People say “it takes a village to raise a child” and this also applies to tech startups. To launch a project and make it skyrocket to the business cosmos, you need to sync up with the market and build a symbiotic relationship – based on trust and capital – with business investors.
Do you know what role angel investors play? Their purpose is to guide and support. Like a godfather, they offer answers during challenging times and help shape ideas into projects with early-stage financial aid.
With our explorer glasses on, we dived into the Romanian market to see which cities host the most angel investors and what niches or solutions are they interested in. Some investors are active in Romania, others keep a global reach; while a few Romanians living abroad are giving back to the local ecosystem.
This is only the beginning of mapping out the angel investors in Romania. Please feel free to contact The Recursive Newsroom with updates or names we should add to the list → [email protected]
Angel investors in Romania from Bucharest
Daniela Aldescu is a Partner at Vertik Romania, a financing consultancy company; an Executive Director at ARIR, the Romanian Investor Relations Association; and a co-founder of Smart Impact Capital, a Romanian fund focusing on early-stage investments. She is interested in MedTech, EdTech, and sustainability tech startups. So far, she has invested in VoxiKids, SanoPass, Telios Care, iFactor, and Teleport.
Ana Maria Andronic is a founder and trainer at the Professional Support Company, a program that aims to help people develop their skills for administrative and customer service jobs. She is also an investor in FameUp, an influencer marketing tech startup.
Razvan Craciunescu is an Assistant Professor at the University Politehnica of Bucharest teaching about entrepreneurship and innovation. He is also an investor and Chief Product Growth Officer at Procesio, the low-code iPaaS startup.
Cosmin Curticapean is the CEO of fintech iFactor, a board member of the Romanian Fintech Association, and TechAngels Romania. His expertise and interest go toward AI tools and financial solutions.
Andrei Dudoiu is the co-founder of the crowdfunding platform SeedBlink. Having had over two decades of experience in the finance industry, his background is most valued in this precise niche.
Ciprian Dudulea is the co-founder and CEO of The Outfit and is also part of the new wave of business angels. Although young, he is a supporter of the sustainability vertical, with an investment in Flip.
Matei Dumitrescu is General Partner at ROCA X, a privately funded Romanian VC investment fund. As a business angel, he has a portfolio with over 30 startup investments, not only in the technological sphere.
Alexandru Ghita is the President and CEO of The Entrepreneurship Academy, a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) program. He is also an angel investor in fintech Instant Factoring; The Outfit, an e-commerce fashion platform; MyConnector, a platform for online events, amongst others.
Mihai Guran is a managing partner at Atnnovate, a consulting company supporting tech projects. He is also an investor in tech startups like Procesio, a no-code Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS); SmartHuts, a service management software solution; Machinations.io, a collaborative platform targeting game designers; and RepsMate, an AI and data analytics startup.
Radu Ionescu is an angel investor, advisor, and avid rock climber. He is the Vice President of Climb Again, which addresses children with special needs, as well as an advisor at Sailo, an online platform for renting boats and yachts. His investment portfolio has over 30 startups, with a focus on the US market.
Bogdan Iordache is the founder of How to Web, a leading tech conference in CEE. He is seen as one of the first names in the country that started building the local tech startup ecosystem. He is an advisor and angel investor from Romania looking to support early-stage startups to define their products, vision, and fundraising strategies.
Alexandru Leca has a background in finance and accounting and a vast portfolio. Amongst his investments, there are fintech Finqware and FlowX, e-commerce player easySales, and DRUID AI, amongst others.
Calin Lupsan is the founder of Intelactsoft, a team of IT specialists that aids companies by building digital applications and tools. He is an angel investor from Romania through Early Game Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm based in Bucharest.
George Moroianu is the founder of Flip.ro, a marketplace for refurbished phones. He is part of the new wave of angel investors in Romania. In his portfolio, there is The Outfit, the personal styling service which combines data and humans to move e-commerce one step further.
