Romanian Startup Ecosystem Radar ( December 11 – January 28)

❄️ Winter Reading Recommendations for Startup Enthusiasts 📚

🚀 Discover the latest insights into the Romanian startup scene with two of our recent articles, providing a comprehensive overview of various aspects of the ecosystem.

Startup Venture Capital Funding in Romania in 2023

Insights and highlights, offering a comparative analysis of the capital inflows against previous years. And a spotlight of some of the most noteworthy funding rounds from the second part of 2023.

Startup Programs and Events in Romania 2023

A recap on what happened in the Romanian startup ecosystem in the second part of 2023. From accelerators to pitch days, these initiatives contributed to the growth and innovation of the entrepreneurial world.

Venture capital, M&A and funding-related news

1. Aysa.ai, search engine optimization software dedicated to the e-commerce industry, attracted an investment of €150K from Innovator Spark (link).

2. The Early Game Ventures investment fund launched its second fund, EGV Fund II, with a total value of €60M, intended for investments in both Romanian and foreign startups (link).

3. MaintainX, a startup founded by the Romanian Chris Țurlică, received a $50M series C investment for the product that offers software for industrial maintenance (link).

4. Ride Colibri, the electric mobility company, has raised $220K in pre-seed funding from 6 business angels (link).

5. SeedBlink announced a strategic partnership with Capital Cell, Spain’s leading investment plat-form specializing in Biotech and Healthtech (link).

6. CautCurier.ro, a platform for last-mile delivery services, announced an investment of €50K from MakeIT in Oradea, aiming for expansion in five major cities in Romania (link).

7. Sessions Technologies, a company that has developed a smart communication platform that brings together all collaboration tools in one place, has targeted €500K in funding on SeedBlink in December 2023 (link).

Meme break

News related to programs and events

8. Applications are now open for the 2024 EIT Urban Mobility Startup Support Programme. In this new edition, the focus is on providing a more personalized and impactful experience for participant startups (link).

9. SynergistEIC, a project dedicated to assisting digital and deep tech startups, scaleups, and small to medium-sized enterprises within the GreenTech sector, announced the call for its second batch. Applications are open until 13th of March (link).

10. Startup Moldova Summit 2024, an event by the Startup Moldova Foundation, will be organized this year on March 14 in Chisinau, Republic of Moldova (link).

11. Raiffeisen Bank and start-up.ro are organizing the first edition of Factory Bootcamp, a free program to support early stage entrepreneurs. The event will take place mid-February 2024 and registrations are open (link).

12. Agri Trade Summit, an event dedicated to all categories of players on the local and international agricultural market, will take place this year on February 22 in Bucharest (link).

13. The Institute for Excellence in Entrepreneurship (IdEA) will announce the entrepreneurs accepted in the 10th startup cohort of the Venture Accel program on January 30th (link).

14. 10 startups pitched at the Transilvania Demo Day event from ROTSA, Startup Reaktor and Cluster of Education C-EDU in Cluj-Napoca (link).

15. The Institute of Excellence in Entrepreneurship (IdEA) announced the start of the eComm Accel program, intended for entrepreneurs who want to launch an online business in 2024 or those who already have an online shop but who aim to improve its results (link).

16. Innovation Labs announced a long-term strategic partnership with Early Game Ventures investment fund (link).

Various news related to startups

17. Careshaper, a startup from Bucharest, launched an integrated application for mental health professionals that takes the monotony of administrative tasks and contributes to the improvement of the therapeutic relationship (link).

18. In January, a new startup was launched: Travelscan.ro, a startup that offers an online booking platform through which people can enjoy domestic tourism by discovering local accommodation options (link).

19. xTrainer, an application dedicated to the digitalization of the fitness industry, turns into SportIn, a multi-sport platform that integrates the entire industry with the help of artificial intelligence (link).

20. Blindspot, an automated advertising platform on digital billboards, signed a partnership with Interactions Marketing, an interactive communication and eCRM agency, for advertising on digital billboards in Romania (link).

21. Linnify, the IT company originally from Cluj-Napoca, announced its international expansion into the American market (link).

22. Fagura, a fintech startup which developed a crowdlending platform based on lending, is launching its operations in Romania (link).

23. Glow2Go, home beauty service platform, announced that it’s ending its activity after 3 and a half years since its launch (link).