The Central and Eastern European (CEE) tech ecosystem, as highlighted in Dealroom’s CEE Startups 2025 report, reveals a sector experiencing both resilience and recalibration. Much like other global tech markets, the past two years have been marked by a “two-speed” dynamic—strong early-stage momentum coupled with tightening conditions in late-stage funding. Despite macroeconomic strain, geopolitical instability, and continued market corrections, the region continues to demonstrate remarkable innovation capacity and long-term growth potential.

Overall investment levels in CEE have continued to grow steadily, yet late-stage capital remains comparatively scarce. Dealroom underscores that while enterprise value and VC activity in the region have expanded over the last decade, on a per-capita basis CEE still remains significantly undertapped, particularly with regard to scaleup and capital-intensive deep-tech development

Late-stage funding challenges have slowed some of the growth witnessed in earlier years, mirroring broader European trends, where public-market corrections since 2022 have reset valuations and reduced the pace of unicorn creation.

Nevertheless, the resilience of CEE’s technology sector stands out. The ecosystem today reaches a combined value of €243 billion, a figure shaped by a diverse mix of enterprise software companies, hardware innovators, and growing verticals across energy, transportation, and fintech

CEE has grown faster than the European average over the past decade, supported by strong technical talent pools and a new generation of globally ambitious founders.

The report notes that more than 300 VC-backed exits have taken place in the region since 2023, with 2024 marking a record year for exit activity

This strengthening exit market signals increasing maturity, even in the face of uneven funding availability. At the same time, a significant proportion of CEE scaleups—nearly half—move their headquarters abroad as they scale, predominantly to the United States or the United Kingdom, seeking easier access to growth capital and global customers. Despite this relocation trend, most companies retain their core R&D and operational hubs within their home countries, continuing to feed economic value and expertise back into the region

In terms of industry trends, enterprise software remains the dominant segment, particularly through SaaS models that have historically enabled the region’s success due to their capital efficiency and relative ease of bootstrapping. Notably, hardware investments have increased sharply over the last three years, driven largely by transportation and energy technologies, which together raised over €2 billion since 2020

The rising geopolitical focus on defense technology has also catalyzed an emerging cluster of more than 100 defense and dual-use startups across the region—many actively contributing to Ukraine’s defense and reconstruction efforts

Gender disparity continues to be an ongoing challenge as in the broader European ecosystem. While the report does not focus explicitly on gender statistics, it mirrors wider European patterns in which women-led teams remain significantly underfunded.

Despite uncertainties, founder sentiment remains optimistic. The region has consistently produced high-performing companies that graduate to global scale, with CEE’s graduation rates from Series B onward now rivalling those of much more mature ecosystems such as the Nordics

With nearly 300 first-time funded startups per year, the region continues to replenish its innovation pipeline and expand its sectoral depth

Croatia: A Rising CEE Innovator Building on Global Success

Croatia emerges in the report as one of the notable contributors to the CEE technology landscape, continuing its trajectory from earlier years marked by landmark successes such as Infobip’s rise to unicorn status. Infobip remains one of the standout examples of a CEE-born company that has scaled globally while maintaining a strong operational base in the region, illustrating the dual-presence model common among CEE scaleups

The Dealroom report also includes Croatian-founded companies among the region’s notable exits since 2023, such as Photomath, acquired by Google, and Amodo, a telematics and insurtech company featured among CEE exit activity cohorts

These exits highlight Croatia’s ability to nurture globally relevant consumer and enterprise technology products.

Additionally, Croatia is fully integrated within the CEE ecosystem framework used by the report, alongside leading regional hubs such as Estonia, Poland, and Lithuania

The country’s presence among the scaleups and exit pipelines demonstrates continuing upward mobility for its ecosystem.

Croatia’s strength lies in several attributes: high-quality technical talent, strong engineering universities, and a growing presence of regionally active investors such as Fil Rouge Capital, one of the prominent local VC players listed in the report’s investor landscape

Coupled with the momentum from globally recognized companies like Infobip and Photomath, Croatia continues to solidify its position as a rising innovation node within CEE.

Conclusion: Steady Growth, Rising Maturity, and a Region Poised for Global Impact

As Europe enters a new period shaped by capital tightening, geopolitical pressure, and accelerated technological change, CEE remains a region defined by resilience and potential. Dealroom’s 2025 analysis captures a tech ecosystem that continues to expand despite challenges—growing in enterprise value, deepening its sectoral expertise, and steadily increasing its global footprint.

With more scaleups moving abroad for capital but keeping their core operations at home, the region’s role in global technology creation is likely to expand further. Croatia, with its mix of unicorn-level scale, successful exits, and expanding investor base, is increasingly becoming part of this broader narrative of regional ambition and global integration.

The coming years will test the adaptability of CEE ecosystems, but the foundations laid over the past decade—strong technical talent, capital efficiency, and an emerging track record of global success—position the region to continue outperforming expectations.