Romania’s startup ecosystem is evolving, and as more companies transition from early-stage to scaleup operations, the spotlight is shifting towards a new challenge, the kind of innovation that goes beyond tech breakthroughs or investment rounds.
Specifically: who gets to lead? And how inclusive is that leadership?
That’s why we’ve decided to sit down with the women behind two standout companies from this year’s EBRD Star Venture cohort: Roxana Sabău of Synaptiq, and Felicia Bârsan of Sales Partner. These founders are helping define what modern leadership looks like in Romania’s tech ecosystem.
It’s a timely conversation. Studies have consistently been showing that companies with diverse leadership outperform their peers. Organizations with inclusive cultures are 8x more likely to achieve better business outcomes, and 6x more likely to be innovative and agile, according to a Deloitte study from back in 2018. And yet, despite progress, women remain underrepresented in decision-making roles, especially as startups scale and governance structures begin to harden.
The Founder Lens: Leading by Design, Not by Default
As the Romanian scaleup landscape matures, there’s a rare window to embed diversity from the start as a growth strategy. We asked the women leading the way to tell us how it should be done.
Synaptiq is tackling major challenges in cancer treatment through radiotherapy. They’ve developed Mediq RT, an AI-powered software designed to optimize one of the most tedious and time-consuming steps in radiotherapy: delineating tumors and organs-at-risk. Traditionally, this process can take up to 4 hours of meticulous effort. With Mediq RT, it takes under 5 minutes.
Sales Partner solves the problem of inefficiency, poor lead handling, and low profitability in car dealerships. They use a combination of deep domain focus, speed of implementation (2–3 weeks), and proven impact (saving up to 80% of time and increasing margins).
Where do you think innovation culture in Romania can improve most urgently, particularly when it comes to fostering diversity and inclusive leadership at the scaleup stage?
Felicia Bârsan, Sales Partner: Romania has strong technical talent and a growing startup ecosystem, but as companies move into the scaleup stage, we often lack structured support systems that foster inclusive leadership. The focus tends to stay on product and execution, which are important, but building diverse leadership teams and governance early on is equally critical. To drive innovation forward, we need more mentorship, visibility, and funding for women-led companies, along with stronger narratives around inclusion in both the public and private sectors.
Roxana Sabău, Synaptiq: From our perspective, we haven’t faced major barriers when it comes to fostering diversity or inclusive leadership, especially in the startup and IT sectors. These values are increasingly recognized, and often required explicitly in grant applications or evaluation frameworks.
At the scaleup stage, I believe it’s essential to have diversity not just in gender, but also in backgrounds and personality types. For us, it’s more about finding the right talent and being aware of the value of diverse perspectives. I wouldn’t say this is a Romania-specific problem; rather, what’s most needed is awareness, understanding what diversity and inclusion actually mean, and recognizing when they are present or missing in an organization.
From your experience, does having more women at decision-making levels such as company boards or strategic advisory roles actually change or enhance innovation and business outcomes?
Roxana Sabău, Synaptiq: I believe the presence of women in leadership and advisory roles is just as important as that of men. Traits often associated with women — such as empathy, patience, perseverance, and strong organizational skills — can complement the risk appetite, boldness, and drive for innovation typically associated with men. When these qualities are brought together, they create a powerful balance that leads to stronger decisions and better outcomes. Diversity in leadership should always be seen as a strategic advantage.
Felicia Bârsan, Sales Partner: Having women in decision-making roles significantly enhances innovation and business outcomes.
In our experience, a 50/50 leadership balance has made a meaningful difference: it influences how we shape strategy, how we listen to our customers, and how we build internal trust. We’ve seen first-hand that women leaders help create alignment, improve internal communication, and drive decisions that are more thoughtful and inclusive.
In a traditionally male-dominated industry like automotive, this leadership diversity helps challenge the status quo and results in more relevant, customer-aligned innovation.
What is the approach to governance in your startup? Do you have a board of advisors?
Felicia Bârsan, Sales Partner: We see governance as a key part of scaling responsibly. While we don’t yet have a formal board of advisors, we work closely with our lead investor and benefit from a circle of experienced mentors in entrepreneurship, finance, and technology. Their insight and strategic input have helped guide our most important decisions.
Roxana Sabău, Synaptiq: Interestingly, as I reflect on this question, I realize that both our founding team and our board of advisors are made up of an equal balance of men and women. Decisions have always been made collaboratively, and this gender balance wasn’t something we intentionally enforced, it emerged naturally as we built the team. It reinforces the idea that inclusive leadership isn’t about quotas, but about recognizing and integrating the full spectrum of value that different people bring to the table.
Closing the Gap, From Execution to Governance
With such scaleup success stories on the rise, Romania’s tech ecosystem stands at a turning point. The next step requires growing smart, with leadership that reflects the complexity of the world we’re building for.
As Romanian startups transition from talent to traction, the real differentiator lies in how they build and scale their leadership. With the support of TaiwanBusiness-EBRD Technical Cooperation Fund (provided under the EBRD’s Small Business Impact Fund), the EBRD helps close this gap through the Star Venture programme, which enables startups to execute, hire, and grow effectively.
Victoria Zinchuk, EBRD Director for Romania, reflects on how Star Venture makes Romania’s startups more resilient:
“Through Star Venture, we help early-stage companies build the foundations for sustainable growth. As there is no real sustainability without diversity, we promote inclusive leadership at the strategic level, and we are happy to see that two out of the five startups selected for the 2025 Star Venture programme in Romania are women-led.
As strong governance is built from the early stages of a business, we encourage the women founders in our Star Venture programme, and women founders in general, to take advantage of all the opportunities that the EBRD provides. For example, we have our regional Women on Boards event in Bucharest, where they can interact with experienced board directors from Romania, Ukraine, Poland, and beyond, from the corporate and SME sector.
This event is designed for women leaders that are ready to move into board roles, whether in startups, scaleups, or mature companies. For the second year in a row, we are implementing the EBRD Women on Boards programme together with Endeavor Romania, and we hope to have with us women founders of startups who aim to attract investors and build solid board teams. Apply and join us in Bucharest and online on June 10.“
