The Central & Eastern European (CEE) region is one to watch for startup trends. The reason? Investment in the region grows 150% year on year; they must be doing something very right. Let’s look at six trends in CEE startups in 2019, and what you can do to be a part of the growth in 2020 and beyond.

In 2019, we saw six trends we expect to continue in 2020 - except bigger, better, faster, stronger. Here we go:

1. Ambition-up 

In recent years, both investors and startups alike have got more confident about the market, and their ability to supply to it. With that confidence, has come rising ambition – and we mean that in a good way. CEE startups have seen more than 10 unicorns, with a combined value of €30 billion, fly forth from the region. That’s increased their confidence in what’s possible and continues to increase the volume and depth of investment opportunities for them.

Several years ago, the CEE region saw mainly early-stage startups. Now companies raise very decently sized Series A+ rounds, with local and international VC backing, and a strong focus on potential markets beyond the European Union. If ‘the market’ is all about confidence, rising ambition in CEE startups, and their increasing backing by VC and government-agency champions, means bigger and better entrepreneurship coming out of CEE in 2020.  

2. Following the Talent

Great minds create great solutions. Talent is a large part of the reason the CEE tech boom came about. The region is full of very talented and well-educated developers that cost a fraction of what the same skillset costs in Silicon Valley. What’s more, with so many huge international tech firms basing operations in the CEE region, local CEE developers get international experience without leaving the region.

There are close to a million developers in the CEE region, with around half of them based in the Czech Republic, Poland, and Romania. CEE entrepreneurs know they have affordable, high-potential talent right on their doorstep, so in 2020 we expect them to continue to shop local.

3. Bolstering the Village

Innovation isn’t created in a vacuum. Entrepreneurs need financial and business support, and the conditions that make ‘failing’ less likely, and less devastating financially. While we all like to focus on the big success stories, for real innovation to happen, early failure is an important part of the equation. The CEE region has increasingly supportive conditions for startups, and they’re seeing results.

In countries like Estonia, the world’s best free Wi-Fi network, teaching coding at school, and an e-residency program are all levers used to promote tech entrepreneurship both now and in the future. In other sites throughout CEE, you’ll see startup support through accelerator and incubator programs, co-working spaces with a collaboration focus, and increasingly large angel investor funds. The CEE region knows it takes a village to raise a unicorn (or ten). We expect to see more government policies and private sector schemes geared at supporting CEE startups in 2020.

4. Collaboration, Collaboration

It’s so important we said it twice. Humans are social beings; when we collaborate with the right people, we create something worth (much) more than the sum of its parts. At the 10^th edition of Wolves Summit, Ruthy Kaidar, Chief Startups Lead at Microsoft, told us “we see startups as partners.” Big tech companies like Microsoft can help entrepreneurs with a product ready to go to the market, benefit through their go-to-market channels, sales channels, channel distributors and partners.

The benefit of collaboration is, of course, mutual. For big tech companies, startups bring innovation in-house and healthily shake up culture. Increasingly, startups in the CEE region work with other entrepreneurs, or with (and within) big tech companies, in the race to disrupt with the newest and shiniest next-big-thing. It’s important that startups recognize their gaps, in terms of skills, diversity - and even personality, instead of focusing exclusively on the finance gap. We predict the move toward increasing collaboration in the innovation ecosystem in the CEE region will continue in 2020.

5. Capitalising on Change

In 2019, there was ample evidence to support the fact the world is changing economically, politically, socially, environmentally and technologically. CEE startups are taking these changes and turning them into opportunities. We see this in deep-tech biomedical, agricultural, and other solutions coming out of CEE, where advances in sensor, AI, and data analysis are applied in other industries. As technological advances come quicker and smarter, we expect to continue to see CEE startups applying them to unexpected industries to cause amazing market disruptions.    

6. Howling for Success

The Wolves Summit is a business forum that’s supported the innovation community since 2015, and it’s getting a reputation as one of the keys to success for startups in the CEE region. It supports startups, by giving them a platform to meet other startups, VCs and big corporates. If you missed the 10^th Wolves Summit in 2019, make sure you join this critical business summit in 2020, for Wolves Summit 11 in Warsaw.

The conference is an effective multinational event with an eagle-eye focus on relevant networking. Promising startups, investors, tech companies and corporations interested in focusing on global innovation: Wolves Summit is the place all these players get together to make big things happen.

Join the 11^th Wolves Summit in 2020 

If you want to stay across CEE startup trends in 2020, there’s only one thing for it: 11^th Wolves Summit. Join over 2500 attendees to see for yourself, as you make the most of the more than 4500 pre-scheduled 1:1 meetings. See The Great Pitch Contest, discussion panels, keynotes, and join networking parties. Apply to join as a startup, or take advantage of early-bird tickets for VCs and other innovation ecosystem players today.