Feb 24, 2023

Artificial intelligence represents one of the main drivers of global technology development today. From personal assistants, enhanced medical diagnostics, and automated processes at work to an improved understanding of your customers and a focus on higher energy sustainability, AI is starting to touch and transform our everyday life. Moving the AI trend focus from the SEE region to the V4 area in Central and Eastern Europe, The Recursive is beginning to map the landscape of AI startups in Central Europe. The European AI market According to a recently published report by International Data Corporation (IDC), despite the political situation, high inflation, various budget costs, and layoffs, the AI market is expected to reach $191 billion in 2026, growing annually at 25% CAGR. We have more 13 February 2023 While the AI-based hardware market may experience greater difficulties, the report further states the next five years will be significant for the commercial adoption of AI software as many entities are investing more to make their processes more agile, efficient, and resilient. Central European V4 region: Startup ecosystem and industries The CEE region is one of the fastest-growing European regions by enterprise value and VC funding. Considering the V4 region (CZ, PL, SK, HU), The Czech Republic and Poland exhibited the highest value growth over the past five years. Here is the current state of the startup ecosystems in the four countries: The Czech Republic is leading in the V4 region, ranking 32nd globally and 4th in Eastern Europe (EE). Its most vital industries are marketing & sales, software & data, and hardware & IoT. Poland falls right behind the Czech Republic in 33rd place globally and 5th in EE. Top Polish industries are e-Commerce & retail, marketing & sales, and healthcare. Hungary has lost its position among the top 50, placing 51st globally and 13th in EE. Unlike other countries in the region, its top industries are education, food tech, and transportation. Slovakia‘s startup ecosystem was ranked 58th globally and 15th in EE. The country’s most prominent industries match the Czech landscape, including marketing & sales, hardware & IoT, and software & data. The CEE – V4 region is becoming recognized for its vibrant and growing AI startup landscape with a talented and well-educated workforce, as well as lower costs. With a growing number of startups focused on AI, machine learning, and data science, we will explore the most AI-dense industries and verticals of the V4 region. This article presents only the beginning of mapping out the AI startups in Central Europe – V4 region. Please, feel free to contact our newsroom with updates or companies we should add to the list: [email protected] AI in Healthcare Healthcare represents one of the most AI-tackled industries in the V4 region. AI solutions are utilized to improve diagnostics, enable personalized medicine, and optimize patient care, promoting safety and longer life expectancy. AI-powered technologies such as wearables, health monitoring devices, and diagnostic tools can collect and analyze vast amounts of data to help diagnose and treat medical conditions more effectively. Infermedica Infermedica (Wroclaw, Poland) is a digital health company specializing in AI-powered solutions for preliminary diagnosis and patient triage to minimize inappropriate use of medical services and misdiagnosis. Founders: Irving Loh, Piotr Orzechowski, Roberto Sicconi Highlight: The startup raised a Series B funding of $30M led by One Peak Partners. Proteon Pharmaceuticals Proteon Pharmaceuticals (Lodz, Poland) is a biotech company using microbiome protection to improve animal and human health, increasing environmental sustainability and eliminating unnecessary use of antibiotics. Founder: Jaroslaw Dastych Highlight: The biotech startup closed a €21M venture round in 2021 led by Nutreco and Aqua Spark. Turbine Turbine (Budapest, Hungary) develops a cell behavior simulation platform that understands the inner mechanisms of cancer, enabling the discovery of novel protein targets, precision biomarkers, and better translation to patients. Founders: Dániel Veres, Kristóf Zsolt Szalay, Szabolcs Nagy Highlight: In 2022, Turbine closed a €20M Series A round led by Merck Global Health Innovation Fund and Mercia Fund Managers. Telemedi Telemedi (Warsaw, Poland) provides a plug&play digital healthcare platform including modules like telemedicine, automated triage, AI, medical devices monitoring, and API integrations. Founders: Paweł Sieczkiewicz, Piotr Słomian Highlight: The startup secured a $6.6M Series A round in 2021. Powerful Medical Powerful Medical (Bratislava, Slovakia) is a medical AI solution that allows professionals to accurately diagnose and treat cardiovascular diseases. Founders: Martin Herman, Robert Herman, Simon Rovder, Viktor Jurasek Highlight: The startup raised €6.2M seed round in 2022 led by Venture to Future Fund. Hilbi Hilbi (Bratislava, Slovakia) is an AI-enhanced platform that virtually connects physicians and patients to save time and bring new possibilities in personalized