- 18 Martie 2026
The Romanian-founded startup building a „European cloud” from Berlin, Amsterdam and Eastern Europe
A European startup built like a map”We are building a European cloud infrastructure platform, and the way the company is structured reflects that ambition very well,” Savian Boroancă, cofounder and CEO of Azin, told in an interview with start-up.ro
From the beginning, Azin has operated like a European startup experiment in itself: capital from Berlin, operations in Amsterdam, technology developed in Romania, and physical infrastructure running in France and Germany.
That distribution is not just logistical. It is strategic. Berlin offers access to capital and an international founder community, while Amsterdam provides operational stability and a mature business ecosystem. Romania remains the company’s technical engine.
”For us, this combination of capital, talent, technological infrastructure, and European entrepreneurial culture creates a very good context for building products that can compete globally, and that is what I want us to do in Romania as well.”
That kind of exposure also comes with responsibility. For Savian, building across multiple European ecosystems means products must meet a very high bar.
”That’s why we have a strict anti-lock-in policy. We don’t believe in models that trap customers through technical or contractual mechanisms that make migration difficult or expensive. We want users to stay because the product is good and because it solves their problem, not because it is hard to leave.”
In Azin’s geography, each place serves a different purpose. Berlin, he says, has a clear ambition to become Europe’s startup capital and backs that ambition with capital, energy, and an international talent pool. Amsterdam brings something different: a long-standing tradition of trade, global company-building, and a highly functional business infrastructure, from legal services to banking and investment networks.
From Age of Empires to product communitiesSavian Boroancă did not arrive in startups and technology through a carefully mapped-out plan. He describes the journey more like „the path water takes from the spring to the sea” — winding, uneven, and shaped by difficult stretches that ended up teaching him the most.
What stayed constant throughout was the instinct to bring people together around a shared purpose.
”I ended up in the startup and technology space more naturally than through a very clear plan. If I had to use an image, it was like the path water takes from the spring to the sea: winding, with difficult stretches upstream, but precisely those areas offered lessons I would never have encountered on a smooth journey.”
He says that learning how to gather people around an idea means learning how to create opportunities, negotiate value, and give people a common direction.
”People truly mobilize when they can see a better future and feel that they can build it together. Technology is probably the environment where this type of collaboration can be amplified the most.”
Unexpectedly, one of his earliest encounters with those ideas came through a video game: Age of Empires. That is where he first discovered, intuitively, concepts like resource allocation, alliances, and opportunity cost — ideas that would later reappear in business.
”At some point the thought became inevitable: this must exist in real life too. Since then I’ve kept trying. The truth is I’ve lost far more often than I’ve won, but each initiative was a form of training. I learned, connected people and resources, moved from one project to another, and gradually built my endurance step by step.”
Even now, in the AI era, Savian believes people remain the final decision-makers. And community, in his view, remains one of the deepest engines of progress.
”A community built around a product is not very different from a village, a guild, or even a political party. We’re talking about people who share a common environment (the product interface), similar needs solved by the product, and a shared goal: they want to do things differently to save time, money, or simply improve their quality of life.”
But building that kind of community is slow, invisible work. It means conversations, webinars, support calls, content, events, newsletters, chats, and long feedback loops. Over time, though, that effort compounds into one of the most valuable assets a startup can have: network effects.
Antler: validation through one of Europe’s most selective founder programsA major milestone for Azin was its acceptance into Antler in Berlin, one of the most competitive early-stage startup programs in Europe.
The selection process, Savian says, is designed to test both the logic of the problem and the quality of execution behind the team.
”Yes, for us it was an important milestone. The selection process is quite rigorous and involves several stages that initially take place online. In the first phase you have to state your case and clearly explain why the problem you are addressing is worth solving and why the proposed solution makes sense.”
That is followed by sessions covering both business and technology, plus due diligence and a final conversation with one of the fund’s partners.
„They analyze how the product is built, the market you are targeting, and the team’s ability to carry the project forward. There is also a due diligence process, and in the final stage you have a direct conversation with one of the three partners of the fund.”
