Startups to Watch in 2023 for Unicorn Valuations – The Recursive
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2022 was another strong year for unicorn creation in Central and Eastern Europe. It saw the rise of eight new unicorns in the wider CEE region, moving the total to 44. Startups with $1B+ valuations included Bulgarian fintech Payhawk, Czech enterprise software company Productboard, and Croatian automaker Rimac Automobili.
Despite the economic downturn, a total of €5.3B VC money flooded in the region, making it one the fastest growing regions for VC funding in Europe.
What is in the cards for 2023? The Recursive scouted for the tech startups to watch in 2023, as they have the biggest chances to become the next unicorns of Central and Eastern Europe.
We selected startups with an estimated valuation between $200-950M, the last funding year being at least 2017, and with headquarters or founding place in Bulgaria, Romania, Greece, Western Balkan countries, The Czech Republic, or Poland. Valuations estimates are provided by Dealroom, unless otherwise indicated.
In 2021, fintech startup Payhawk, which was on our previous soonicorns list, became the first unicorn originating from Bulgaria. Four years after founding, the company raised a $100M round in March 2022, extending its previous historic Series B. Another Bulgarian private tech company rumored to have a valuation of over $1B is SiteGround, the web hosting company founded in 2004. The rest of startups to watch in 2023 follows the candidate list from last year.
Founders: Dilyan Pavlov
Headquarters: Massachusetts, US
Industry: Enterprise Software
Solution: Asset management and reporting software for alternative assets.
Total funding: N/A
Estimated valuation: $900M
Last round: Strategic growth investment in 2021, undisclosed amount
Founders: Krasimir Marinov, Peter Brodsky, Vladimir Tzankov
Headquarters: New York, US
Industry: Enterprise Software
Solution: Data automation technology to improve operational efficiency.
Total funding: $289M
Estimated valuation: $400—600M
Last round: $100M Series E in December 2021
Founders: Ivan Osmak, Jordan Angelov, Radoslav Georgiev, Bo Pedersen
Headquarters: Colorado, US
Industry: Enterprise Software
Solution: A software and services company offering a data-drive OKR platform where companies can track their most important metrics to improve decision making.
Total funding: $160.6M
Estimated valuation: $480—720M
Last round: $120M Series C in December 2021
Founders: Snejina Zacharia
Headquarters: Massachusetts, US
Industry: Financial Services, Insurance
Solution: Virtual insurance platform for auto, home, and life insurance using AI and predictive analytics.
Total funding: $130M
Estimated valuation: $400—600M
Last round: $100M Series B in 2021
Over the years, Romania has produced two unicorns: publicly listed RPA company UiPath, and privately owned blockchain and crypto startup MultiversX (formerly Elrond). Privately owned e-commerce giant eMAG is also valued at over €1B+. Among the potential unicorn startups to watch in 2023, we see the rise of companies aiming to digitize and modernize the financial services system.
Founders: Florin Talpeș
Headquarters: Bucharest, Romania
Industry: Cybersecurity
Solution: Cybersecurity solutions for end users and businesses.
Total funding: $187M
Estimated valuation: $600M
Last round: $180M, secondary market, 2017
Founders: Eduard Oneci, Vasile Burcin
Headquarters: Nicosia, Cyprus
Industry: Fintech, Crypto
Solution: A crypto liquidity platform that enables instant card issuance for purchases at any merchant.
Total funding: $75M
Estimated valuation: $300—450M
Last round: $75M late VC series in November 2022
Founders: Sergiu Negut, Teo Blidarus
Headquarters: London, UK
Industry: Financial services
Solution: Low-code solutions for the digital transformation of the finance industry.
Total funding: $81.3M
Estimated valuation: $281M
Last round: $60M Series B in 2021.
Founders: Chris Turlica, Nick Haase
Headquarters: San Francisco, California
Industry: Enterprise Software
Solution: Tools for preventive maintenance and control of daily business operations.
Total funding: $42.8M
Estimated valuation: $156—234M
Last round: $39M Series B in 2021
So far, the accelerating Greek tech startup ecosystem has produced two unicorns: learning certification company PeopleCert and neobank Viva Wallet, which recently completed its partial acquisition by JP Morgan.
In 2022, automotive leasing company FlexCar made one step further towards becoming the next unicorn company from Greece, after a €210M VC round. An industry fellow company, Spotawheel, joined the ranks with a €100M growth equity round.
Founders: Konstantinos Davaris, George Desyllas
Headquarters: Athens, Greece
Industry: Automotive
Solution: Automotive leasing solutions that make car ownership flexible and minimize advance payments.
