Growceanu hosts the second edition of Invest in Moonicorns on 1-2 October in Bucharest

Invest in Moonicorns is an event catering to both seasoned angel investors and high-net-worth individuals eager to discover how investing in innovative tech startups can enhance their portfolios.

Romania has approximately 91,000 individuals with a net worth of over one million dollars.

After last year’s remarkable success, with an impressive NPS score of 87, the conference continues to captivate attendees with top-quality content, a unique blend of art and investment, and informal networking opportunities. Our mission is to bridge the gap between seasoned investors and newcomers, fostering a strong community across the CEE region to drive impactful investments.

Many high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) traditionally focus their investments on real estate or the stock market. However, less than 1% venture into startup investments—specifically in innovative tech companies with significant growth potential.

At Growceanu, we call these companies "moonicorns" because, unlike unicorns (startups valued at over $1 billion), the startups backed by business angels are largely unknown as yet, but have the potential to grow exponentially once brought into the spotlight with investor support.

In today’s modern economy, startups have a profound impact. A business angel contributes not only financially but also by offering their expertise and valuable personal network, fostering the healthy growth of these ventures.

Invest in Moonicorns offers a rich and diverse agenda over the two days of the event. Day 1 (1 October) will feature a conference addressing key topics for both investors and entrepreneurs, including:

• The current macroeconomic landscape and its implications for startup investments
• Vision and strategy in entrepreneurship and angel investing
• How investors are positioning themselves with their portfolio startups during bear markets
• Principles for investing in disruptive technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Web3, and Quantum Computing.

The conference lineup includes renowned speakers from Romania and Europe with extensive contributions to the development of the entrepreneurship and venture capital ecosystem. Some of the most notable guests include:

• Janne Jormalainen, serial entrepreneur, investor, and Chairman of EBAN (European Business Angel Network)
• Alex Matoso, Senior Officer for Product Development at the European Investment Fund
• Nina Dremelj, investor and President of the Slovenian Business Angels community.

On 2 October, participants will be invited to a unique networking session at the Museum of Recent Art in Bucharest. This informal day will offer opportunities for meaningful discussions on investments set in an inspiring contemporary art environment.

Invest in Moonicorns aims to bring together the investor community from Romania and Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), with a special focus on attracting high-net-worth individuals with over one million euros in assets who are looking to diversify their portfolios through tech startup investments.

"This is one of a very few events dedicated to angel investors, offering an excellent opportunity for Invest in Moonicorns to become a benchmark for this type of investment in Central and Eastern Europe. We also aim to help more high-net-worth individuals understand what angel investing entails and, hopefully, inspire them to become such investors themselves. The most important goal is for early-stage startup investments to be recognized as an essential and widely accepted asset class," said Ciprian Man, co-founder of Growceanu.

Founded in 2018, Growceanu is an angel investment platform that has facilitated investments in companies such as Bright Spaces, Rayscape, EmailTree AI, Kinderpedia, Sitter, Milluu, Oncochain, Metabeta, Telios, Upgrade Academy, Sypher, Streams Live, Ulpia, The Data Analysis Bureau, Artivive, Codewell, Medinav, Licenseware, Aqurate, Procesio, Finqware, My Benefits, Nordensa, and SalesOMMO. 

Growceanu primarily targets investors with a budget of €40,000 - €250,000 over a span of two to three years who are looking to build a portfolio of at least 8-10 startups.

The Growceanu community includes about 1,000 individuals in this category, with many of them having invested over €3.3 million in early-stage startups over the past four years.

For tickets and full agenda.