healthcare. Founders: Patrik Kmec, Roman Kučera Highlight: In 2020, the startup closed a seed round of €5M. Molecule.one Molecule.one (Warsaw, Poland) is a pharmaceutical startup developing software for organic synthesis design to predict chemical reactions accurately for faster drug discovery. Founders: Paweł Włodarczyk-Pruszyński, Paweł Łaskarzewski, Piotr Byrski Highlight: Molecule.one closed a $4.6M seed round led by Atmos Ventures in 2021. StethoMe StethoMe (Poznan, Poland) is a telemedicine system detecting abnormal sounds in the respiratory system to assist parents with child care at home. Founders: Honorata Hafke-Dys, Jędrzej Kocinski, Marcin Szajek, Paweł Elbanowski, Wojciech Radomski Highlight: In 2020, the startup raised $2.5M Series A + a $1.2M grant. Talkie.ai Talkie.ai (Warsaw, Poland) provides scalable voice bot services to support medical contact centers using AI-powered virtual assistants pre-trained for healthcare services. Founders: Ada Andruszkiewicz, Pawel Lipinski, Wojciech Przechodzen Highlight: Talkie.ai closed a seed round led by NCBR Investment Fund and 4growth VC in 2022, raising €2.5M. Diagu Diagu (Poznan, Poland) evaluates the results of laboratory tests of patients and other collected data, such as medical history, previous diagnoses, or medications taken, to assess diseases and suggest further treatment. Founder: Anna Rybka – Krysiak Cardiomatics Cardiomatics (Krakow, Poland) is a cloud-based AI ECG analysis technology to bring advanced cardiac diagnostics closer to patients. Founders: Mariusz Masior, Rafal Samborski Highlight: The health tech solution secured a €1.9M seed round in 2021 led by Czech KAYA VC. AILIS AILIS (Krakow, Poland) is a breast cancer prediction technology using Parametric Dynamic Imagining, AI, and telemedicine to detect cancer and predict the possibility of cancerous changes. Founders: Jacek Gruca, Mateusz Moderhak, Michal Matuszewski Highlight: AILIS closed a seed round of $1.6M in 2020 from National Center for Research & Development and a business angel and received a grant of $185K in 2021. Aireen Aireen (Prague, Czech Republic) is a non-invasive AI-based medical device company that screens chronic diseases by analyzing digital images of the retina. Founder: Jan Hlaváček AI in Finance & Insurance Due to the ability to analyze vast amounts of data quickly and accurately and make predictions based on that data, AI has found extensive applications in the finance and insurance sectors. AI startups in Central Europe from the V4 region cover areas of fraud detection, risk assessment, and other sectors helping to increase efficiency, reduce costs, and provide better services. SEON SEON (Budapest, Hungary) is an online fraud prevention platform that detects and stops fraud in real-time through transactional data analysis using ML and human intelligence algorithms. Founders: Bence Jendruszak, Tamas Kadar Highlight: SEON is one of the most notable Hungarian startups, raising a Series B round of $94M in 2022, led by IVP. Nethone Nethone (Warsaw, Poland) is an ML-based fraud prevention SaaS company that allows online merchants and financial institutions to screen and understand their end-users to minimize risks. Founder: Kacper Szcześniak Highlight: In 2021, Nethone secured a $6.7M Series A round and was acquired by Luxembourg-based online payment company MANGOPAY in late 2022. Self Learning Solutions Self Learning Solutions (Warsaw, Poland) is a global technology company providing software for FinTechs to automate and organize business workflows with low-code/no-code solutions. Founders: Karol Dziasek, Przemyslaw Kaminski Highlight: The startup closed a seed round of $1M in 2022, backed by Polish WP2 Investments and SMOK Ventures. Flowpay Flowpay (Prague, Czech Republic) provides data-driven financial services for SMEs embedded within their platforms, offering lending through platforms such as point of sales, e-commerce & payment providers. Founders: Daniel Hastik, William Jalloul Highlight: In 2022, Flowpay secured two convertible notes from DEPO Ventures (€150K) and Techstars ($20K). In our recent Czech AI FinTech startups trending in 2023 article, we have covered three additional startups; a digital lending platform Lemonero , a fast financing solution to underserved businesses in logistics 4Trans, and FinTech/cybersecurity software Resistant AI that utilizes automated financial systems to protect from manipulation and attack. Tensorflight Tensorflight (New York, US, but offices in Bialystok, Poland) is an InsurTech solution automating commercial property inspection, underwriting, and risk assessment via computer vision and AI. Founders: Robert Kozikowski, Zbigniew Wojna Highlight: Tensorflight raised a Series A round of $4.4M in 2021, led by Australian QBE Ventures. Quantee Quantee (Warsaw, Poland) is a SaaS AI-based platform for dynamic insurance pricing, helping insurers improve the accuracy of pricing models, deliver more targeted results, and enable instant deployment and monitoring in real time. Founders: Dawid Kopczyk, Mateusz Gintrowski Highlight: The startup closed its seed round