Stage 1
Startup
- Founded less than 10 years ago
- Fewer than 100 employees
- Revenue under €10M
- Innovative product, technology or business model
- HQ or founding team in Romania or Moldova
Headline figures count companies verified as live, with a startup profile. Companies we have not verified yet are reported separately as pending review and are not in the headline count. Data as of .
Coverage
From screened companies to a verified count
Every company that enters the Monitor is checked for a live website and a startup profile. A company counts only when both checks pass.
Verification status of all screened companies
Romanian and Moldovan companies, de-duplicated by name and web domain
Sectors
Where verified startups build
Each company gets one primary sector from the 27-sector taxonomy of the European Startup Nations Alliance (ESNA), the same frame used by Sweden Startup Next. That keeps the Monitor comparable across Europe.
Verified active startups by primary sector
View as table
Cross-cutting
describe an AI-based product (machine learning, LLMs, computer vision)
show a deep-tech profile (robotics, space, defence, biotech, semiconductors)
Both shares are estimated from company descriptions and will be refined as tags are reviewed.
Top five sectors
Regions
One honeycomb, one cell per county
Each hexagon is a Romanian county, laid out roughly where it sits on the map, with Bucharest next to Ilfov and the Republic of Moldova on the eastern edge. Location is the thinnest field in the data today, so every view shows how many companies it is based on.
View as table
Top locations
Republic of Moldova
Profile
Young, small and mostly B2B
Founding year, business model and team size are known for only part of the verified set. Each chart shows its own base.
Founding year
Recent years look low because new companies enter the data with a delay.
Business model
Team size
Where founders are based
Verified active startups by country link
“Romania + another country” covers companies listed in Romania and at least one other country. More than half of them name the United States, followed by the United Kingdom.
Capital · beta
Capital raised by Romanian startups
Startups with venture financing (accelerator, angel or VC) that are based in Romania or listed in the Monitor, compiled from investment databases and public announcements. Rounds from 2025 and 2026 are being added.
Latest financing stage
Largest disclosed rounds
Latest round per company, amounts in US dollars
Coming next: rounds per year, investor origin and public grants.
ROTSA ecosystem
Programmes that feed the Monitor
ROTSA programmes such as Startup Reaktor, innovation hackathons and the Romania Startup Awards are among the Monitor's sources. These figures show how many startups in the Monitor came through them.
Definition
What counts as a startup
We follow the lifecycle stages used by Sweden Startup Next, which build on the European Commission's startup definition. A company enters as an innovative tech company from Romania or Moldova, then moves through the stages below.
Stage 2
Post-startup
- Previously classified as a startup
- Older than 10 years
- Does not meet the scaleup criteria
Stage 3
Scaleup
- Revenue above €10M at any point
- Average revenue growth of 20%+ a year
- Sustained for 2+ consecutive years
- Fewer than 750 employees
Stage 4
Unicorn
- Valuation above $1B
- Always classified by hand
- Not affected by automated rules
Until company financials are added, the headline figure counts verified active innovative companies without splitting them by stage.
Methodology · v0.1
How a company gets into the count
There is no official register of startups, so the Monitor works bottom-up: companies are found through trusted ecosystem sources, then filtered, verified and classified in seven steps.
Sweden Startup NextStartup under 10 years, under 100 employees and €10M revenue; ESNA sector taxonomy; manual review of automated filters. Our lifecycle stages follow theirs.
Austrian Startup MonitorStartups are younger than 10 years, innovative in technology or business model, and grow or aim to grow. Built from competitions, incubators, media and databases.
European Startup Nations AllianceThe 27-sector, multi-level taxonomy ESNA publishes for comparable startup data across EU member states.
Sources
Where the data comes from
Startups enter the Monitor through trusted ecosystem sources and are then verified. Company data is updated continuously; this page refreshes every day.
ROTSA programmesStartup Reaktor, Founders Clubs, innovation hackathons and the Romania Startup Awards.
Investors and acceleratorsPortfolios of partner venture funds, angel networks and accelerators in Romania and the region.
Open calls and submissionsStartups that apply to ecosystem calls or submit their company to the Monitor.
Ecosystem reportsPublic reports and lists published by Romanian ecosystem organisations.
Company and investment dataCommercial databases and public funding announcements, used to add location, team size, business model and funding rounds.
Website checksEvery company's website is checked for activity before it counts as verified.
Data status
How complete the data is
The Monitor is in beta and some fields are still incomplete. This is how much we know today about the verified active startups, and what comes next.
Field coverage
Share of verified active startups with each field filled; the website check covers all screened companies
Next datapoints
- Link every company to its trade register entry (ONRC)Next release
- Verified data for startups from the Republic of MoldovaNext release
- Founding year, county and staff for every companyPlanned
- Revenue and growth, to identify scaleupsPlanned
- Founder gender and diaspora foundersPlanned
- Reviewed sector and technology tagsPlanned
Directory
Is your startup in the Monitor?
Search the verified active startups by name or website. Only company names, sectors and domains are shown.
Not listed, or listed wrong?
Send your company name, website and registry ID (CUI) to contact@rotsa.ro
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