Situated in the heart of Central Europe, Hungary boasts a strategic location that places it at the crossroads of various cultural and economic influences. Budapest, the capital city, stands as a bustling metropolis with a population of two million, exuding a vibrant blend of history, modernity, and diverse lifestyles. This dynamic urban centre is not only a political and economic hub but also a cultural nexus, housing numerous historical landmarks, artistic institutions, and entertainment venues.
The Hungarian startup and technology ecosystem is experiencing rapid expansion. Numerous well-established tech companies have emerged in recent years, with Prezi, Ustream, and LogMeIn being among the most renowned scale-ups originating from Hungary. Additionally, there is a growing trend of tech firms in Hungary securing funding from global investors or being acquired by prominent players in the industry.
Notably, some highly successful companies raise capital and establish their headquarters in the United States, while maintaining most of their research and development activities and technical teams in Hungary. In recent years, Hungary has attracted large development offices from some of the fastest-growing international tech companies like Cloudera, TransferWise, and Blackrock, aiming to harness the abundant STEM talent pool in the country.
On that note, we have scanned the horizon for young startups founded after 2019 that are putting Hungary on the European startup map. Here are the 10 startups you should keep an eye on in 2024:
Agroloop: Budapest-based Agroloop is on a mission to expand insect farming on an industrial scale in Central Europe while raising awareness of the ecological responsibility shared by all agricultural stakeholders. Founded in 2020, they have raised €18 million to leverage the black soldier fly larvae’s ability to transform plant-based biomass into sustainable livestock feed ingredients.
BugProve: Budapest-based BugProve has developed an IoT security analysis tool that helps engineers conduct automated security checks on firmware quickly and efficiently, without requiring access to source code. The tool delivers initial scan results within 10 minutes and offers a dashboard and reports that provide a clear overview of the results. Founded in 2021 they have secured €750K so far.
Deligo Vision Technologies: Budapest-based Deligo Vision is creating checkout experiences that simplify everyday payments and make them faster. The startup brings frictionless payment into the physical retail space, improving customer experience and shaking up in-person payments. Founded in 2019 they have raised €1.5 million aiming to save time for customers and reduce their frustrations.
Hackrate: Budapest-based Hackrate makes cybersecurity testing transparent by providing a crowdsourced approach for continuous security testing and the industry’s first solution for controlling and monitoring ethical hacker projects. Founded in 2020 they have secured €480K to allow companies to prevent data breaches, and optimise their cybersecurity budgets by incentivizing security testing.
PastPay: Budapest-based PastPay is revolutionizing B2B trade by addressing financial complexities that hinder merchants and business buyers. The company empowers business customers to make purchases on flexible terms, streamlining both online and offline transactions for merchants. Founded in 2019, this startup has raised €5.10 million to empower merchants with faster digital transactions.
Proofminder: Founded in 2021, Proofminder’s platform offers a range of micro-level actionable insights on plants, encompassing aspects such as plant stress, stand count, weed detection, nitrogen or weather damage analysis, and precise yield assessment. Proofminder “puts” an AI agronomist next to each plant to enable growers to meet production goals sustainably. Headquartered in Budapest, they have raised €400K.
Quino: Budapest-based Quino is a learning enhancement tool that makes studying more efficient and frictionless with the power of NLP. By processing large amounts of text it can help to expedite learning as well as evaluate knowledge. Founded in 2023, Quino has successfully secured €780K in funding, marking its commitment to revolutionizing the learning experience through innovative NLP-powered tools.
Salarify: Budapest-based Salarify is the leading provider of Earned Wage Access and income verification in Hungary, covering 40% of the workforce. Salarify was founded in 2019 as one of the earliest EWA players in the region. Following product development and some successful deployments in Hungary, the team has successfully raised €1.2 million to take payroll-based products to other parts of Europe.
SURVIOT: Hatvan-based SURVIOT provides smart movement and deformation monitoring solutions for civil engineering projects by monitoring geotechnical and environmental parameters. Established in 2021, they have raised €634K helping automate labour-intensive, manual monitoring processes through data collection, processing, and analysis.
Volteum: Budapest-based Volteum provides the world’s leading electrification and EV fleet software to help companies make confident decisions before, during and after transitioning their vehicle fleets to electric. Founded in 2019, they have raised €1.25 million to optimise fleet management and manage daily tasks based on live data.
By the way: If you’re a corporate or investor looking for exciting startups in a specific market for a potential investment or acquisition, check out our Startup Sourcing Service!