led by Nunatak Capital in 2022, raising $700K. AI in Cybersecurity Artificial Intelligence has a significant role in cybersecurity, as it can help organizations detect, prevent, and respond to cyber threats. The Czech Republic has made its name in the industry with quite a developed cybersecurity sector and a globally-recognized company, Avast , originating in the country. Additionally, to the previously mentioned FinTech/cybersecurity Resistant AI startup, we have shortlisted the following two startups. Whalebone Whalebone (Brno, Czech Republic) is a cybersecurity startup developing zero-disruption products for Telcos, ISPs, and enterprises, providing seamless DNS security. Founders: Lubos Cerny, Richard Malovic, Robert Sefr Highlight: Whalebone raised $3M in a Series A round in 2021, backed by Hungarian Day One Capital. Founders: Petr Baudis, Tomas Gogar, Tomas Tunys Highlight: Rossum closed its last Series A round in 2021, raising £72M with a lead investor General Catalyst. The promising startup is on the way to becoming a unicorn. Neptune.ai Founder: Piotr Niedzwiedz Highlight: Neptune.ai was named among the 2022 CB Insights AI 100 List of Most Promising AI Startups and raised $8M Series A in 2022. CodeNOW CodeNOW (Prague, Czech Republic) is a software platform as a service enabling businesses to automate cloud-native software development lifecycle. Founder: Petr Svoboda Highlight: In 2022, CodeNOW closed a €3M seed round led by Czech J&T Ventures . The startup was named among the top Technology Fast 50 2020 startups by Deloitte. MATSUKO MATSUKO (Kosice, Slovakia) is a B2B software company bringing realistic holographic communication for virtual company meetings to revolutionize them using AR, VR, and XR. Founders: Maria Vircikova, Matus Kirchmayer Highlight: The company raised €2.5M seed round in 2019. Alphamon Founders: Adam Gonczarek, Michał Staśkiewicz, Michał Walczak, Paweł Świątek Highlight: The startup secured €2.1M seed round in 2022 led by Sungfish Partners. AI in Retail & E-Commerce AI technologies help retail and e-commerce businesses enhance the customer experience, optimize operations, and increase revenue. The applications include inventory management, personalization, pricing optimization, and chatbots. Cosmose Cosmose (Singapore, office in Warsaw, Poland) empowers retailers by synergizing offline and online for omnichannel, helping them understand offline consumer behavior, delivering predictive analytics for businesses to optimize their marketing strategies, and boosting revenue. Founder: Miron Mironiuk Highlight: Cosmose raised $15M Series A in 2020, led by Tiga Investments. The solution influences how 1B+ consumers shop. Talk-A-Bot Talk-A-Bot (Budapest, Hungary) is an IT company that provides an enterprise chatbot to corporate professionals, companies, and brands for consumer and employee communication. Founders: Akos Deliaga, Gergely Kalydi, Laszlo Papp Highlight: The startup closed a venture round earlier in 2023, raising €3.5M from Széchenyi Capital Fund Management. Yosh AI Yosh AI (Warsaw, Poland) is a deep tech company automating communication between enterprises and users with AI voice and text assistants. Founder: Kasia Dorsey Founder: Tomas Formanek Highlight: In 2022, the startup secured a 20M CZK (~€850K) seed round investment from Czech VC Presto Ventures . AI in Marketing, Media, & Sales Technology has transformed the marketing field over the past two decades. In 2021, the global marketing tech market utilizing AI accounted for $15.84 billion, with projections to reach more than $107.5 billion by 2028 . From advertising, promotion, content, experience, commerce, and sales to socials and relationships, artificial intelligence is often used for data analysis, content generation, Natural Language Processing, personalization, and automation of processes. See our recently-picked 6 CEE AI marketing startups to be aware of this year, including a Polish e-commerce CRM platform edrone and a personal growth assistant Digital First AI , Czech modular CMS Kontent.ai , and a platform for the advanced digitalization of contact centers Born Digital , as well as Hungarian media monitoring and text analysis solution Neticle and an AI-based solution to improve companies’ online presence iERP.ai . SentiSquare SentiSquare (Pilsen, Czech Republic) is an AI-powered service for digital marketing managers using deep semantics to discover and summarize opinions hidden in multilingual content, reporting on the main issues customers face. Founders: Tomáš Brychcín, Josef Steinberger, Peter Kesch, Stanislav Rejthar Highlight: SentiSquare was founded as a university spin-off and raised €1M in a venture round in 2021 led by Fazole Ventures and IXPERTA. AI in Manufacturing Applications in predictive maintenance, quality control, production planning and scheduling, supply chain management, autonomous robots, and process optimization help to improve efficiency, reduce costs, and improve product quality, making AI an essential tool for modern manufacturing. AI is used to monitor machinery conditions, detect defects, optimize production