The Romanian Tech Startup Association (ROTSA) organized the first edition of the Romanian Startup Awards, an initiative aimed at evaluating the performance of startups within Romania and the Republic of Moldova.
From 144 applications, a jury comprising 20 investors and ecosystem professionals from Romania and the Republic of Moldova selected winners across 17 categories.
The selection process was based on the following criteria:
- Market Potential: Total addressable market and scalability.
- Business Model and Traction: Revenue generation, customer base, and partnerships.
- Innovation and Differentiation: Uniqueness of the solution and competitive advantage.
- Societal and Environmental Impact: Contributions to societal well-being and environmental sustainability.
- Team and Management: Experience and skills of the leadership team.
- Application Presentation: Clarity and organization of submitted materials.
The event also provided a platform to recognize and analyze emerging businesses within Romania’s startup ecosystem.
What should you know about awarded startups?
Agritech & Foodtech Innovator – Ultragreens
Description & key facts: Vertical farming for microgreens. Partnered with Kaufland Romania for a vertical farm which will produce 60 tones microgreens per year for the retailer’s stores.
Founder: Cristian Tudor
Investment: N/A
AI Excellence Award – Arcanna.ai
Description & key facts: AI-assisted platform for cybersecurity. Built an AI Ops platform for Orange and was recognized by Gartner as a “cool vendor for modern security operations centers”.
Founders: Cristian Ruta, Petru Ruta, Calin Cornigeanu
Investment: €4M (Osage Venture Partners, Lytical VC, Defined Capital, Isometric VC, John Stewart, SeedBlink)
Best Startup in Romania & Most Scalable Startup – Veridion
Description & key facts: Provides business data enrichment on private companies. Reached 3,000 crawlers (n.a robots that extract information from websites), 10 petabytes of data processed per month and 2.6 billion web pages processed monthly – double compared to 2023. Preparing to raise Series A in 2025.
Founders: Florin Tufan, Sorina Vlasceanu, Mihai Vinaga
Investment: €7.1M (TechAngels, Day One Capital, Gapminder VC, SeedBlink, LAUNCHub VC, OTB Ventures, Underline VC)
Best Startup in the Republic of Moldova – Fagura
Description & key facts: Marketplace based on P2P lending. This year they facilitated €4.5M which is an increase of 2.5x compared to 2023.
Founders: Tudor Darie
Investment: €2.5M (Seedrs, u.ventures, Mozaic Ventures, angel investors)
CleanTech Pioneer – Renergia
Description & key facts: Reduces energy spending with AI. Spin-off from the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca.
Founders: Dacian Jurj, Alexandru Muresan
Investment: N/A
EdTech Leader – Youni Choice
Description & key facts: Matching students with the right universities. The largest online application platform in Europe, with over 14,000 completed applications and $50M obtained in scholarships.
Founders: Andrei Nicolae, Stefan Tapescu
Investment: €900k (Early Game Ventures, Soulmates Ventures)
MedTech Innovator – Rayscape
Description & key facts: AI platform that assists radiologists in analyzing medical images such as chest X-rays or lung CT scans. Has partnerships with hospitals in Germany, Poland, but also big Romanian healthcare networks.
Founders: Stefan Iarca, Cristian Avramescu, Bogdan Bercean, Andrei Tenescu
Investment: €1.9M (Cleverage VC, Gapminder VC, RocaX, bValue, ResQ Medical, Fortech Investments)
Female-Led Startup of the Year – Spark Generation
Description & key facts: All-in-one tool for schools to increase high schoolers’ performance. Has facilitated courses from approximately 10,000 students from 24 countries.
Founders: Ruxandra Mercea, Florina Popirtac, Raluca Manole
Investment: €1.5M (SeedBlink, Bravva Angels, angel investors)
FinTech Innovator Local – SOLO
Description & key facts: Digital app for freelancer’s accounting tasks, with 8,500 users. Partnered with one of Romania’s leading banks, BCR.
Founders: Alexandru Anghel, Annemarie Fabian, Bogdan Georgescu
Investment: N/A
FinTech Innovator International – Lendox
Description & key facts: Smart lending for SMEs. The company recently rebranded from iFactor and is focused on embedding its AI-powered tools into the lending infrastructure of banks and non-bank financial institutions (NBFIs).
Founder: Cosmin Curticapean
Investment: €1.7M (Seedrs, Roca X)
Retail & E-Commerce Disruptor – Unfrosen
Description & key facts: Marketplace for B2B overstock resales for fashion companies. Pivoted from The Outfit, a startup providing online styling services.
Founders: Horia Stupu, Serban Bulida, Ciprian Dudulea
Investment: N/A
Rising Star Award – FigVision
Description & key facts: AI-powered assistant which shortens the design workflow. Winners of How to Web 2024 Spotlight competition.
Founders: Andrei Manolache, Robert Dragutoiu
Investment: €350k (Underline Ventures, Startup Wise Guys şi GapMinder VC)
Sustainability Champion – Bonapp
Description & key facts: Mobile app that combats food waste. With 350k users in 3 years, the startup has helped save over 𝟰𝟱𝟬 𝘁𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗳𝗼𝗼𝗱 from waste, with 1,200 merchants participating across Romania.
Founders: Grégoire VIGROUX, Diego Roy de Lachaise, Luka Zivkovic
Investment: €1M (Impact VC, Early Game VC, Roca X, Up Romania, SeedBlink)
Young Entrepreneur of the Year – Bloomcoding (Emil Chichioi)
Description & key facts: Online platform for children’s education in coding through VR and AR. Has courses available for children in the Republic of Moldova and Romania.
Founders: Emil Chichioi, Mihaela Kawinska
Investment: €1.1M (u.ventures, Credo VC, Inovo VC)
Deep Tech Champion – OxidOS
Description & key facts: Software development tools and Operating Systems for Automotive ECUs. Looking to raise a new round from the UK/the US to develop more technologies.
Founders: Daniel Rosner, Ioana Culic, Bogdan Genis, Alexandru Radovici
Investment: €1.2M (Early Game VC, TechAngels)
ScaleUp of The Year – Creatopy
Description & key facts: Ad creation platform with advanced design automation, team collaboration, and AI-driven features. The company opened a new office in Bucharest and expanded the team in the US, to be closer to their clients.
Founders: Gabriel Ciordas
Investment: €9.5M (PointNine, 3VC)
