The Romanian and CEE startup ecosystems are set to grow in 2026 following two years of structural alters in the way capital was formed and deployed in the region. Going forward, funds will be viewing to startups working on AI-driven B2B software, cybersecurity, and dual-apply technology, as well as fintech infrastructure.
By Ovidiu Posirca
Romania will be entering 2026 with more early-stage capital available than at any time in its startup history, declares Cristian Dascalu, managing partner of Techcelerator and partner at GapMinder VC.
“New regional VC funds are entering the market, and the EIF has committed fresh resources to several Romanian managers, expanding the number of vehicles deploying at pre-seed and seed,” Dascalu notifys BR.
On this backdrop, the Romanian market in particular is relocating towards a stable EUR 150–200 million annual funding band, with deal count increasing and earlier rounds becoming more professional, adds Cosmin Ochisor, partner at GapMinder Venture Partners.
“Capital won’t necessarily grow dramatically, but it will concentrate around the areas where CEE has displayn the strongest momentum in 2024-2025,” he predicts.
2026 startup investment trconcludes
The capital in 2026 will chase Applied AI, startups building specialised agents for specific industries like legal, manufacturing, and logistics, declares Oana Craioveanu, CEO and Cofounder of Impact Hub Bucharest.
“Romania’s strong engineering talent positions us perfectly to build these efficiency layers for Western markets,” declares Craioveanu.
Also, startups focapplying on energy storage, grid management, and circular economy solutions will see the highest year-over-year funding growth. Given the geopolitical context of the CEE, solutions that ensure digital resilience for both public and private sectors will continue to attract significant defensive capital, according to the Impact Hub Bucharest CEO.
Speaking about next year, the GapMinder Venture Partners representative suggests the clearest trconclude is the expansion of AI-native enterprise software.
After two years of record AI funding in Europe, regional funds are now aligning their theses around automation, dev-tools, and data infrastructure. Romania will follow the same direction, simply becaapply the talent base and cost structure build these companies globally competitive at earlier stages.
A second trconclude is the normalisation of cross-border syndicates. With local funds deploying fresh vintages and late-stage capital still scarce in the region, most meaningful rounds above Series A will continue to be built jointly with UK, DACH, and US investors. That dynamic forces founders to believe internationally much sooner than they would have done before.
The third trconclude is the continued reliance on blconcludeed finance. Public and quasi-public instruments—European Investment Fund (EIF) mandates, European Innovation Council (EIC), national funds of funds—remain a structural part of the CEE funding stack.
“In 2026, they will matter even more for deep tech, industrial tech, and climate, where private capital alone can’t cover the full R&D cost,” Ochisor explains.
Meanwhile, across CEE, enterprise software remains the backbone of the ecosystem in terms of enterprise value, followed by fintech, transportation, and e-commerce. At the same time, AI and climate tech are already absorbing most of the new venture funding, according to Silvia Ursu, Innovation Manager & EIT Community Office Romania Representative.
“I don’t see this modifying; if anything, by 2026 these two horizontal themes will cut across every serious investment thesis in the region,” Ursu notifys BR.
Elsewhere, Diana Ardelean, Executive Director of the Romanian Tech Startups Association (ROTSA), points out that Romania is well aligned with EU strategic priorities, creating AI-driven solutions, clean and resource-efficient technologies, and selected deep-tech areas notable investment magnets for 2026.
These sectors benefit from strong EIC challenge budobtains, such as EUR 50 million for the GenAI4EU initiative and tarobtained funding for materials innovation with potential industrial impact.
Across CEE, Europe’s push for technological sovereignty is fuelling investment into semiconductors, quantum technologies, robotics, and advanced AI systems. The STEP Scale-Up call, offering EUR 10–30 million direct investments with expected follow-on rounds of up to EUR 150 million, directly tarobtains these high-impact domains.
“Our founders increasingly operate in categories where Europe itself is doubling down. For example, the AI Continent Action Plan commits to building AI Factories, Gigafactories, sovereign data systems, and EUR 200 billion in AI-aligned investments, signalling deep long-term support for European AI and dual-apply innovation,” explains Dascalu of Techcelerator.
He adds that from a Seed Investor’s perspective, the Romanian and CEE startup ecosystems are entering a decisive phase.