schedules, manage supply chains, control autonomous robots, and analyze data to identify opportunities for process optimization. Photoneo Photoneo (Erlanger, US, Slovak-founded) company provides robotic vision sensors and intelligence software, autonomously picking, consolidating, and dispatching orders. The company belongs to Photoneo Brightpick Group. Founders: Jan Zizka, Tomas Kovacovsky and Michal Maly Highlight: Photoneo closed its Series B round of $52.6M earlier in 2023, led by Taiwania Capital Management Corporation. Neuron Soundware Neuron Soundware (Prague, Czech Republic) is an AI company using sound recognition for predictive maintenance, using audio analysis to detect broken machines. Founders: Pavel Konecny, Petr Cernohorsky, Tomas Vacek Highlight: Neuron Soundware closed its Series A round of €2.1M in 2019, led by Inven Capital and Lead Ventures . The solution was named “Idea of ​the Year 2016” in the Czech Republic. Surveily Surveily (Wroclaw, Poland) applies AI technology to increase safety in manufacturing plants, detecting threats through existing CCTV in real-time and allowing for early prevention and mitigation. Founders: Wojciech Tubek, Wojtek Turowicz Highlight: Surveily secured a €1M seed round investment in 2022, led by Kogito Ventures and SATUS Starter. Pekat Vision Pekat Vision (Brno, Czech Republic) provides solutions for automated visual inspection in manufacturing sectors, enabling manufacturers to detect and classify objects or anomalies through neural networks. Founder: Petr Smid AI in Logistics & Transportation AI is a game changer for the efficiency and sustainability of the transportation and logistics industry, benefiting both businesses and consumers. The advanced technology can help identify which steps in the supply chain can be improved to increase revenue. Nomagic Nomagic (Warsaw, Poland) provides intelligent pick-and-place robotic solutions for order fulfillment that offer efficient item handling to pick from storage, sort, or pack a large variety of SKUs. Founders: Kacper Nowicki, Marek Cygan, Tristan d’Orgeval Highlight: Nomagic raised a $22M Series A round in 2022 led by Almaz Capital and Khosla Ventures. VersaBox VersaBox (Warsaw, Poland) is a smart robotics company that designs and manufactures autonomous, guided vehicles for industrial and consumer applications. Founders: Jacek Królik, Jakub Michalski, Mateusz Wiśniowski, Michał Walęcki, Rafał Chojecki Highlight: In 2020, VersaBox raised €2.5M in seed round funding led by FIDIASZ. AI in Mobility Making the mobility landscape more efficient, sustainable, and accessible, artificial intelligence spans in the vertical from autonomous vehicles to traffic management, ride-sharing services, and other areas. AImotive AImotive (Budapest, Hungary) builds an ecosystem to aid the deployment of automated driving, developing self-driving software, proprietary simulation tools, and neural network acceleration hardware IP. Founder: Laszlo Kishonti Highlight: The company raised $20M in Series C funding in 2022 and was acquired by Dutch Stellantis later that year. With total funding of nearly $70M, AImotive is one of the most notable Hungarian AI startups. Founders: Daniel Stofan, Lukas Hruby Highlight: GoodVision raised €2.7M venture round in January 2023, led by Hungarian Lead Ventures accompanied by Czech Credo Ventures and Bulgarian Sofia Angels Ventures. roboGaze RoboGaze (Szekesfehervar, Hungary) develops solutions to increase road safety by democratizing AI-driven driver monitoring systems, including face recognition, multi-factor driver fatigue monitoring, and real-time driver distraction detection. Founders: Arpad Foldesi, Gergely Várhelyi-Tóth, Zoltán Csaba, Ábel Gábor Highlight: In 2022, the startup secured a Series A round of $1.7M led by Bonitás Ventures. Sternkraft Sternkraft Telematics is an IoT-embedded software company that uploads Computer Vision algorithms on MVR CCTV, specializing in public transportation. Its advanced camera technology identifies, alerts, and deters human safety threats. Founder: Marcin Lewicki AI in Energy With the rising importance of renewable energy and the currently significantly rising prices in the region, AI will play a critical role in driving innovation and enabling the transition to a more efficient energy future. With the ability to analyze large volumes of data, AI can optimize energy usage by predicting demand patterns and managing supply chain logistics. It can also assist in renewable energy integration by forecasting and integrating renewable energy production into the grid. Fuergy Fuergy (Bratislava, Slovakia) provides solutions for energy optimization, developing its own modular battery system and software platform powered by AI, from smart energy storage systems and enhanced utilization of green energy sources to dispatch systems or automated energy trading. Founders: Branislav Safarik, Radoslav Stompf, Rastislav Kuba, Vladimir Miskovsky Highlight: The Slovak startup raised €16M in its first venture round in 2023, led by Pro Partners Holding, to develop and expand to markets. Solwena Founder: Edwin Dudziak