“If You Can Work Together on a Boat, You Can Build a Startup”
Yasido, founded by two sailors, has turned a private yacht‑booking tool into a Europe‑focused marketplace likened to "Booking.com for yachts." The platform automates the complex legal, logistical and trust‑building steps of chartering, cutting dozens of emails to a single click. By vetting owners, handling crew lists, port clearances and insurance, it makes group yacht trips affordable and reliable. The service now lists tens of thousands of vessels across more than a thousand destinations, tapping a $9 billion global market.
Czech Navigara Raises Over €2M With Support From CEE Funds
Czech startup Navigara secured a $2.5 million seed round, backed by Inovo VC, Rockaway Ventures and QQ Capital, to commercialise its AI‑driven engineering analytics platform. Founded in 2022, the company translates development‑stack data into clear performance indicators that quantify the impact...
5 Romanian Fintech Startups to Watch, According to Investors
Independent projections show Romania’s digital payments could reach nearly $93.5 billion by 2030, expanding at just over 20% CAGR. This surge is fueling demand for fintech solutions that serve an increasingly digital SME landscape. Investors highlighted five startups—FilmChain, Finqware, Lendox, Symphopay...
EIC Ambassador on Europe’s Climate Tech Shift: Why Companies Are Building at Home
European climate‑tech firms are increasingly staying and scaling within the EU, shifting away from the traditional Silicon Valley model. Geopolitical tensions, supply‑chain resilience and stringent sustainability targets are prompting companies to locate manufacturing and R&D on the continent. Angela Ivanova,...
Google Maps Co-Founder Lars Rasmussen and Lefteris Katsiadakis Are Turning Athens Into a Startup Magnet
Google Maps co‑founder Lars Rasmussen and Panathēnea CEO Lefteris Katsiadakis are turning Athens into a Southeast European startup hub. The nonprofit festival attracted investors such as Sequoia, Index Ventures, NVIDIA and OpenAI, and featured over 3,000 attendees from 44 countries...
Farseer Secures €6.07M Series A to Scale FP&A Platform Across Europe and North America
Croatian fintech Farseer announced a €6.07 million Series A round, led by AYMO Ventures with participation from existing backer SQ Capital. The funding will fuel expansion into Western Europe and North America and accelerate hiring and AI‑driven product development. Farseer’s cloud platform...
Real Equity vs Virtual Shares in Bulgaria: A Corporate Governance Playbook for Employee Incentives
Bulgarian companies are increasingly choosing between real equity and virtual (phantom) shares to motivate staff, each offering distinct governance and tax outcomes. Real equity provides statutory ownership and voting rights but can create minority vetoes and exit‑execution risk. Virtual shares...
Defense Tech Startup Occam Raises €3M Following Brave1 Integration Approval in Ukraine
London‑based Occam Industries announced a €3 million pre‑seed round, led by Czech investor Presto Tech Horizons and backed by Antler, Freedom Fund, TYR.vc and angels. The financing follows the company’s approval for integration testing with Ukraine’s Brave1 defense tech cluster, validating...
Why Is a $700M Startup “Testing” Its AI in the Balkans?
Wonderful, an Amsterdam‑based autonomous AI‑agent platform, raised $134 million and reached a $700 million valuation within its first year. In September 2025 it opened a Central‑Eastern European hub in Zagreb, positioning Croatia, Serbia and Slovenia as a proving ground for culturally‑grounded AI. The...
How a Romanian Startup Found Its Strongest Growth in Latin America
Pluria, a Romanian‑founded hybrid‑work platform, has seen its strongest growth in Latin America, especially Colombia, Mexico and Argentina, with 2025 revenue expanding 2.5 times versus the prior year. The company entered the region opportunistically, bypassing traditional market analysis, and quickly...
Poland’s VC Market Leans Heavily on Seed-Stage Funding
Poland’s venture‑capital market deployed €0.8 billion across 183 transactions in 2025, marking a 28% increase over 2024 when mega‑rounds are excluded. Seed‑stage deals dominated, with 134 rounds – a 20% year‑on‑year rise – and average ticket sizes steady at €1.5 million. Public...
Czech-Slovak Readmio Secures €1M From Polish Simpact Ventures
Czech‑Slovak edtech startup Readmio announced a €1 million investment from Polish impact fund Simpact Ventures. The capital will accelerate product development and a global expansion push into Asia, the United States and Latin America. Readmio’s voice‑recognition storytelling app already serves families...
Romanian EdTech Startup Kinderpedia Raises €2.2M in Growth Funding Round
Romanian EdTech startup Kinderpedia secured €2.2 million in a growth‑stage round led by Simpact Ventures, part of a €3.5 million target. The AI‑powered platform now serves schools in over 40 countries, reaching more than 500,000 teachers, parents and administrators. Funds will accelerate...
ElevenLabs Raises $500M Series D at $11B Valuation
ElevenLabs announced a $500 million Series D round that lifts its valuation to $11 billion, led by Sequoia Capital with Andreessen Horowitz and ICONIQ Capital increasing stakes. The funding backs the company’s push toward $330 million in annual recurring revenue by 2025 and fuels...
Polish Nomagic Secures Series B Extension to Scale Physical AI for Warehousing
Polish robotics firm Nomagic announced an €8.51 million ($10 million) Series B extension led by Cogito Capital Partners. The capital will fund accelerated expansion into the United States and further development of its visual‑language‑action (VLA) models. Nomagic’s physical AI robots, already deployed with...
How Afranga Brings EU-Regulated Private Credit to Retail Investors Across 27 Countries
The European Crowdfunding Service Provider (ECSP) regulation, effective since 2021, gave fintech platforms a passport to operate across all 27 EU member states, opening private‑credit markets to retail investors. Sofia‑based Afranga, relaunched under an ECSP licence in 2025, has already...
Croatian InsiderCX Secures Seed Round to Expand Its AI-Powered Patient Experience Platform
Croatian healthtech startup InsiderCX closed a €1.5 million seed round led by GapMinder, with participation from Silicon Gardens Fund. The company’s AI‑powered platform harvests patient feedback via mobile channels, delivering up to ten times more actionable insights than traditional surveys. Revenue...
Top Funding Rounds Raised by Greek Startups in 2025
Greek startups raised more than €732 million in 2025, a 35 % jump from the previous year, with over 90 companies securing capital from 143 investors worldwide. The surge reflects Greece’s growing ecosystem maturity and heightened international visibility. Spotawheel led the pack...
FinovateEurope 2026 to Gather 1,000+ Fintech and Banking Decision-Makers in London
FinovateEurope 2026 will convene on 10–11 February at London’s InterContinental O2, drawing more than 1,000 fintech and banking decision‑makers, including over 600 senior executives. The two‑day agenda features more than 100 speakers such as Citi’s Victor Alexiev and Raiffeisen’s Vanja...