For Savian, programs like this matter not just because of the money, but because they force founders to sharpen how they think.
„Beyond funding, you gain access to valuable information, a network of very strong people, and a process that forces you to clarify how you think.”
The first months inside Antler, he says, are intense precisely because the program offers freedom rather than structure.
„It is a very intense program. The part I liked most is that nobody comes to check on you or motivate you. There isn’t a rigid framework where someone tells you exactly what to do. You are on your own: you decide what to do, when to do it, and how to do it.”
That freedom comes with a clear tradeoff: you are judged on results.
„At the end you must present the results to the fund’s partners, and they quickly decide whether they want to continue working with you or not. It’s a direct and very meritocratic process.”
Azin went on to become the first Romanian-founded startup funded through the program, securing a €500,000 investment — a symbolic milestone, but also a strong signal of validation.
„Yes, Laurențiu Ciobanu and I are the first romanians funded through the program, which of course makes us happy. At the same time, we don’t see it as a special status. In a way, we are simply the first who crossed the threshold.”
He says he hopes many more romanian founders follow.
What Azin is building„We would love to see hundreds of romanian founders funded through programs like this. The more there are, the stronger the ecosystem becomes.”
Azin comes from „A to Z infrastructure” and is a cloud platform designed to simplify one of the hardest parts of software development: infrastructure.
„We started the project in 2025 with the idea of eliminating as much as possible of the repetitive, meticulous, and deeply technical work traditionally associated with DevOps.”
In practical terms, the company says its technology automates around 90% of the operational work teams would otherwise need to do in order to configure and maintain cloud infrastructure properly.
„In many companies, managing cloud infrastructure involves complex processes and people with very specialized expertise. We built a technology that automates about 90% of these operations, things a team would normally have to do to configure and maintain their cloud infrastructure correctly.”
The platform currently has three core components:
- the Azin cloud, running entirely within the European Union;
- the Azin console, a unified interface that can manage not only Azin’s own cloud, but also infrastructures running on AWS, Google Cloud, or Azure;
- a secure, isolated environment for AI agents built with OpenClaw.
Who uses the platform today„At the same time, we are already working on additional products. Our objective is to build a platform that radically simplifies how companies build and operate their cloud infrastructure.
Azin’s most natural early adopters are startups — especially repeat founders who already understand how painful infrastructure and DevOps can become as products scale.
„Startups are naturally the most open to trying solutions like this, especially those founded by entrepreneurs who are not at their first experience and who already understand, from previous projects, the complexity of cloud infrastructure.”
The company also works with both smaller firms and larger organizations that already use platforms like Google Cloud and want to automate more of their operational layer without having to migrate away from their existing setup.
„For them, the value comes from reducing infrastructure management complexity without having to change the environment they run on.”
There is also a third user path that matters: individual developers who start with side projects, then later bring the product into the companies where they work.
„They start using the platform for their own applications, get used to how it works, and later bring these solutions into the companies where they work. That dynamic is very healthy. It creates a natural adoption flow and gives us constant feedback from multiple types of usage.”
Traction in a market where adoption takes timeAlthough Azin is not sharing public numbers, Boroancă says the company has had paying users since launch and is seeing strong traction for its category.
„For reasons beyond my control I can’t share concrete numbers, but I can say we have paying users from launch and very strong traction for the industry we operate in.”
Still, cloud infrastructure is not the kind of product companies adopt overnight. It is a foundational decision, and buying cycles are naturally slower.
„It’s also important to note that adopting a cloud infrastructure is a fundamental decision for a company. It’s a critical choice that doesn’t happen in a few days. Evaluation processes are slower, but once the decision is made, retention rates are naturally very high.”
For 2026, the company’s priorities are clear: maturing its core products, expanding the range of complementary tools, growing its user base, and preparing for a new funding round.
