According to the VC Funding In CEE Report – 2020 recently published by Vestbee, the biggest matchmaking platform for startups, VC funds, accelerators and corporates in Central & Eastern Europe, the disclosed number of investments in the CEE region last year reached over 730 and exceeded €1B in total funding.

As reported by Vestbee, the most popular industries in 2020 include Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, Analytics, E-commerce, Advertising, Healthcare, Blockchain, Financial Services, Marketplaces and Agriculture. Poland, Hungary and Estonia were the most active countries, securing 313, 110 and 97 rounds respectively and startups from these countries also received one of the largest fundings: Bolt – €150M, Iceye – €73M, Brainly – €66M, Booksy – €60M. Additionally, the report highlights the most active investors in CEE, that is Hiventures, Fil Rouge Capital, Startup Wise Guys, CB Investment Management, Smok VC, Polish Venture Fund, KnowledgeHub, CZYSTA3.VC, Netrix Ventures and Brave VC.

“The COVID-19 outbreak caused 2020 to be a volatile year for startups and VC funds in CEE, in terms of both challenges and opportunities. Despite the initial draw-backs of VC investments, the second half of 2020 proved, that as always, markets quickly adjust to all extraordinary circumstances. In this case, COVID-19 uncovered the new wave of winners among investors and startups who were able to embrace upcoming changes, especially the rapid rollout of digitalization as well as customer and social relations.

Now, when the dust has settled, we expect 2021 to be an even more exciting year for startups and VC. This is mostly due to the enormous supply of early-stage capital in Central & Eastern Europe and further digitalization” – underlined Ewa Chronowska, Vestbee Founder and Partner at Next Road Ventures, early-stage VC fund.

For more insights into the regional VC transactions in 2020 and quarterly investment comparison covering fluctuations in funding level, number and amount of transactions by country and brief descriptions of most interesting CEE startups and their funding rounds jump into VC Funding In CEE Report.