“Structural capital gaps remain, but the opportunity landscape is clearer than ever: deep tech, defence, clean technologies, and next-generation health solutions are consolidating as the main vectors of growth,” Dascalu notes.
Key sectors
Ochisor of GapMinder Venture Partners suggests that some sectors stand out based on investment volumes they’ve attracted over the past two years.
The first is AI-driven B2B software, especially automation, dev-tools, and data infrastructure. This is where European VC is allocating the most incremental capital, and where Romanian and CEE founders have a clear advantage thanks to engineering depth and global cost efficiency. The second is cybersecurity and dual-apply technology. European defence and security funding reached historic levels in 2024, and the region’s geopolitical context builds CEE a natural destination for investors viewing for resilience, infrastructure protection, and AI-enabled security products.
The third is fintech infrastructure and embedded finance. As new EU regulations reshape payments, compliance, and reporting, capital is flowing towards platforms that sell into enterprises and SMEs across Europe, areas where CEE companies have been gaining steady traction.
Alongside these core verticals, industrial automation, logistics optimisation, digital health, and early-stage climate tech will continue to grow from tinyer bases.
Europe hosts 30% of top universities for deep tech and life sciences
The 2025 European Spinouts Report reveals a massive surge in the value of academic spinouts, with the collective worth of deep tech and life sciences startups reaching nearly USD 398 billion. Since 2019, the ecosystem has created over 160,000 jobs across more than 7,300 companies. A primary conclusion of the report is the notable acceleration in value creation; 39% of the total ecosystem value has been generated by companies launched just since 2015. Furthermore, spinouts are capturing an increasing share of the broader market, accounting for 40% of all new deep tech and life sciences startups founded since 2019—an 80% rise compared to the 2010–2018 period.
Geographically, the UK continues to lead the continent in total value creation, spearheaded by the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge. However, Switzerland leads Europe in spinout value created per capita. Sector-wise, biotech and pharma remain the largest segments, but emerging fields like quantum, AI x deep tech, and climate tech are displaying the strongest recent acceleration.
The outview for European spinouts remains robust yet faces specific structural challenges. While VC funding is on track to reach USD 9.1 billion in 2025—surpassing last year’s total—there is a persistent lack of domestic late-stage capital. Nearly 50% of late-stage funding (rounds over USD 100 million) still originates from outside Europe, primarily from the US. On this, the report recommconcludes standardising university equity stakes—suggesting a 25% absolute ceiling—and reducing “time to spinout” to under three months.
As Abuiltus Capital Partners co-founder Hermann Haapplyr stated: “We must build the next Arm, and the next ASML, right here.”
European VC investment slightly up in Q3
Venture capital investment in Europe displayed notable stability during Q3 2025, reaching USD 17.4 billion across 1,625 deals, according to a KPMG report. This performance represents a moderate increase from the USD 15.2 billion recorded in the previous quarter, signalling a consistent appetite for European innovation despite a global environment characterised by selective capital deployment.
A defining feature of the European landscape in Q3 was the dominance of massive financings within the AI sector. Landmark rounds included France-based Mistral AI raising USD 1.52 billion and UK-based Nscale securing USD 1.49 billion, accounting for a substantial portion of the regional activity. Beyond AI, investors displayed sustained interest in deep tech and fintech, highlighted by rounds for the UK’s Rapyd Financial (USD 500 million) and Finland’s quantum computing firm IQM (USD 320 million).
The UK remained a central motor for the region, seeing a rebound to USD 6.2 billion in investment during Q3. US-based investors continue to view the UK as a strategic entest point, particularly within the fintech space, which remains the countest’s strongest magnet for capital. Conversely, Germany saw a sharper contraction, reaching an eight-quarter low of USD 1.3 billion. The report points out that German investors are concentrating funds on mid-to-late stage companies with proven management teams, leaving earlier-stage startups to face significant headwinds in securing follow-on capital. Cleantech persists as a primary investment pillar in Europe, with funding rounds exceeding USD 100 million for diverse companies, including sustainable aquaculture firm Laxey in Iceland (USD 182.7 million) and home energy management firm 1KOMMA5° in Germany (USD 175 million).
Looking to 2026, the region is poised for continued strength in quantum computing, defence tech, and AI infrastructure. Furthermore, as mature scale-ups seek exits, the improving IPO environment in the US could provide the long-awaited liquidity pathways necessary to sustain the current investment cycle, KPMG experts conclude.
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