Emerging Founders Budapest: The Emergence of CEE
📅 Emerging Founders Budapest: CEE as the Launchpad
Date: Friday, 6 February 2026
Location: Puzl Coworking, Budapest
Language: English
Organising Partner: MBH Fintechlab
🚀 CEE as the Launchpad: Connecting Polish & Hungarian Ecosystems
It's an Emergencee.
The CEE startup ecosystem is rising to prominence, but to truly scale, we need cross-border alliances. We are bringing the Emerging Founders energy to Budapest for a special edition focused on connecting the Polish and Hungarian startup scenes.
Expect a raw, honest conversation about what it takes to launch globally from CEE and wheather the CEE make sense as an expansion ground.
Followed by a high-energy "Pitch Battle" where a contingent of Polish and Hungarian startups go head-to-head. No fluff, just real feedback, genuine connections, and a curated crowd of founders, VCs, and operators.
Emerging Founders is a founder-to-founder community built around a simple belief: you will never grow alone. We connect and support CEE founders on their way to scale globally, through curated events and long-term relationships (not an accelerator, not a one-off conference).
Budapest is our next stop because CEE is strongest when we treat it as a region, not a set of isolated markets—and because scaling globally rarely happens in isolation. This special edition is focused on connecting the Polish and Hungarian ecosystems and having a raw, honest conversation about what it takes to launch globally from CEE (including whether CEE itself makes sense as an expansion ground).
16:30-17:00 | Arrival & Registration
17:00-17:30 | Opening remarks
Speakers: Jacek Ratajczak (Emerging Founders / Zonifero), Baiba Rozenberga (MBH Fintechlab).
17:30-18:15 | Panel discussion: "CEE as the Launchpad"
Moderator: Jacek Ratajczak — Emerging Founders / Zonifero.
Panelists: Anna Firlej (Ab-in-den-Urlaub), Marcin Pondo (Crossborder24.com / Consulting Hungary), Diana Koziarska (SMOK Ventures / ReaktorX), László Csíki (ex-Hungarian Innovation Agency - Startup Factorz).
18:30-19:30 | Startup pitches + Jury Q&A ("Pitch Battle")
Format: 3-minute pitch + 2-minute Q&A.
Pitching startups: LegacyApp (Poland), Perpetoom (Poland), Grants8 (Poland), Smarter Diagnostics (Poland), V1, EV.analytica, AccountIQ, EVE Medical, EV.analytica Kft., B120 LifeTresor.
Jury: Aurél Pásztor (Venture Partner, PortfoLion Capital Partners), Bronț Zsanett (Investment Analyst, Lead Ventures), Dániel Gockler (Managing Partner, Nesprit), Orsolya Csépai — (CFO, Alfa VIG Biztosító Zrt. Alfa Insurance Group), Baiba Rozenberga (MBH Fintechlab), Diana Koziarska (Founding Partner, SMOK Ventures; Co-founder, ReaktorX)
19:30-22:00 | Open networking
Pizza, drinks, and real 1:1 conversations.
Registration (free, required): https://app.evenea.pl/event/emergingfoundersbudapest/