Romanian Venture Report 2022 - RPA, health and cyber, the darlings of VCs

According to the report, the global startup ecosystem is undergoing a cleansing, market transformation and reset in certain areas. We can also see this in the tech giants, who are going through massive layoffs and cost cuts.

Read the key findings and download the Romanian Venture Report on How to Web website.

“Venture deals involving Romanian startups stood up to 2022's strong headwinds coming from the global tech scene and the economy in general. Coming out of 2022 we see strong signals that such deals can actually turn into a much wanted bet in one’s portfolio to say the least.” Alexandru Agatinei, CEO of How to Web

In the first published material you can see statistical data on the volume of transactions in 2022 compared to 2021, but also to the last 6 years.

The largest deals in 2022 involved startups Druid, Digitail, OutThink, Bware Labs, Sessions, Bunnyshell, Machinations, Neurolabs and reached €54 million, almost half of all deals by volume.

Other relevant transactions were Cyscale, Adservio, evoMAG, Ogre AI, Yarooms with another €11 million.

Investors' favorite industries in 2022

With a volume of €14.9M raised in 2022 by startups addressing the RPA industry, RPA is redeeming no. 1 in this top. In it and not far from RPA stands the health industry for which startups raised €13.1M, cybersecurity with €12.5M, dev tools with €8.2M, gaming with €6.6M, web3 with €6M and education with €5.8M.

The report shows that in 2023 we could see solid transactions in the area of Web3 and Gaming. Romania is in the top 5 regional hubs for Web3.

There is room for a couple hall of fame type of mentions: the acquisition of Adore Me by Victoria’s Secret in a $400M deal and the €20.5M investment in Amber Labs by Emona Capital, both closed in the second half of 2022 (November and October respectively).

Read the key findings and download the Romanian Venture Report on How to Web website.

These transactions were not included in the Romanian Venture Report because the report does not analyze service providers, exits, IPOs and others.

With a volume of €14.9M raised in 2022 by startups addressing the RPA industry, RPA is redeeming no. 1 in this top. In it and not far from RPA stands the health industry for which startups raised €13.1M, cybersecurity with €12.5M, dev tools with €8.2M, gaming with €6.6M, web3 with €6M and education with €5.8M.

The volume raised by startups addressing these industries already make up more than 60% of the total volume for the year.

Most rounds took place in the most unlikely quarters

With a volume of €35.3M in deals made, coming from 18 transactions, Q2 of 2022 stands out within the rest of the year’s quarters. This comes somehow surprising in the light of a general political and economical uncertainty that was already rising up in Europe and followed by a bubble burst for the global tech scene.

But even more unexpected is that Q4 of 2022 was actually the best performing quarter in terms of transaction volume, with €44.4M, coming from 21 transactions.

Basically, the second quarter came right after the start of the war in Ukraine, and the last quarter of the year was marked by economic uncertainties. However, the negotiations carried out over several months led to good results in the ecosystem.

It is no longer a matter of exclusively Romanian or international capital

Another interesting detail is that the funding no longer came exclusively from Romania or from abroad but was mixed.

• 12 million euros (5 rounds) came with an exclusive international capital.
• 32.5 million euro (43 rounds) had Romanian capital, a decrease of 25.2% compared to the previous year.
• 66.6 million euros (26 investments) had mixed capital, Romanian and international, a small decrease of only 2.2% compared to 2021.

Thus, these data show the maturity of startups and investors, because the rounds are becoming syndicated, more investors are participating and it is no longer only about foreign capital or Romanian capital.