Emil Muthu is the co-founder of ialoc.ro, a platform for HoReCa bookings; 112hub.com, a platform for outsourcing software development in Eastern Europe; and YAROOMS, a software for meetings. He is also the CEO of Neurony Solutions, a software development company, and has invested in Jobful.
Sergiu Negut is the co-founder of FintechOS and the first investor in the company. He has an impressive C.V., he is a teacher and an advisor to many projects. As an angel investor, he likes to support the new wave of entrepreneurs, like The Outfit team.
Dragos Nicolaescu is the founder and CEO of Visionary Business Consultants, a vehicle through which over 200 entrepreneurs have been coached to launch their early-stage startups. One of his investments has been HRTech Jobful.
Dan Oros is the Head of Marketing at Google and YouTube in Romania. Since 2020 he has also been a tech advisor and investor at Accel, a VC capital firm based in the US.
Ilinca Paun is the founder of Bravva Angels, a community of business angels targeting female founders and mixed teams. She has been an avid promoter of The Entrepreneurship Academy‘s new generation of entrepreneurs, like Ciprian Dudulea from The Outfit.
Matei Pavel has a background as a software developer and he brings his founder expertise to different early-stage startups. Amongst his investments as a business angel, there is Soleadify, a company building efficient ways to get more data and insights from it.
Andrei Pitis is the founder of Simple Capital, a private investment company that focuses on scalable tech startups with a global aim. Amongst his investments are the fitness project Crave Bespoke Nutrition, the fashion startup Re-Collections by GI, and edtech Ready for IT, all founded by female entrepreneurs.
Vlad Popovici is the co-founder of KUBIS, a leading digital agency in Romania. He is a digital pioneer, with more than two decades of experience in tech, marketing, and advertising. As an investor, he supports MedTech AiGIA Health; MarCom tech TPS Engage, and blockchain startup Oveit.
Catalin Rusu is a co-founder of Rusu+Bortun, a leading advertising agency in Romania for the past decade. He is also an investor in Tokinomo, the marketing robot building startup; fintech iFactor; and TPS Engage, a marketing platform that facilitates global digital billboards advertising.
Mihai Sora has a background as an engineer and is now working as a Partnerships Manager at UPPER, a platform connecting companies, and tech freelancers to collaborate. He is an angel investor in Income Marketplace, an Estonian Fintech; and Archbee, a product documentation company.
Dragos Stanca is the founder of UPGRADE 100, a digital and tech media platform, and managing partner at Thinkdigital, a digital media creative agency. He is also a mentor and angel investor in early-stage startups, with a focus on blockchain projects.
Malin-Iulian Stefanescu is the founder and president of EEU Software, a group of software developers specializing in Java projects. His angel investor portfolio is impressive and it gathers SmartDreamers, a recruitment marketing platform; Tokinomo, which provides robots for marketing purposes; TypingDNA, a software that recognizes people by the way they type; Critique Gaming, a video game developer company; Aggero, a platform that automates processes for marketers in the e-sports and gaming industries; Vatis Tech, which offers a speech recognition platform; fintech SymphoPay, and Green Horse Games.
Laura Tabus is a member of TechAngels Romania, an independent group of angel investors launched almost a decade ago to support the local ecosystem in SEE. She has experience as a financial advisor and is keeping an eye on supporting fintech projects.
Cosmin Tirvuloiu is an entrepreneur and angel investor in Romania with a focus on fintech and blockchain. Amongst his investments there are also proptech startups Pluria and Nooka Space; beauty tech Stailer; and Autodeal, a platform aiming to digitize all the processes connected to cars, like taxes and insurance.
Gregoire Vigroux is a serial entrepreneur and angel investor with double citizenship – French and Romanian. He is the co-founder of bonapp.eco, a local project that aims to combat food waste. Amongst his investments, there is Nasekomo, a Bulgarian agrobiotech; and BTR Exchange, a crypto ATM network.
Cosmin Emanuel Vranceanu is the CTO of START BIT NET, a provider of telecom operators in Romania. He is also an angel investor in xHumanity, a social network based on cryptocurrency and reputation.
Angel investors in Romania from Cluj
Sandu Babasan is the co-founder and growth strategist of proptech Nooka Space, which offers a network of proximity office spaces. He is also an investor in Autodeal, which aims to digitize processes connected to cars; StageMe, a live streaming events solution for e-commerce websites; and Bookr, a platform that integrates 3D visual tours.
Catalin Briciu is the co-founder of Linnify, a software development company transforming ideas into products for the health, wellbeing, and education industries. He is also an investor in the beauty marketplace Stailer.
Alex Burciu is the Tech Venture Partner at Fortech Investments, a branch of software developer Fortech, which supports entrepreneurs reach their goals. He has been an angel investor through the Transylvania Angels Network in startups like AI Nifty Learning, ThinkOut, iFactor, Metabeta, Event Mix, Car Loop, and Telios, amongst others.
Tudor Ciuleanu is the founder of RebelDot and RebelVentures, a new investment arm for software companies. He is also an angel investor in Eventmix, a platform for developing online or hybrid events.
Gabriel Dombri is the CEO of Tapptitude, a product studio that partners with funded startups to build products. He is also an angel investor focusing on mobile products.
Bogdan Herea is the founder and CEO of Webhelp, a global customer experience partner. He is an investor in the beauty marketplace Stailer; and was a supporter of Blugento, a software development company, from which he exited in 2020.
Emmett King is the COO of Wirtek, a publicly-traded Danish outsourcing company in Romania, since 2006 and the co-founder of Transylvania Angels Network (T.A.N.) since 2018. He is also a founding investor and board member in both MedTech Telios Care, and AiVA, an AI visual analytics deep tech startup; and various other investments in MedTech, FinTech, AgTech, cybersecurity, and e-commerce.
Florin M. Pop is the founder of Primainvest Capital Management, an investment company that has been active for almost two decades. He is also an investor in StageMe, the platform making live e-commerce experiences possible; MedTech Telios Care; proptech Bookr, amongst others.
Lorand Soares-Szasz is the founder of Soares Consulting and Upriserz.ro, a company and platform for entrepreneurship training. He is also an investor in the beauty marketplace Stailer.
Andrei Ursachi is the founder and CEO of the beauty marketplace Stailer. He has a background in law and is an angel investor in proptech Compariimpobiliare.ro, a platform for real estate comparisons.
Mircea Vadan is the managing partner at Activize, offering consultancy for local tech startup ecosystem players, and a co-founder of T.A.N. He is also an investor in MedTech Telios Care and Oncochain; the online forecasting platform ThinkOut, which supports SME managers; cloud security company Cyscale; amongst others.
Angel investors in Romania from Iasi
Marian Marius Alexe has a background in technological studies. He is an investor and part of the board members of Prime Dash, an IT consulting company for the fintech vertical, powered by ML and AI.
Angel investors in Romania from Sibiu
Lucian Todea is the co-founder and COO of Elrond, the blockchain network. He is also a limiter partner at Catalyst Romania and a business investor in TypingDNA, which offers biometrics solutions to secure devices; and fintech Smart Bill.
Angel investors in Romania from Timisoara
Ciprian Man is the co-founder of the Growceanu Angel Investment network. His investor’s portfolio is quite vast and it includes Metabeta, a platform with tools for startups, investors, and accelerators; proptech Milluu; Sitter.ro, a marketplace with professionals; and edtech Kinderpedia, amongst others.
Angel investors in Romania from the Diaspora
Ruxandra Muys-Stoian is co-founder of the Women in Tech Angels Club, a community of women investing in female entrepreneurs. She is based in the US, has a background in medicine, and has invested in MedTech VoxiKids.
The names are in alphabetical order.
