Can a company from the United States or Asia buy a Polish software company outright?

Yes. Full foreign ownership is standard and EU rules apply. Poland screens foreign investment only for buyers from outside the EEA and OECD, and only where the target has more than EUR 10m of Polish revenue in listed activities. American, Japanese and Korean acquirers are outside the regime; Indian, Chinese and Gulf acquirers are inside it, and we flag it on day one.

We have PitchBook and a business-development team. Why do we need you?

You will find the names. The owner will not answer. On our last two lists in the region we reached 146 of 160 and 118 of 128 owners, because we had met many of them before the list existed, we call in Polish and we drive to the meeting.

Do you cover Czechia, Slovakia and Hungary as well as Poland?

Yes. We approach Czech and Slovak owners in Czech, and Hungarian owners in English, which they use with foreign buyers. Our database holds 2,250 software companies across the four countries that we have met or spoken with.

How long does it take?

A retained mandate runs six months as standard, with our 90% contact guarantee. First conversation to a signed letter of intent typically takes four to eight months: owners here decide slowly and then move fast.

Poland · Czechia · Slovakia · Hungary

Acquiring a software company in Poland and Central Europe.

Central Europe has thirty years of founder-built software: municipal ERP, hospital systems, payroll, logistics, manufacturing, insurance. Most of it has never been for sale, and most owners do not answer emails from abroad. This page is for acquirers from the United States, Asia and Western Europe who intend to change that.

2,250software companies in Poland, Czechia, Slovakia and Hungary we have met or spoken with

2–30mEUR revenue of the companies we go after; mandates up to EUR 100m

91%of owners reached on our last list in the region

The market

Founder-led, profitable, off-market.

The region's best vertical software companies were started in the 1990s and 2000s by engineers who still own them. They run on long contracts with municipalities, hospitals, factories and insurers, at EUR 2–30m revenue and margins that would not embarrass a Nordic peer. Few have a banker. Fewer have a succession plan, and the first generation of owners is now in its sixties.

Our database holds 2,250 of them in Poland, Czechia, Slovakia and Hungary that we have met or spoken with, out of more than 40,000 software companies we track across Europe and India.

Why owners don't answer

Every good owner here has been emailed by a consolidator.

Asseco has been buying in Poland for twenty years. Constellation Software, Visma and a growing set of private-equity platforms are here too. An owner of a good company now receives several approaches a year: in English, from a template, from someone who has never been to his town. The reply rate is close to zero, and not because the owner will never sell.

Trust in this region is built in person, in Polish, over years. That is the whole difference between a name in a database and a conversation.

How we reach them

In Polish, by phone, and in person.

Phone first, in the owner's language. A meeting in his office when it matters: Warsaw, Kraków, Wrocław, Poznań, Brno, Bratislava and Budapest are a car ride away for us.

We already know many of them.

Our relationships in Poland and Central Europe go back fifteen years. Many owners on your list will have met us before you sent it.

We qualify before we hand over.

Willingness to sell, financials, valuation expectations, who decides and when. Your deal team meets an owner who is expecting the call.

We stay in the room.

Through the first meeting, the LOI and, if you want, to signing. Owners here want to keep talking to the person they met first.

Mandate

Nordic consolidator, municipal ERP in Poland and CEE: 160 companies mapped, 146 owners reached (91%), 33 qualified conversations, 7 introductions, LOI in month 8. Full mandate →

Deal mechanics

What a buyer from outside the EU should know.

The short version. We walk you through the rest with your counsel before the first owner meeting.

Structure: Share deals in a sp. z o.o. or S.A. The public register (KRS) shows shareholders, board and filed financial statements. Accounts are under Polish GAAP; larger groups report under IFRS.
Screening: Only for investors from outside the EEA and OECD. Poland's FDI screening became permanent in July 2025. It applies when the target has more than EUR 10m of Polish revenue in listed activities, including important software. Most mid-market software deals are outside it; American, Japanese and Korean buyers are outside it altogether.
Price: Owners think in multiples of EBITDA and in euro, not in ARR. Earn-outs and a founder staying one to three years are normal, and often what the owner wants.
Timeline: Four to eight months from first conversation to LOI. Owners decide slowly, with their families and their senior people, and then move fast.
Language: Contracts in Polish and English. The owner's lawyer and accountant will be local. We translate the room, not just the documents.

Questions

Asked by every first-time buyer in the region.

Can a company from the United States or Asia buy a Polish software company outright?: Yes. Full foreign ownership is standard and EU rules apply. Poland screens foreign investment only for buyers from outside the EEA and OECD, and only where the target has more than EUR 10m of Polish revenue in listed activities. American, Japanese and Korean acquirers are outside the regime; Indian, Chinese and Gulf acquirers are inside it, and we flag it on day one.
We have PitchBook and a business-development team. Why do we need you?: You will find the names. The owner will not answer. On our last two lists in the region we reached 146 of 160 and 118 of 128 owners, because we had met many of them before the list existed, we call in Polish and we drive to the meeting.
Do you cover Czechia, Slovakia and Hungary as well as Poland?: Yes. We approach Czech and Slovak owners in Czech, and Hungarian owners in English, which they use with foreign buyers. Our database holds 2,250 software companies across the four countries that we have met or spoken with.
How long does it take?: A retained mandate runs six months as standard, with our 90% contact guarantee. First conversation to a signed letter of intent typically takes four to eight months: owners here decide slowly and then move fast.