When you think of Romania, you may think of the legend of Count Dracula, although the country also has a healthily developing startup ecosystem. Romanian startups are seeing increasing funding and new top startups are appearing in the Eastern-European state every year. The country was rated as the 39th best ecosystem globally in 2022 and improved by two places from its position in 2021.
The rapid growth of the ecosystem is highlighted by the fact that Romanian startups raised 53 Million Euros in 2017, which the figure increasing to 116 Million Euros in 2021, an increase of more than double in nearly half a decade. The increased funding seen by startups directly correlates with the increase of VC funds in the country, with more than 30 consistently investing in the ecosystem. The same increase is also being seen by accelerators and incubators.
The Romanian startup ecosystem has recently started accelerating and part of this is down to projects such as RoStartup. This project aims to improve the ecosystem by supporting regional economic development and addressing existing ecosystem gaps. The main targets for the project are to improve business education, existing national policy, access to finance and the capacity for innovation in the country.
1. Vatis Tech
Year Founded: 2020
HQ: Bucharest, Romania
Size: 1-10
Founders: Adrian Ispas
Vatis Tech is a Romanian startup that was founded in 2020 and is currently based in Bucharest. The company helps other businesses to improve their operations through the provision of a speech recognition programming interface that assists within multiple industries. They aim to make the technology more effective and more available worldwide.
The business has gone through a pair of funding rounds since being founded, with the most recent taking place as a Seed Round in January 2023 when the business raised 650,000 Euros from three investors. In total, the business has raised a figure of 850,000 Euros from the same three investors.
2. Hubgets
Year Founded: 2011
HQ: Bucharest, Romania
Size: 51-100
Founders: Bogdan Carstoiu, Elena Carstoiu
Hubgets is a Romanian startup that was founded in 2011 and is currently based in Bucharest, Romania. The business has created a communications platform that can be deployed on a business' private cloud. Users can chat, send files and participate in video calls and turn that into searchable knowledge. This improves collaboration and makes customers more profitable.
The business has secured a respectable amount of funding since being founded, with the most recent funding round taking place as a Series A in 2013 where it raised $2 Million. In total, the business has raised a figure of $7 Million from an unknown number of investors.
3. YLOAD
Year Founded: 2019
HQ: Cluj, Romania
Size: 11-50
Founders: Alexandru Huzau
YLOAD is a startup in Romania that was founded in 2019 and is currently based in Cluj. The company has created one of the first transport marketplaces in Europe, where AI-powered logistics solutions are transparent and made fully digital. They offer competitive prices and superior services in the logistics industry.
The business has gone through a single funding round since being founded, with the round being a Pre-Seed round that took place in July 2021. In this funding round, the startup raised a total of 700,000 Euros from SeedBlink.
4. Bytex
Year Founded: 2015
HQ: Iasi, Romania
Size: 51-100
Founders: Dragos Rusu
Bytex is a Romanian startup that was founded in 2015 and is currently based in Iasi, Romania. The company provides full software development solutions to a number of businesses throughout Romania. This ranges from mobile development, to cyber security and much more. The company is well-reviewed and has a good reputation in Romania for its services.
Despite the growth of the business since it was founded, there has been no public record of the company actively seeking any startup funding. If the business plans to expand it can easily leverage its reputation and experience to help secure any potential funding.
5. Licenseware
Year Founded: 2020
HQ: Bucharest, Romania
Size: 11-50
Founders: Alex Cojocaru, Chris Allen, Ciprian Grigore
Licenseware is a Romanian startup that was founded in 2020 and is currently based in Bucharest, Romania. The business is creating an app ecosystem for the management of software licenses. This allows users to only pay for the licenses they need and not a single functionality more than they need. This helps businesses to save money when licensing software.
The business has secured funding through a number of rounds since being founded, with the most recent being a Grant received from InnovX in November 2022. In total, the business has raised a figure of $1.7 Million from ten investors.
6. EasyDo Digital Technologies
Year Founded: 2018
HQ: Bucharest, Romania
Size: 101-250
Founders: David Coyne
EasyDo Digital Technologies is a Romanian startup that was founded in 2018 and is currently based in Bucharest, Romania. The business is an IT company that operates by helping its customers with easy do logistics, smart mobility and heritage management services.
Despite the size of the business, there is no public record of the startup seeking any startup funding. With the size of the operation of EasyDo, it is very likely that the company would be successful if it decided to seek such funding.
