The newly launched CEE AI Index 2026 by AI Chamber, developed in partnership with The Recursive Media and supported by Europe Cloud — is the first exclusive, data-driven deep dive into the artificial intelligence readiness of 11 Central and Eastern European countries.
Finnish satellite company ICEYE has closed a total funding round exceeding €1 billion — valuing the company at over €10 billion.
AI has drastically accelerated the speed of cybersecurity attacks, from rapid exploitation to highly personalized phishing. Luckily, security teams can leverage the same tools. How can companies prepare? We consulted three experts from the field.
The Recursive’s weekly roundup aims to cover key tech developments across Central and Eastern Europe, as well as the growing impact of CEE-born founders on the global stage. Take a look at the latest news in funding, startup milestones, and emerging trends tied to the region’s innovation potential.
Marius Istrate, former UiPath Chief People Officer and angel investor, has joined Vienna-based VC firm 3VC as a Partner. The move deepens 3VC's focus on Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). Managing €200M, the fund invests €2–10M at Series A, aiming to back ambitious founders building global companies.
We sat down with co-founders of the London VC Network (LVCN) to discuss the biggest shifts already happening across venture capital, startups, AI, and emerging ecosystems.
Hungarian-founded Kodesage has raised a €5.67M Seed round led by VentureFriends to help enterprises modernise legacy software with its on-premise AI platform.
On June 9, Digitalk, Capital's flagship technology conference, returns for its 15th edition at Sofia Event Center.
Paypercut has raised a €5M seed round to expand its payments platform across Central and Eastern Europe. The Sofia-based fintech, which now serves more than 200 merchants across eight markets, plans to accelerate product development, and launch new checkout solutions.
Fil Rouge Capital (FRC) marked one year since opening its Bucharest office, growing its Romanian portfolio to three startups, and evaluating over 100 local companies, according to Romania Partner Matei Dumitrescu.
For more than a decade, Swedish sleep-tech company Sleep Cycle has been exploring one question: is there an ideal moment to wake up? What began as a smart alarm clock has evolved into an AI-powered platform that analyzes sleep and breathing patterns using only a smartphone.
The third edition of the Google Cloud Day Bulgaria delivered its biggest headline yet — one of the European Union's first national "Cybershield" deployments. But the enterprise adoption numbers behind the big stories reveal a country still running at two very different speeds.
The Recursive’s weekly roundup aims to cover key tech developments across Central and Eastern Europe, as well as the growing impact of CEE-born founders on the global stage. Take a look at the latest news in funding, startup milestones, and emerging trends tied to the region’s innovation...
With a fresh $110M in the bank and a key acquisition of PwC's tax platform, a trio of ex-Uber Croatians are tackling the one financial system technology forgot. Their goal: to make global tax compliance not just manageable, but autonomous.
From ‘predatory’ IP terms to a lack of smart capital, deep tech in CEE faces unique hurdles. Zagreb’s Liftoff conference wants to rewrite the rules of the game.
More than 120 investors managing over €10B in assets showed up in Maribor this May. Podim exposed a reality shaping Europe’s tech ecosystem: while founders from smaller markets are entering global competition earlier, the infrastructure needed to scale still feels fragmented and relationship-driven.
LAUNCHub Ventures has appointed Zagreb-based Vedran Blagus as its new associated partner, tasked with leading the firm’s expansion across Croatia, Slovenia, and the Western Balkans. "I want to be the first person in the region founders call," he says.
Sofia-based DSS powers the invisible tech behind banks, telecoms, and national schools. As ServiceNow experts, they prioritize strategic partnership over simple vending. From BP to their aIDentix platform, DSS proves that Eastern Europe’s technical hunger is a formidable global edge.
From AI to energy scaling, the event united CEE leaders with DACH to turn cross-border collaboration into a repeatable engine for growth.
Greek venture capital firm Big Pi Ventures led a US $30 million Series B round into Australian robotics company August Robotics, backing autonomous robot fleets that drill and mark floors across hyperscale construction sites worldwide.
