Exclusive interview: 8bitPR Agency on bridging the Hungarian Tech and Venture Capital ecosystem with global markets

Hungary’s startup ecosystem has been steadily gaining international attention in recent years. Behind many of the region’s emerging tech brands are strategic communication partners helping them scale beyond borders. We spoke with Stepan Burov, co-founder of Budapest-based 8bitPR, about the agency’s role in connecting Hungarian innovation with global capital and media.

Daily News Hungary: Let’s start simple. If you had to explain 8bitPR to someone outside the tech bubble, what exactly do you do?

Stepan Burov: Thanks for having us. We are an award-winning PR agency operating both in Hungary and globally, with a focus on startups and venture communications. Our team has more than 10 years of experience in strategic communications across the tech industry and venture capital in key markets: The US, the UK, Europe, MENA and Latin America.

Over the last three years, we’ve grown from a niche PR studio into a trusted communications partner for emerging tech companies across our key regions. We have built deep expertise in deeptech, AI, fintech, edtech, SaaS, VC, complex B2B products and even winetech. Today, we actively work with startups, venture funds, and innovation ecosystems across the globe.

Our most common request is investment PR in support of funding rounds. Recently, our clients successfully closed several investment rounds. We also regularly support major product launches, help founders build strong personal brands, and develop communications strategies for bringing products to new markets.

Daily News Hungary: You’re not originally from Hungary, yet you chose to build your agency here. Why Hungary? What did you see here that others perhaps overlooked?

Stepan Burov: We see ourselves as an active part of the ecosystem movement in Central Europe, particularly in Hungary, where we are headquartered — a country renowned for its rich historical heritage and long-standing tradition of engineering excellence. With strong regional expertise across European markets, we see great potential in the region. Hungary has a super strong pool of unique tech talent, engineers and innovators, supported by a well-developed infrastructure. For example, Budapest‑based robotics startup Allonic made global headlines by closing a major pre-seed round, signalling the region’s rising prominence in global tech.

Over the past years, we’ve had the privilege of working closely with Hungarian founders, venture funds and technology teams. What we consistently see is strong engineering talent, ambitious leadership and globally competitive products. At the same time, we also see a gap: international narrative infrastructure has not yet caught up with the quality of innovation being built here.

Global expansion today is not just about entering new markets — it is about being visible, credible and strategically positioned within them. International media presence directly influences investor confidence, LP perception, talent acquisition and long-term brand authority. That is why we decided to launch the «Hungary Tech to Global» initiative. Through this initiative, we are offering a structured Media Readiness Audit for selected venture funds and technology companies preparing for international expansion (applications open until the end of March 2026). We have opened a limited application form for organisations that want to assess their global positioning and understand what it realistically takes to compete for international attention.

We do our best to support this gap through various client projects, events, mentorship, and the creation of new communication standards.

Yes, that may sound quite ambitious — but still realistic. With our deep regional expertise and nuanced understanding of local and global markets, we see our aim is to become a unique communication provider – a bridge for Hungarian companies that want to go global, and international companies that want to enter Hungary.  

We also actively collaborate with US, UK and European companies, and last year we expanded our services to MENA and LATAM, where we currently help fintech, AI and deeptech companies maintain their visibility in the regions. 

Daily News Hungary: What does “good PR” actually mean to you?

Stepan Burov: For us, PR is not about mindless coverage or vanity metrics. We prioritise meaningful results, impacting business performance and we truly see results – partners’ attention to our clients, investments, improved HR metrics, or fast hiring of top talent. We act as a strategic partner — embedding ourselves into our clients’ business processes, strengthening their market positions and shaping brand narratives that genuinely suit the target markets. We operate as an extension of the team, immersed in the business and aligning every PR initiative with tangible business value. Every brand has its own DNA – and we know how to decode and translate it into a language that resonates both globally and locally.

In our view, PR is all about impact: it must drive the sales funnel, drive investor interest and foster long-term brand perception. We treat PR as a business tool: it helps companies enter new markets, raises funds and builds reputation that they can later convert into revenue, market trust and long-term growth. 

Our unique approach allows us to stay fast and flexible. At 8bitPR, we usually go deeper than a classical agency – into a product, business goals and the founder’s vision for how their story should be perceived. Our approach is well-received: 85% of clients still collaborate with us to this day. 

Daily News Hungary: If I put you next to a global PR giant and next to a startup’s in-house PR manager — where do you honestly outperform them?

Stepan Burov: Firstly, our founders bring deep experience in tech, which allows us to understand products, markets, and ecosystems – covering both PR and product aspects – at a level that generalist agencies or in-house teams often can’t. 

Secondly, drawing on our deep industry knowledge, we actively develop meaningful partnerships across innovation ecosystems, helping our clients tap into networks of investors, corporates, and tech communities.

Finally, unlike large agencies, we operate with a clear focus on our core sectors and execute tailored strategies quickly, committing to specific KPIs directly tied to business performance, without unnecessary delays. This combination of expertise, partnerships, and agility is what allows us to help local brands enter the global market.

Daily News Hungary: What’s a project you’re personally proud of — and why?

Stepan Burov: One recent project I’m particularly proud of is our collaboration with MyRoboteam, a Hungarian startup accelerator carried out by Winno, a private innovation company based in Budapest. Our team developed an overall communication strategy for MyRoboteam and successfully launched 3 batches of an impactful acceleration program on the European and Hungarian markets. The last batch gathered more than 180 applications from 18 countries, demonstrating strong engagement and international reach.

We had also supported them with the previous two batches. Thanks to our efforts, the program’s international reputation grew significantly, increasing its overall recognition and attracting new partners.

We also had a remarkable result with WineWayLab, where we developed a communication strategy and successfully launched a unique Hungarian winetech acceleration program in the EU market. We formed awareness around the previously unknown program and its core team, attracted strategic partners, and invited key Hungarian speakers. As a result, the program engaged over 150 participants from more than 10 countries, turning the local initiative into a recognised European winetech accelerator.

Another significant highlight was supporting a European deeptech company entering the Hungarian market, where we secured more than 50 publications in local media alone, not counting coverage in other regions, reaching a total audience of 1.5 billion.

Daily News Hungary: Looking back at the last three years — what was a real turning point for the agency?

Stepan Burov: We grew from a niche PR studio into a trusted communications partner for emerging tech companies across Europe, the UK, the U.S., Latin America, and the MENA region. During the period, our team doubled in size, we expanded our network of partners to better serve our clients in VC. We’ve also started collaborating with top-tier advisers from leading media, such as the BBC, who help prepare our clients for industry talks and major events.

We’ve expanded our client base by over 40%. Our clients’ campaigns have generated a reach of over 1.5 billion impressions globally, including in top-tier tech, business, and industry media. We’ve seen a 67% client return rate recently, indicating strong long-term relationships and satisfaction.

More importantly, our clients have grown alongside us: one of them recently closed several funding rounds, another successfully launched several of their products globally — supported by our work on shaping their investor and media narratives. For us, that shared progress is not just a source of pride, but the clearest measure of success.

Daily News Hungary: What are 8bitPR’s future plans?

Stepan Burov: Our current priority is to establish 8bitPR as one of the leading PR agencies and become top of mind for startups and venture capital in Hungary and the CEE region. At the same time, we plan to strengthen our presence in the MENA and LATAM markets, helping innovative companies gain visibility and connect with global investors.

Additionally, we plan to launch 8bitPR Creative, a new branch dedicated to large entertainment brands, and expand our art division to support the growth and international recognition of Hungary’s art market.

You can read the interview in Hungarian here on Helló Magyar.

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