Investments in Romanian startups in 2025 were declining (-20% in volume, -49% in number of transactions), and the follow-on rate (meaning the growth investments (Series B to E) relative to previous early-stage investments (pre-seed to Series A)) is the lowest in 2025 among Eastern European countries (28% in Romania vs. 137% in Poland). In short, this means that investments from previous years did not attract a substantial volume of growth capital in 2025, and this makes new investments less attractive.

Of course, there are arguments that could challenge the interpretation of these numbers, but the numbers themselves cannot be disputed. These are, however, the results of a single year, and 2026 is shaping up to be a more substantial year in terms of investment. But not in terms of growth capital. High capital volume is not equivalent to the performance of startups raising funds, because not all invested capital translates into increased company value, as is the case with B2C startups, which are rather an exception in our industry.

Whatever degree of subjectivity we may wish to attribute to these numbers, they tangibly reflect a question for local investors: what works and what doesn’t work in Romania’s startup ecosystem?

Moving forward, we don’t have much to do: we just need to confront our past beliefs with the evidence of the present, understand them, accept those that were incorrect, and adapt.

Scalarea începe cu inovația

The reasons for this regression may be many. Perhaps we are affected by the brain drain that has been drawing local talent to other regions for years?

After all, Romanian entrepreneurs in other countries are building remarkable startups. For example, Andrei, Oana, and Adrian with Dexory, and Flaviu and Ioana with Runware, who are just a step away from surpassing the $1 billion valuation mark.

Surely this is part of the answer, but Romania’s economic growth over the past decade, as well as the rising costs of post-Brexit university education, have actually limited the brain drain, and what we’re seeing now are the results of the status quo from 5–10 years ago.

Is the European tech industry declining, as we constantly read in the press and on social media, and are we seeing the shadow of this decline in Romania as well? No, on the contrary, the volume of capital attracted by European startups is on the rise, with a substantial number of new unicorns, such as Eleven Labs, Legora, Lovable, AMI Labs, and many others.

The New Space Age is Near

To understand the current situation, I suggest we go back in time to UiPath and the lessons we’ve learned from this success story.

Like any success story, UiPath offered local investors an ideal startup profile: a B2B startup focused on enterprise clients, with an aggressive growth trajectory driven by direct sales and partner distribution, founded by a seasoned team of entrepreneurs. In the years that followed, every new startup was—and still is—evaluated based on its “deviation” from the ideal profile and, primarily, on its perceived ability to aggressively sell the product it developed.

Thus, since Romanian entrepreneurs are considered to have limited sales skills, investors have set out to primarily help solve the problem of sales and distribution in various ways: by offering advice on the structure and organization of the sales process, growth hacks, structuring partnerships with distribution channels, and much more.

However, a focus on distribution cannot turn a commoditized product into a success, and Romanians are quite capable when it comes to sales.

Of course, distribution is extremely important, but the tech industry is first and foremost an industry of innovation, of creating substantially better products, not of creating better sales processes. A less innovative or even semi-commoditized product can be sold, but with increasingly greater effort and costs, and the go-to-market process must be funded with generous rounds of investment that translate into revenue at an increasingly lower rate. Growth hacks are important, but they cannot replace a product that is extraordinarily valuable to the customer.

At the same time, Romanian entrepreneurs are at least sufficiently skilled in sales because nearly all successful tech companies in Romania have grown by doing enterprise sales, including UiPath and Bitdefender. From a personal perspective, having been part of our industry for 20 years, I have never seen a Romanian startup whose growth was hindered solely by inefficiencies in the sales process, but rather by selling commoditized, undifferentiated products in highly crowded markets.

In the post-UiPath era, entrepreneurs have too often been selected or advised to prioritize sales and distribution processes over innovation; too often, funding has gone to those who primarily offer the certainty of sales experience, at the expense of those proposing innovative products.

The focus on sales and distribution has sidelined the key element of a successful startup: innovation and, above all, technological innovation, which is so common thanks to Romania’s technical culture.

In 2001, when Bitdefender launched the first version of its antivirus software, its competitors were massive companies like Symantec or McAfee, which had access to a completely different kind of capital and commercial know-how than a Romanian company in the pre-EU era. But the quality of the technology and the product’s impact allowed them to be competitive in a global market. Of course, the commercial side came with its own challenges, which were brilliantly resolved, but they managed to gain market share because they created a superior product, not a superior sales process.

In 2014, when UiPath secured its first round of investment, I remember Dan Lupu saying: “I’ve seen many RPA solutions, but this is the only one that can be easily implemented.” The RPA market was emerging, but the leaders of the time, such as Blue Prism, had defined the category, raised substantial capital, and already had significant clients, yet their technology was limited and complicated to implement.

Does it surprise anyone that Romanian teams managed to create technological solutions so advanced and differentiated that they spawned global companies? Do we still have confidence today that in Dristor or Timișoara there might be a team capable of creating technology relevant on a global scale?

Certainly, the Romanian market cannot generate hyper-innovative tech startups as frequently as in Silicon Valley, but it can certainly generate 2–3 truly innovative companies, provided they are recognized by investors. And the broader context works in our favor. The AI revolution, which is only now expanding into physical AI, is still in its infancy and offers us countless avenues for development.

As one of those privileged to work with new startups, I believe the new wave of technologists is ready. Because they bring, in addition to entrepreneurial talent and immense ambition, the ability to create and differentiate themselves through complex technology and impactful products. Here’s an example that might seem a bit out of the ordinary: at Bible Chat, one of the successful startups in Underline’s portfolio, the engineering team contributed substantially to the go-to-market platform. After all, technology can also solve distribution challenges.