Can We Safely Live with Humanoid Robots? 🤖 In this fascinating episode of The Recursive Podcast, we sit down with Emily Kate Genatowski, an AI PhD candidate, historian and domestic robotics researcher who provides a unique, hands-on perspective on our future with machines. Unlike most researchers who work in controlled labs, Emily lives full-time with a humanoid robot named Tova (a Unitree G1) in her apartment in Vienna.
As the founder of PSL (Proportional Stake Liability), an insurtech startup bridging the liability gap in robotics, Emily’s career is dedicated to uncovering the practical, legal, and social friction points that arise when AI gains a physical body. She moves beyond the "AI hype" to explore how humanoid robotics will realistically intersect with our legal regulations, physical infrastructure, and the daily fabric of our communities.
🧠 Why Watch?
Whether you’re a tech optimist, a skeptic, or someone worried about the future of work, this conversation offers a grounded, practical look at the challenges ahead. Emily moves the needle from philosophical fear to practical empowerment, showing us that we are still the architects of the future we want to see.
What does AI engineering actually look like inside modern enterprises — and how close are we to truly autonomous software development?
In this episode of The Recursive Podcast, we sit down with Karol Przystalski, Chief Data and AI Officer at Exadel, to explore how organizations are moving beyond AI experimentation and into AI-native operations.
We discuss the evolution from AI copilots and coding assistants to fully orchestrated engineering systems, why many companies are measuring AI success incorrectly, and how enterprise leaders should think about ROI, productivity, and organizational change in the age of autonomous engineering.
Karol also shares insights into Exadel Colleague — an AI-powered engineering teammate designed to support entire software teams—and explains why the future of AI isn't about replacing humans, but helping them focus on higher-value work.
In This Episode:
🔹 Why AI adoption is shifting from experimentation to real business value
How enterprises have moved beyond AI proof-of-concepts and are now focused on productivity, efficiency, and measurable outcomes.
🔹 The difference between AI-enabled development and AI-native engineering
Why coding assistants are only the first step—and how autonomous systems are transforming entire software development lifecycles.
🔹 How to measure AI ROI beyond token usage
The metrics that actually matter, including productivity gains, human-equivalent hours saved, accuracy, and business impact.
🔹 The future of autonomous engineering and the role of humans
Why AI won't replace software engineers, but will fundamentally change how teams work and what skills will matter most.
🧠 Whether you're an engineering leader, CTO, product executive, or simply curious about the future of software development, this conversation offers a practical look at where enterprise AI is headed next.
In this episode of The Recursive Podcast, we sit down with Kilian Kaminski, the co-founder of Refurbed, the Vienna-based marketplace that has become a powerhouse in the European circular economy. Kilian shares insights from his transition from Amazon to entrepreneurship and the ongoing battle to establish refurbishment as a standardized global consumption category.
A former head of Amazon’s Certified Refurbished program in Germany, Kilian left the corporate giant to revolutionize how we consume. Today, Refurbed has surpassed €2 billion in sales, proving that "rethinking new" is not just a sustainable choice, but a massive business opportunity that sits at the intersection of consumer trust and environmental impact.
What we discussed in this episode:
♻️ The limitations of corporate sustainability and the origins of Refurbed’s marketplace model.
♻️ Overcoming the "chicken and egg" problem of acquiring sellers and building consumer trust in non-new products.
♻️ The critical need for standardized European legal definitions and quality criteria for refurbishment.
♻️ Cultural differences in consumption habits and the untapped "gold mine" of 600 million unused devices in European households.
♻️ The impact of the "Right to Repair" directive and the role of the European Refurbishment Association (EUREFAS) in policy lobbying.
🧠 This episode is a must-watch for entrepreneurs interested in marketplace dynamics, sustainability advocates, and anyone curious about how the "Right to Repair" legislation will impact the gadgets we use every day.
