Two megadeals—ElevenLabs and ICEYE—accounted for a significant share, jointly raising over 300 million. Excluding these two transactions, the Polish VC market still grew by 28 per cent year-on-year.
Poland’s venture capital market raised 797 million euros across 183 transactions in 2025, according to data compiled by PFR Ventures and Inovo VC. Strip out the two mega-rounds that dominated headlines, ElevenLabs’ 171 million euros raise and ICEYE’s 150 million euros-plus financing—and the underlying market still grew 28 per cent year-on-year, a performance that contradicts the doom-mongering about European tech funding.
The headline figure of 797 million euros might initially disappoint those expecting exponential growth, but it masks a more interesting story about market maturation. As Karol Lasota, partner at Inovo.vc, frames it: “Are we dealing with a market bubble if half of the market’s value comes from two mega-rounds? In my view, no.” His reasoning holds water: both companies are profitable, scaling rapidly, and valued at multiples closer to historical norms than the frothy excesses of 2021-22. “The market has simply become more selective and mature,” Lasota argues. “Capital is concentrating where there is global traction, scale, and a technological edge.”
Seed stage dominates transaction volume
The real foundation of Poland’s tech ecosystem lies in early-stage activity. Seed transactions numbered 134 in 2025, up nearly 20 per cent from 113 the previous year, with average ticket sizes holding steady at 1.5 million euros. This surge owes much to the European Funds for a Modern Economy (FENG), which capitalised a new cohort of funds willing to back companies at their riskiest stage.
Karolina Mitraszewska, president of PFR Ventures, emphasises this point: “Seed rounds are the foundation of every innovation ecosystem. We need funds that are willing to take the additional risk of financing start-ups at a very early stage.” Her portfolio has skin in the game—nearly three-quarters of seed transactions in 2025 involved PFR Ventures-backed funds. She cites Jutro Medical as evidence the strategy works. “The first financing was provided by Kogito Ventures, supported by EU funds,” Mitraszewska notes. “The fund also brought in a group of business angels. Now, the company has raised a further 24 million euros for growth.”
PFR Ventures’ presence has intensified across the market. Of the 183 identified transactions, 82 involved funds from its portfolio, more than double the previous year’s tally. This concentration of public-backed capital raises questions about market dependency on state support, though the parallel growth in business angel participation (50 per cent of all deals) and international fund involvement (40 per cent of deployed capital) suggests the ecosystem maintains diverse funding sources.
International capital flows and strategic investments
The two mega-rounds tell a story about Poland’s ability to produce globally competitive companies. ElevenLabs attracted tier-one Silicon Valley investors including Andreessen Horowitz and ICONIQ Growth—validation that Polish founders can compete for attention from the world’s most selective funds. ICEYE’s raise carried strategic significance beyond the numbers: Vinci, an investment vehicle backed by Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego, participated, and Poland’s Ministry of National Defence became a customer, with the microsatellite manufacturer supplying radar satellites under the MikroSAR programme.
This defence procurement deserves attention. Poland’s geopolitical position and defence modernisation drive create natural demand for dual-use technologies, potentially giving Polish defence-tech start-ups advantages their Baltic and Central European peers lack. ICEYE’s trajectory from venture-backed startup to military supplier illustrates how government procurement can validate technology and de-risk commercial expansion.
International and domestic funds increasingly collaborate rather than compete. Some 37 per cent of capital raised came from rounds where Polish and international investors co-invested—a pattern that transfers expertise and networks alongside capital.
Sectoral patterns and business models
Healthcare innovation maintained its six-year dominance of sectoral preferences, accounting for 13.1 per cent of completed transactions. Biotechnology deals surged particularly strongly, with 11 rounds totalling over 20 million euros. Companies like Ingenix and QuireGen operate at the intersection of healthcare and artificial intelligence, reflecting the blurring of sectoral boundaries as AI capabilities diffuse across applications.
SaaS models remain the most popular path to scalability, though the report’s classification reveals complexity: many companies resist clean categorization into single sectors. This complexity likely reflects the reality that successful startups increasingly combine multiple technologies and serve multiple markets.
Employment and growth stage activity
The 22 largest companies that raised rounds exceeding 25 million euros between 2019 and 2025 now employ nearly 9,000 people, with overall headcount increasing year-on-year. ElevenLabs led employment growth at 136per cent—impressive for a company simultaneously raising mega-rounds, suggesting genuine operational scaling rather than purely speculative funding.
Growth-stage investments numbered just seven in 2025, with bValue participating in more than half. Its portfolio companies included Xtreme Brands, Fudo Security, and Sportano. This thin growth-stage activity points to a familiar challenge: Poland produces promising early-stage companies but struggles to provide the 10-50 million euros tickets required to scale winners into regional champions. Whether this represents a market gap or rational capital allocation depends on whether Polish start-ups genuinely merit growth capital at scale, a question that will resolve itself as the 2025 seed cohort matures.
The broader European funding environment remains challenging, making Poland’s 28 per cent underlying growth (excluding mega-rounds) noteworthy. If the ecosystem maintains this trajectory while producing more companies capable of attracting 100 million euros-plus rounds, Poland positions itself as Central Europe’s venture capital hub. The alternative—stagnation at current transaction volumes while neighbours catch up, would waste the foundation PFR Ventures and private investors have built.
Photo: Dreamstime.
