Ana Crețu & Ionuț Stanimir: when banks become the founder's ally to help him grow his startup

Find out more about the corporate investors, those that make sure that the founders have the finances needed to reach new milestones, from the Romanian Startups: Roaring Tigers of Europe - The Extended Series, following the documentary launched at the end of 2023.

The documentary "Romanian Startups: Roaring Tigers of Europe", made by the start-up.ro team, 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.

Romanian Startups: Roaring Tigers of Europe - The Extended Series will present the people who built the Romanian ecosystem and who discussed with the VideoCorp and start-up.ro team for this documentary. In this series you will find the extensive interviews and find out the stories of those who built entrepreneurship in Romania.

Ana Crețu is currently the Social Impact Investment Lead at ERSTE Foundation, responsible for leading the design, development, and implementation of ERSTE Foundation’s Social Impact Investment Strategy.

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Ana has 13 years of banking experience, with previous roles in corporate finance and investment banking, including mergers & acquisitions and equity capital markets.

She has also worked in impact, innovation, sustainable capacity building, and financing.

Ana was involved in different collaborations with tech startups that graduated from the InnovX-BCR accelerator, where she was a cofounder.

"We wanted to build a strategy where we invest significantly and constantly in creating and scaling up independent companies, independent startups capable of using this huge amount of data and virtualized processes and whole businesses with high added value. Or in a more simple words, I think we wanted to hack the bank in a good and sustainable way", Ana told us in the interview.

Ana collaborated with various partners, including equity vehicles for startups, corporates, universities, NGOs, public authorities, and technology providers.

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In his turn, Ionuț Stanimir is the Director of Marketing and Communication for Banca Comercială Română (BCR), with more than a 20 years career in communication, public affairs and strategic planning, activating previously both for Erste Group in Vienna and Bucharest based consultancies.

A tech startup enthusiast, Ionuț cofounded InnovX-BCR, an acceleration program for Romanian and international startups, launched BCR Money School and BCR Business School and initiated Romania Tech Nation.

"We are in a sort of third stage of entrepreneurship in Romania. The first stage was 1990. In 1990, people who were sort of transitioning from big state companies just decided to spin off part of their activity. And some of them are present right now. 30 years the local environment thrives on pure resilience. One man show having one great idea, doing one heroic journey, achieving one fantastic milestone", mentioned Ionuț in our interview.

In our in depth discussion for the Romanian Startups: Roaring Tigers of Europe documentary, Ana and Ionuț told us more on the way in which banking institutions can adapt and be a supporter of the startup ecosystem.

Meaningful conversations

• We started our discussion tackling the journey and experiences of Ana and Ionuț with a focus on their involvement in banking, startups, and their roles in fostering an entrepreneurial ecosystem in Romania.
• Our conversation highlights their transition from traditional banking to initiatives like social banking, aimed at financial inclusion and supporting high-risk categories such as startups and NGOs.
• This change brought meaning and purpose to their work, leading to the establishment of strategies and departments from scratch to support these endeavors.
• After spending six years in investment banking, they wanted to engage in meaningful conversations about building a good society and saw the best solutions to future challenges coming from ambitious founders and startups.
• Ana and Ionuț emphasize the importance of collaboration among multiple stakeholders, including financial groups, startups, and universities, to tackle serious future challenges such as social, environmental, and technological issues.

Where do the best ideas come from

• They detailed the creation of the InnovX accelerator, which plays a crucial role in the development of the Romanian tech ecosystem through mentorship, strategic guidance, and helping startups scale globally.
• Both Ana and Ionuț stress that the best innovations come from a blend of different expertise and experiences, aiming for long-lasting impact and sustainability.
• They emphasize the importance of creating a strategy to invest significantly in independent startups, focusing on scalable businesses that use data and digital processes.

• We’ve talked about the importance of ambition and being in tune with trends, specifically mentioning the need for Romania to have flagship projects that set trends.
• Ana and Ionuț discussed the challenges of building a tech ecosystem in Romania, noting current gaps like financial education and open banking, and viewing these as areas of opportunity for future development.
• They highlighted the potential for AI and other technologies to address significant societal issues and promote economic growth through sectors like agriculture, biotech, and energy.

The impact of partnerships

• They highlight the importance of collaboration between various entities (founders, banks, government) and stress the need for continuous strategy refinement and learning from past lessons.
• The accelerator has evolved into a well-supported ‘living lab’ with a focus on co-creation, educating startups on articulating their value propositions, and preparing for scaling and market entry effectively.
• Both our guests emphasized the necessity of proper strategy and market understanding for startups looking to scale, along with the importance of having the right market entry strategies and partnerships.
• Partnerships with multinational clients and the creation of a comprehensive educational curriculum are emphasized as ways to prepare startups for sustaining corporate relationships.
• The discussion touched on the evolving landscape of entrepreneurship in Romania, the role of innovation, and the impact of partnerships and ecosystems in driving progress.
• Both Ana and Ionuț focus on the importance of nurturing talent, with a vision to leverage existing bridges, talent, and ambition for strategic growth and innovation.

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.

Watch the entire documentary in the video below: