COVID-19 pandemic overshadowed many Eastern European startup ecosystems but Romania is dealing quite well in those times as it’s one of the fastest developing ecosystems in CEE with average €552K funding per round. Best performing sectors in this country are health, security, and education, and without a doubt, it is a great merit of domestic accelerators and incubators, which also closely cooperate with countries from the V4 region - Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia.
So, the time has come to present to you the most innovative and the most promising acceleration and incubation programs from Romania!
Techcelerator
Techcelerator is an accelerator launched by RICAP (Romanian Innovation Commercialization Assistance Program) and Sprintpoint in 2018. At first, it was just an alumni community event offering various benefits such as meeting potential investors and creating a place for founders to share their failures and successes.
Now Techcelerator offers 4 different programs concentrated on businesses at different levels of development:
- NEXT FinTech Accelerator is addressed to grown-stage startups providing 3 months of workshops, business development assistance, and access to an investor's network.
- Advancing AI focuses on teams using Artificial Intelligence for high-tech programs that are about to improve our daily life.
- Scale Match is the program for companies ready to fundraise. Best mentors and experienced founders help startups find the right investor and develop their businesses. Preference is given to AI solutions, HealthTech, SaaS or FinTech startups.
- Investment readiness program is a free program devoted to helping startups prepare for their next pre-seed or seed investment round.
In Techcelerator’s portfolio, you can find companies such as KidsFInance which is basically Duolingo for financial education or ZOOMreport which helps users gain knowledge about local socio-demographic and economic environments.
The Spinoff
The spinoff is an incubator developed by Raiffeisen Bank in cooperation with Startup Factory dedicated to founders that are just at the beginning of their business path. During the program, you are going to get €102K for cloud hosting services from IBM, learn how to implement Design Thinking methodology, and participate in mentoring sessions with top executives or founders of successful companies from your field. After completing the program successfully teams will gain access to industry events and panels, and get up to €50K loan for further development of the startup. What's more, Startup Studio by Factory partners up with companies such as Business Angels ROMANIA, International Workplace Group, and Magurele Science Park, which provides startups with amazing networking opportunities with both corporations and small companies.
Early Game Accelerator
Each year they select around 5 companies for an extremely intensive acceleration program. What distinguishes Early Game Accelerator from other accelerators is the fact that it has no submission deadline and just accepts top-notch startups. Once you're in the selected troupe, you are going to cooperate closely with one partner of the fund and gain access to resources that match your needs. You may think that the main focus of the program is the game industry but I am going to surprise you. As for now, its focal points are mobility, jobs, real estate, agriculture, coding, and finances. However, if your startup doesn't fit in those fields you can still apply and become part of their community. This project is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund through the Operational Program and it closely cooperates with Tech Angels, InnovationLab, and Techhub.
Spherik Accelerator
Spherik Accelerator is the official ambassador of Startup Europe and one the most known Romanian acceleration programs for startups. It is focused on providing young entrepreneurs with strategic resources and supporting the growth of the local startup ecosystem. Their various programs are divided into three phases: pre-acceleration phase promoting entrepreneurial education and knowledge, acceleration phase achieving significant business growth, and post-acceleration phase developing innovation ecosystem in Romania. What’s more, Spherik constantly organizes extremely helpful events called Startup Feedback, where professionals evaluate your pitch deck, go-to-market strategy, business ideas, and more.
Risky Business
Risky Business is a private accelerator and a seed program that invests up to €100K into startups founded by students. The registration for the program consists of two stages, firstly, startups need to fill in the application form in detail, and then around 25 of them are qualified to the next level of the application process - boot camp. The startup boot camps are very intensive mentoring programs lasting several weeks, where companies have a chance to meet potential partners, develop problem-solving skills, work in multidisciplinary teams and improve pitching. Only 10 startups go further to the final acceleration stage, where they can consult projects during 1:1 mentoring sessions with experienced entrepreneurs and participate in workshops covering all the subjects that first-time founders should know i. a. pitching, marketing, law aspects, and much more. Each team selected for the acceleration stage receives a prize of around €1.8K.
Additionally, worth your attention is the following organization supporting the startup community - Impact Hub Bucharest.
Impact Hub Bucharest
Impact Hub Bucharest is a dynamic space where professionals and entrepreneurs gather to develop projects and business initiatives. As a community-driven organization, Impact Hub is focused on facilitating as many opportunities as possible for members to meet, exchange ideas and share business knowledge. It supports the entrepreneurial ecosystem by offering acceleration programs and direct funding to startups, as well as providing the biggest online entrepreneurial educational platform – Startarium.ro. Among acceleration programs Impact Hub runs are Innovators for Children, Empowering Women in Agrifood, The Circle, and Black Sea ClimAccelerator. They are also the representative for EIT Food in Romania – EIT Food Hub, which aims to support innovators & entrepreneurs and facilitate the agrifood ecosystem in Romania.
Want to discover more accelerators and incubators from other countries? Check out the list below. Top Accelerators and Incubators from:
- Round-up Of The Best Accelerators In The CEE Region
- Albania
- Austria
- Belgium
- Bulgaria
- Croatia
- Cyprus
- Czech Republic
- Denmark
- Estonia
- France
- Finland
- Germany
- Greece
- Hungary
- Ireland
- Italy
- Latvia
- Lithuania
- Netherlands
- Norway
- Poland
- Portugal
- Slovakia
- Spain
- Switzerland
- Türkiye
- Ukraine
- United Kingdom
- Western Balkans.
Related Posts:
Best Startup Accelerators and Incubators In Hungary (by Dorota Potępa, Community Builder, Vestbee)
Best Startup Accelerators and Incubators In Czech Republic (by Konrad Koncerewicz, VC Community Builder, Vestbee)
Top Polish Accelerators And Incubators To Help You Grow Your Startup (by Mateusz Walczyk, Startup Analyst, Vestbee)
