start-up.ro has launched the first documentary about the history and evolution of the startup ecosystem in Romania.

The documentary, "Romanian Startups: Roaring Tigers of Europe," spans across 33 years of history, from the first entrepreneurs in the transitional years to the initial technology company transactions that brought Romania into the international spotlight.

In the 6 chapters of the documentary, start-up.ro journalists Oana Coșman and Florin Cașotă chronicle the years in which the most important players in the startup industry emerged. Roaring Tiger of Europe covers the technological entrepreneurial history under six directions: The Inspired, The Inspiration, The Sparks, The Capital & the Knowledge, The Rising Stars, The Present, and The Future.

To create the documentary, the journalists conducted over 60 interviews with entrepreneurs, startup founders, as well as individuals who created the first venture capital investment funds, angel investors, and business accelerators and incubators.

From the 70 hours of filming, the team managed to compress a 2-hour documentary covering 33 years of history and change.

Among the documentary's interviewees, journalist Oana Coșman spoke with Marius Ghenea - the creator of Flamingo Computers, one of the first computer distributors in Romania, now the managing partner for Catalyst Romania, the first venture capital fund born in our country; Radu Georgescu - one of the first entrepreneurs who saw the potential of a technology company in the early days of internet access in Romania. In 1994, he created RAV Antivirus, a company acquired by Microsoft in 2003. He started in '92 with Gecad Net and later moved on to creating Avangate and other technology companies; Florin and Măriuca Talpeș - among the first entrepreneurs after '89 who understood that Romania could grow through technology. In 1990, they started Softwin, a business that 11 years later became synonymous with one of their products, Bitdefender, a company that now has clients in 170 countries and plans to list on the New York Stock Exchange.

Matei Pavel - entrepreneur, investor in 2Performant and other companies

These are just a few of the pioneers of the startup ecosystem featured in the documentary, alongside Romanians who have achieved international success, developing companies directly beyond borders, and players from the European space from whom local entrepreneurs learned to develop businesses and support them financially for other markets.

The feature film was watched on December 5th in a premiere attended by approximately 300 members of the startup and investment community.

Present at the launch event were Lucian Botea, VP of partnership development and digital transformation at the Romanian-American University, who spoke about the role of education in fostering an entrepreneurial vision among young people; Cătălin Lupoaie, B2B Marketing Manager at Banca Comercială Română and among the initiators of InnovX-BCR, who talked about the importance of collaboration between the ecosystem and banking players; Ana Ciobanu, Startup Programs Manager at Orange, who spoke about the company's interest and curiosity in accelerating startups from the early years of forming this field; Matei Pavel - a serial investor, who shared his beginnings and the role the community plays in shaping and developing new change-makers; Mihai Guran, investor, consultant, and entrepreneur, who talked about values and the importance of small players who end up competing with giants using the right tools. 

On the stage at the Romanian-American University, Ambassador Reuven Azar of Israel also spoke, discussing the model of the Israeli startup ecosystem, which has so far produced 88 world unicorns, companies valued at 1 billion euros.

The documentary originated from journalist Oana Coșman's desire to provide the most integrated understanding of a recently developing ecosystem and to inspire founders looking towards Silicon Valley with admiration.

"The documentary is not a story about a dream; it is an account of the hard work behind what many thought was impossible. Being an entrepreneur in the '90s was considered madness. Talking about startups in the 2000s seemed like a joke. However, there were a few people who turned entrepreneurship into a respectable term and brought the idea of startups to reality. The documentary is their story. It is proof of the work and passion that is not visible in Excel sheets. And perhaps Romania is not yet a regional leader, but it has been called the tiger of CEE, and growth and innovation are now not a meow, but a true roar," says Oana Coșman, the initiator and creator of the project alongside Florin Cașotă, who directed the movie. 

Roaring Tigers of Europe is a production by start-up.ro and Videocorp, part of the Romanian publishing company InternetCorp, active for almost 20 years on the market. The documentary was made with the support of partners BCR, Orange, and 2Performant. Community partners included Guran Consulting Global, How to Web, Launch, Impact Hub Bucharest, Flaviu Simihaian, Rubik Hub, SoftServe, and the Romanian-American University. Launch partners were Zăganu, Strunga Winery, Beciul Domnesc, Fit Fresh, and Pop Cola.

Roaring Tigers of Europe will be available online starting January 2024.

Until then, you can watch the extended teaser.