7. Wolfpack Digital
Year Founded: 2015
HQ: Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Size: 51-100
Founders: Georgina Florian
Wolfpack Digital is a startup in Romania that was founded in 2015 and is currently based in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. They are an award-winning development startup that helps businesses to create new apps and software to help them to reach their business goals effectively. The awards won by the business highlight the effectiveness of their offering.
Despite the success of the business, it has not yet sought any outside funding publicly. With the startup's great reputation and years of operation, it would be very likely to be successful if it sought to raise money.
8. P4B
Year Founded: 2015
HQ: Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Size: 51-100
Founders: Bartos Sandor-Roberts
P4B is a Romanian startup that was founded in 2015 and is currently based in Cluj-Napoca. The business provides assistance to other companies, specifically with outsourcing, software, website and mobile development. The business has operated successfully for the last few years and had enjoyed positive reviews from customers.
Despite the size and rapid growth of the business, it has not publicly sought any startup funding. It is not clear whether the company has any plans to seek startup funding in the immediate future, however, the company will surely be successful if it does.
9. Bunnyshell
Year Founded: 2018
HQ: Bucharest, Romania
Size: 11-50
Founders: Alin Dobra, Roxana Ciobanu, Silviu Chiran
Bunnyshell is a Romanian startup that was founded in 2018 and is currently based in Bucharest. They help developers with their DevOps by creating a cloud-agnostic automation platform to help these developers to deploy, scale and optimize their operations. Their operations help to increase the efficiency and performance of these applications.
Since being founded, the business has been successful in raising startup funding. In total, the business has raised a figure of $6.4 Million from a pair of investors. The business' last funding round took place in April 2022, where it raised $4 Million from the same two investors.
10. FXBITS
Year Founded: 2018
HQ: Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Size: 101-250
Founders: Paul Tofan
FXBITS is a startup in Romania that was founded in 2018 and is currently based in Cluj-Napoca. The business is a development studio that specialises in providing conversational AI-technology solutions to businesses, in addition to mobile development, web technology and more.
The business has not secured any startup funding publicly in the years since being founded. It is currently unclear whether or not the business will secure any startup funding in the future, however, if the business decides to, it is very likely to succeed.
11. Undelucram
Year Founded: 2011
HQ: Bucharest, Romania
Size: 1-10
Founders: Costin Tudor
Undelucram is a Romanian startup that was founded in 2011 and is currently based in Bucharest. The business operates in the recruitment industry and has created a platform for businesses to post jobs and they can receive reviews about what it's like to work with them. Applicants are able to easily apply for jobs and find their next step in their career.
Since being founded, the business has secured a total of 837,500 Euros from three investors. The startup's last funding round took place in December 2022 when it raised 200,000 from Gapminder VC.
12. Hyperhuman
Year Founded: 2020
HQ: Bucharest, Romania
Size: 11-50
Founders: Bogdan Predusca, Dan Nica
Hyperhuman is a Romanian startup that was founded in 2020 and is currently based in Bucharest. The company operates in the health and fitness industry and has created a platform where people can upload their content and edit it all easily. This cuts out the time and expense involved in creating great fitness content.
Since being founded, the company has raised a total of 800,000 Euros from four investors. This funding was achieved through the company's Seed Funding round and it is likely that the business will receive further funding in the future.
13. SRD-Media
Year Founded: 2017
HQ: Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Size: 101-250
Founders: Raul Siderias
SRD-Media is a startup in Romania that was founded in 2017 and is currently based in Cluj-Napoca. The company is an example of a marketing agency startup in the country that helps businesses to get themselves found online through a blend of PPC marketing and a range of SEO services.
Research in writing this article has not turned up any information relating to SRD-Media receiving startup funding. Despite this, the business has rapidly grown since being founded and in the event that the business requires startup funding, it is very likely that it will receive it.
14. Goodlegal
Year Founded: 2022
HQ: Bucharest, Romania
Size: 1-10
Founders: Alex Tataran, Alexandru Caciulescu
Goodlegal is a Romanian startup that was founded in 2022 and operates in the LawTech sphere. The business acts as a single-stop solution for a wide range of legal services, aiming to be on par with in-house council and completing tasks for a fraction of the usual price. This helps businesses to save money on expensive legal tasks, whilst still getting high-quality work to protect their operations.
The business has gone through a single funding round since being founded, with that round being a Pre-Seed Round in November 2022, when it raised 1.2 Million Euros from an unknown number of investors.