Total funding: $326M
Estimated valuation: $924M—1.4B
Last round: €210M late VC round in 2022
Founders: Alex Chatzieleftheriou, Penny Papakonstantinou, Alexis Maragkos, Andreas Nezeriti
Headquarters: New York, US
Industry: Real estate
Solution: Proptech rental company offering a platform for booking flexible stays.
Total funding: $251M
Estimated valuation: $560—840M
Last round: Undisclosed late VC round in November 2022
Founders: Charis Arvanitis, Kiriakos Agadakos
Headquarters: Néa Ionía, Greece
Industry: Automotive
Solution: Dealership platform for used cars.
Total funding: $138M
Estimated valuation: N/A
Last round: €100M growth equity VC stage in April 2022
Founders: Alexis Pantazis, Emilios Markou
Headquarters: Maroussi, Greece
Industry: Financial services
Solution: Offers car, motorcycle, and home insurance solutions.
Total funding: $50.9M
Estimated valuation: $141-211M
Last round: €32M late VC round in 2021
In 2022, Western Balkan countries welcomed a new unicorn – Croatian automotive company Rimac Automobili, after raising a €500M Series D round. Rimac thus became the second company with a >$1B valuation in Croatia after communication software company Infobip.
Other success stories in the region include Serbian gaming company Nordeus’ $378 million acquisition in 2021. Several Croatian and Serbian companies raised further rounds and 2022 and made our list of startups to watch in 2023 for unicorn valuations.
Founders: Aleksandar Čabrilo, Dusan Kosic
Headquarters: California, US; founding location – Serbia
Industry: Enterprise Software
Solution: Consulting, software engineering and digital product development services.
Total funding: $140M
Estimated valuation: N/A
Last round: $140M initial round at the beginning of 2022
Founders: James Isilay, Stjepan Buljat
Headquarters: London, UK; founding location – Croatia
Industry: Enterprise software, Marketing, AI
Solution: Sales intelligence software that uses AI tools to extract sales and recruitment leads from big data.
Total funding: $128M
Estimated valuation: $350—525M
Last round: $87.5M Series C in January 2022
Founders: Deniz Kural, Igor Bogicevic; CEO: William Moss
Headquarters: Massachusetts, US; founding location – Serbia
Industry: Biotechnology
Solution: Specializes in software and data analytics to drive healthcare research.
Total funding: $113M
Estimated valuation: $250M
Last round: $15M closing of a $30M Series C in 2021
Founders: Davor Tremac, Filip Sturman, Ivan Ivankovic
Headquarters: Dublin, Ireland; founding location – Croatia
Industry: Enterprise software, Fintech
Solution: Solution for tax automation and compliance for companies to streamline the transactional chain.
Total funding: $85M
Estimated valuation: $240—360M
Last round: $60M Series B in July 2022
Founders: Mario Vuksan, Tomislav Peričin
Headquarters: Massachusetts, US; founding location – Croatia
Industry: Enterprise Software
Solution: Threat detection solutions for the software supply chain.
Total funding: $81M
Estimated valuation: $224-336M
Last round: €48M Series B in 2021
Founders: Andrej Bencic, Miljan Tekic, Bogdan Habic, Nebojsa Urosevic
Headquarters: San Francisco, California; founding location – Serbia
Industry: Enterprise software, Fintech
Solution: An Ethereum Developer Platform for real-time monitoring, alerting, debugging, and simulating of smart contracts.
Total funding: $55.3M
Estimated valuation: $250M
Last round: $40M Series B in March 2022
After becoming the first Czech unicorn in 2021, Rohlik Grouo raised a further €220M Series D this year. 2022 also saw the rise of San-Francisco-based Productboard, after it raised a $125 million Series D. The company’s valuation now sits at $1.725 billion. Logistics provider ShipMonk is also estimated to have a valuation of over $1B, after closing a $290M round in 2020. In January 2021 they raised another $65M growth equity VC round and at the beginning of 2022 they acquired competitor Ruby Has Fulfillment. Several companies with valuations over $500M and recent fundraising rounds could become the country’s next unicorns.
Founders: Dr. Ben Maruthappu, Marek Sacha
Headquarters: London, UK
Industry: Healthcare
Solution: A digital-first home healthcare company offering care, nursing, telehealth and repeat prescriptions.
Total funding: $303M
Estimated valuation: $686M—1B
Last round: £130M in debt and £130M from VCs in August 2022
Founders: Richard Valtr
Headquarters: Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Industry: Enterprise Software, Travel, Fintech
Solution: A SaaS-based property management system that simplifies hotel operations, from reservations to payments and others.
Total funding: $230M
Estimated valuation: $865M
Last round: $185M Series C round in 2022, one of the largest funding rounds in the Czech Republic in 2022
Founders: Jan Mrazek, Michal Klaus
Headquarters: Toronto, Canada
Industry: Enterprise Software, Deep tech
Solution: A software company that specializes in solutions for data quality, master data management, and data governance.
