketplace solutions. Bucharest-based startup Mission Critical develops a Robotic Process Automation (RPA) software, which helps companies to implement repetitive processes automation and does not require advanced programming skills to do so. In times of pandemic and remote work model, enterprises need to adjust quickly and adapt to make their operations more costs- and results-effective. Mission Critical sounds like the right solution for that.

Dashbird

Location: Tallinn, Estonia
Launch date: 2017
Funding Round: Seed €1.9M
Funding Source: Icebreaker.vc, Passion Capital, Paladin Capital Group, Lemonade Stand
Total funding received: €2.6M

Dashbird has secured €1.9M from the seed investment led by Paladin Capital Group, accompanied by Icebreaker.vc, Passion Capital and Lemonade Stand. The Tallinn-based startup develops a complex platform for serverless monitoring of all AWS apps, supported by a client from one place. The platform combines automated alert management tool, central infrastructure monitoring and insights engine. With Dashbird any kind of problem, related to the proper working of an app can be noticed and fixed within seconds. That way the solution can save much time and efforts of the DevOps team managing applications.

Airly

Location: Krakow, Poland
Launch date: 2016
Funding Round: Seed €990K
Funding Source: undisclosed
Total funding received: €2M

Airly is here to make sure that we have a complex set of information on the air we are breathing with. The Polish company delivers a real-time application, which allows users to track the key metrics of the air condition in their area. The data is collected from the Airly hardware measurement devices installed in 3000 different locations all over the world. It's then displayed in the app that has yet been installed over 500K times. The Airly team members call themselves #smogfighters, as they not only ensure that citizens have access to the accurate data on the air condition but also show users the ways they can fight smog. The company teams up with a number of local governments, media, and big companies to spread awareness among the Polish citizens.

DevSkiller

Location: Warsaw, Poland
Launch date: 2013
Funding Round: €1M
Funding Source: Speed Up Energy Innovation
Total funding received: €1.5M

DevSkiller combines a hiring platform for tech specialists with a DevSkiller Talent Score solution focused on real-time and unbiased testing of the developers’ skills. With the help of a DevSkiller platform, the HR and talent acquisition teams can find the best candidates for the IT positions in their companies. Among the DevSkiller’s clients, there are well known international corporations like PayPal, Deloitte, ING and many other big names from over 50 countries. After securing a €1M bridge round from the Speed Up Energy Innovation, DevSkiller is expanding its software product range and winning new markets.

Inbalance grid

Location: Vilnius, Lithuania
Launch date: 2019
Funding Round: Seed €950K
Funding Source: Contrarian Ventures, Ernestas Petkevicius, Mantas Mikuckas, Koinvesticinis Fondas
Total funding received: €950K

Inbalance grid has pocketed €950K in a seed round led by Contrarian Ventures and accompanied by Koinvesticinis Fond with well known BAs engaged, i.e. Mantas Mikuckas (cofounder of the Vinted unicorn) and Ernestas Petkevicius (CEO of JSC Vertex). The Vilnius-based startup is a provider of innovative electric vehicles charging solutions aimed at business and network operators. The company delivers personalized charging stations together with monitoring software for effective charging, facilitated with an intelligent load balancing feature. With Inbalance grid solution the process of EV charging can be cost-effective as it does not require the development of new infrastructures but rather utilizes the existing electrical capacities.

ICSEC

Location: Poznan, Poland
Launch date: 2018
Funding Round: Series A €455K
Funding Source: EEC Ventures
Total funding received: €5.7M

The company is not new to the cybersecurity scene, as for many years it has been developing solutions ensuring the safety of industrial networks. The recent ICSEC innovation developed in cooperation with top polish tech universities is an anomalies tracking system for the industrial network named SCADVANCE XP. The solution consists of tracking hardware and monitoring software backed by AI and big data. The April’s series A investment equalled €455K and was made by EEC Ventures, Warsaw-based VC specializing in energy, industry 4.0 and utilities, investing in later-stage companies.

These are the chosen 10 startups from Central & Eastern Europe that successfully closed funding rounds in April. Stay tuned for the upcoming funding news!

Related Posts:

10 TOP CEE Funding Rounds Closed In March 2020 (by Anna Kazmierczak, Analyst, Next Road Ventures)

10 TOP CEE Funding Rounds Closed In May 2020 (by Anna Kazmierczak, Analyst, Next Road Ventures)

10 TOP CEE Funding Rounds Closed In June 2020  (by Anna Kazmierczak, Analyst, Next Road Ventures)

 

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