„Looking ahead to 2026, we have several clear goals: maturing our core products, expanding the range of complementary products, growing the number of users, and preparing a new investment round that will allow us to attract more talent and accelerate business development.”
That round is expected to be a €1.5–2 million seed raise. The company wants the process to be concentrated and fast, with a defined two-week window in which multiple funds are invited to presentations.
„We will open a two-week window during which we will invite as many funds as possible to presentations. At the end of this process we aim to bring two or three new funds into the company to join the investor team and support the next stage of growth.”
Antler’s continued support is also part of the equation.
„Beyond opening doors to investors and offering useful information during fundraising, Antler also tends to continue participating financially in subsequent rounds. For us, that combination of access, experience, and capital is an important advantage.”
From users to teammates: the Dutch AI startup that joined AzinOne of the more important developments in Azin’s story was the integration of a Dutch startup focused on AI agents.
„It was one of the best decisions we made. Michiel and Hidde had started a startup building AI agents, and at first they were users of our cloud platform. They were among the first to test the infrastructure we were building.”
The relationship did not begin as a partnership plan. It evolved over time, as both sides realized their capabilities complemented each other.
„The collaboration wasn’t planned from the start. Neither we nor they initially had the idea of a partnership. But as we started talking more, it became obvious that we had complementary capabilities and that together we could build something stronger than separately.”
The outcome was more than a team expansion. It pushed the platform further toward AI infrastructure and added distribution experience to the company’s operating muscle.
No real reset in startups„With them joining the team, the platform became much more oriented toward AI, and we became better able to provide infrastructure optimized for that. At the same time, their experience in distribution and in bringing these kinds of products to market added an extremely valuable dimension.”
Asked what he would do differently if he were starting again, Boroancă’s answer begins with a familiar founder truth: in startups, it often feels like you are starting from zero anyway.
„In startups, you often feel like you are starting from zero anyway. Every project comes with a new set of problems, people, and contexts. Experience helps, but it doesn’t guarantee results.”
If he could go back, one thing he would change is becoming faster at walking away from ideas that show no traction.
„First, I would give up faster on ideas that show no traction. Sometimes you stay attached to a direction for too long simply because you have already invested a lot of effort in it.”
He would also be more comfortable with work that is good enough to learn from, rather than polished enough to admire.
„Second, I would be much more comfortable with results that are a 7 or 8 out of 10, as long as they allow us to iterate quickly and learn. Perfectionism can slow progress significantly, and in startups the speed of learning is often more important than perfect execution.
And most importantly, he says, he would pay closer attention to the needs of the people around him.
„And perhaps most importantly, I would pay more attention to the needs of the people around me, whether colleagues, partners, or users. In the end, all important things in a startup are built through people and for people.”
There is no perfect moment to startHis advice for anyone building a tech product in 2026 is as direct as it gets: „start, just do it.”
He says entrepreneurship never offers perfect timing, nor complete preparation before the first real move.
„In entrepreneurship there is no perfect moment to start and no complete preparation before the first step. You can read, talk to people, and make plans (all useful) but at some point you simply have to begin.”
The real learning, he argues, only begins once you are in motion.
„The reality is that most important things are learned while building. You make mistakes, adjust, learn, and move forward. It’s like swimming: you can study the technique from the edge of the pool as much as you want, but until you get into the water you won’t truly know how to do it.”
For young Romanians thinking about leaving the country to grow professionally or build abroad, his message is equally clear: do it, especially if it means exposure to new ecosystems.
„They should do it. Traveling for business as often as possible is very beneficial. It broadens horizons, exposes people to different ways of thinking, and helps them understand faster what is worth pursuing, and just as importantly, what is worth saying no to.”
He does not romanticize startup life. In his telling, it is intense, unpredictable, and often hard. But for those who choose it, the experience has a very particular kind of value.
„Startup life isn’t for everyone. It’s intense, unpredictable, and sometimes quite tough. But for those who choose this path, the experience has a special value. In the process of building something from scratch, you discover things about yourself that you probably would never have learned in any other context.”