Total funding: ~$152M
Estimated valuation: $550M
Last round: $150M growth equity VC in 2022, one of the largest funding rounds in the Czech Republic in 2022
Founders: Tomas Gogar, Petr Baudis, Tomas Tunys
Headquarters: London, UK
Industry: Enterprise Software, Legal, AI
Solution: A cloud document gateway for automated business communication using AI.
Total funding: $106M
Estimated valuation: $400—600M
Last round: $100M Series A in October 2021
Founders: Marcin Cichon, Martin Dr. Wricke
Headquarters: Pfaffenhofen, Germany
Industry: Enterprise Software, Marketing
Solution: A provider of full suite price management and CPQ SaaS solutions.
Total funding: $126M
Estimated valuation: $260—390M
Last round: $65M Series C in 2020
Founders: Tomas Kratky
Headquarters: New York City, NY
Industry: Enterprise Software, Big Data
Solution: Offers a central hub of all data flows in the organization.
Total funding: $52.5M
Estimated valuation: $140—210M
Last round: Late VC round in December 2022, following a Series B of $35M in May 2022, one of the largest funding rounds in the Czech Republic in 2022
Founders: Jiri Kobelka, Samuel Sramko
Headquarters: Miami, Florida
Industry: Fintech, Web3
Solution: Empowers web 3.0 developers to build apps fast.
Total funding: $41.7M
Estimated valuation: $166—249M
Last round: An early VC stage round of $41.5M in October 2022, one of the largest funding rounds in the Czech Republic in 2022
Founders: Michal Mensik
Headquarters: Prague, Czech Republic
Industry: Logistics, Transportation
Solution: Delivery solutions for businesses of any kind.
Total funding: $66M
Estimated valuation: $264—396M
Last round: €60M Series B in May 2022, one of the largest funding rounds in the Czech Republic in 2022
The Polish startup ecosystem has vast tech talent and a growing pool of VC funding, key ingredients for breeding future unicorns. So far, healthcare startup DocPlanner is the country’s sole official unicorn. Another private tech company valued at over $1B is e-commerce player Modivo (formerly eobuwie.pl). 2022 saw several Series B to Series D funding rounds, bringing new contenders to the unicorn status.
Founders: Rafał Modrzewski, Pekka Laurila
Headquarters: Helsinki, Finland
Industry: Space tech
Solution: Micro-satellites for the capture of images from space. A spin-off from Aalto University.
Total funding: $302M
Estimated valuation: $544—816M
Last round: $136M Series D in February 2022
Founders: Michał Borkowski, Tomasz Kraus, Łukasz Haluch
Headquarters: Krakow, Poland
Industry: Education
Solution: The world’s largest peer-to-peer learning community for students, parents and teachers.
Total funding: $152M
Estimated valuation: $320—480M
Last round: $80M Series D in 2020
Founders: Piotr Pisarz
Headquarters: London, UK
Industry: Fintech
Solution: A revenue-based finance provider, which allows founders to raise growth capital without giving up control of their business.
Total funding: $117M
Estimated valuation: $320—480M
Last round: Support program from Tech Nation and a Series B of $80M in 2021
Founders: Konrad Howard, Stefan Batory
Headquarters: San Francisco, California
Industry: SaaS, e-commerce
Solution: A beauty marketplace for finding, scheduling, and managing appointments, enabled by a SaaS mobile app.
Total funding: €148M
Estimated valuation: €255—382M
Last round: $70M Series C in January 2021
Founders: Przemek Kowalczyk, Szymon Sypniewicz
Headquarters: London, UK
Industry: Fintech, Web 3.0
Solution: A non-custodial fiat-crypto exchange infrastructure that makes it easy for users to jump on and off of Web3 from anywhere.
Total funding: €123M
Estimated valuation: €255—382M
Last round: $70M Series B in November 2022
Founders: Wojtek Sadowski, Patryk Kabaj, Konrad Kwiatkowski, Arkadiusz Wasilonek
Headquarters: Warsaw, Poland
Industry: Packaging, Retail
Solution: Online marketplace that simplifies ordering and management of branded packaging.
Total funding: $56.3M
Estimated valuation: $176—264M
Last round: €40M Series B in 2021
Founders: Martin Markiewicz, Julia Markiewicz
Headquarters: Singapore, Singapore
Industry: Fintech, AI, Legal
Solution: Explainable AI that enables you to solve more screening alerts in less time and with greater accuracy
Total funding: $55M
Estimated valuation: $160—240M
Last round: $40M Series B in March 2022
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