15. YAROOMS
Year Founded: 2016
HQ: Bucharest, Romania
Size: 1-10
Founders: Dragos Badea, Emil Muthu
YAROOMS is a Romanian startup that was founded in 2016 and is currently based in Bucharest. The company has created an online booking platform for the renting of rooms for conferences, meetings and more. Their dashboard allows users to see the revenue they are generating and helps to reduce double booking, which has a negative impact on these types of businesses.
Since being founded, the business has gone through a single round of startup funding in October 2022. During this funding round, the business raised a figure of 2 Million Euros from a pair of investors.
16. Mindit.io
Year Founded: 2015
HQ: Bucharest, Romania
Size: 51-100
Founders: Irina Arsene
Mindit.io is a Romanian startup that was founded in 2015 and is currently based in Bucharest, Romania. The business offers a range of IT consultancy services to enterprises and also partners with these businesses to create new innovations with high-quality support teams to handle any issues as they occur.
Despite the size of the business, it has not yet publicly sought any startup funding to further its operations. It is unclear if the business has any plans to seek out any funding in the future to help it reach the next level.
17. Digitap
Year Founded: 2016
HQ: Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Size: 11-50
Founders: Daniel Tamas
Digitap is a Romanian startup that was founded in 2016 and is currently based in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. They have created a hypercasual network for gamers to facilitate competition in a casual setting. This is achieved by focusing on easy-to-play games and creating a positive environment.
The founders of the business invested $360,000 of their own money into the company and later raised a further $300,000 in August 2020 from Voicu Oprean. It is currently unknown whether the founders will seek further funding.
18. FINQware
Year Founded: 2018
HQ: Bucharest, Romania
Size: 1-10
Founders: Cosmin Cosma, Danut Covalciuc, Dumitru Taraianu
FINQware is a startup in Romania that was founded in 2018 and is currently based in Bucharest. They have created an API platform for a range of businesses that need access to banking data and data from other financial institutions. Their API allows these interested businesses to rapidly get access to this information in a compliant manner.
The business has gone through a number of funding rounds since being founded, with the last taking place in July 2022 when the startup raised 510,000 Euros from SeedBlink. In total, the startup has raised a figure of $1.3 Million from a total of four investors.
19. Smartdata
Year Founded: 2013
HQ: Moldova, Romania
Size: 51-100
Founders: Alex Scutaru, Andrei Martinenco
Smartdata is a Romanian startup that was founded in 2013 and is currently based in Moldova. The company is a digital agency that specialises in data migrations, web design, software development and more. They help businesses all across Romania to reach their target audience and therefore increase their profits.
There is currently no indication that the business has raised outside funding to further its development and there is also no information on whether or not the business will seek to achieve startup funding in the future.
20. DRUID
Year Founded: 2018
HQ: Bucharest, Romania
Size: 11-50
Founders: Andreea Plesea, Daniel Balaceanu, Liviu Dragan
DRUID is a Romanian startup that was founded in 2018 and is currently based in Bucharest, Romania. The company has created a conversational AI platform for enterprise clients. The aim of the company is to help these businesses to create more advanced virtual assistants that can take the strain off of company resources and improve their efficiency.
DRUID is one of the more well-funded Romanian startups, with the business raising a total of $20.6 Million from six investors. The company's last funding round was a Series A in May 2022 when DRUID raised $15 Million from four investors.
21. Rayscape
Year Founded: 2018
HQ: Timisoara, Romania
Size: 1-10
Founders: Andrei Tenescu, Bogdan Bercean, Cristian Avramescu, Stefan Iarca.
Rayscape is a startup in Romania that was founded in 2018 and is based in Timisoara. The company provides an automated X-Ray analysis service that that helps radiologists to give more accurate analysis of X-Ray images. This helps to improve patient outcomes and the effectiveness of these medical providers.
The business has proven the effectiveness of its business model to investors, evidenced by the fact that it has raised 1.4 Million Euros from five investors. Its last funding round took place in January 2022 when it raised 1 Million Euros from five investors.
FAQs
How Many Startups Are There in Romania?
There are currently more than 500 tech startups active in Romania.
What Causes Romanian Startups To Fail?
Failure in Romanian startups is caused by a number of factors, although the most common are a lack of access to critical funding, an inability to find the best workers and a lack of mentoring support and education for young entrepreneurs.
What Startup Industries Are The Strongest in Romania?
The strongest startup industries in Romania are FoodTech, Software and Marketing/Sales.
