Bucharest Startup Resource List: 250+ Accelerators, Incubators, Investors, and more

Bucharest is becoming one of the best places to build a startup, but most of the early-stage entrepreneurs we speak to aren't aware of the local tech resources that are available to help them.

With applications for the Bucharest Founder Institute now open, we're excited to release the Bucharest Startup Resource Guide, which is currently in Draft v1 below! It was developed by the Bucharest Founder Institute and local leaders Alex Dascalu (Lead Director, Founder Institute Bucharest) and Nicoleta Gologan. 

This is just a draft v1, and while we spent many hours on this research, more input is needed. Please leave your comments on this collaborative Google document to help us complete the list. There are definitely omissions on this current version. 

Are you looking to build a startup in Bucharest? Then apply to the Bucharest Founder Institute today!

Text version included below, for ease of searching:

Startup Stages

There is no one right way to build a technology company, but for the sake of simplicity we have outlined a basic, common, sequential framework.

1. IDEA-STAGE

This is where new entrepreneurs get inspired, learn best practices, develop skills, validate ideas, and begin to build their team and product.

1. Inspire

1. Startup Media: Centralized local information, listings, and news. (i.e. startup blogs/ publications/ lists/ FB groups/ newsletters, Startup Digest)

1. Romanian Startups

2. StartupCafe

3. Startup Digest Bucharest

4. start-up.ro

5. TechCrunch Romania

6. TechHub Bucharest Blog

7. Romania Startup & Tech Events Group

2. Inspirational Events: Open, inclusive, beginner startup events (i.e. Startup Weekend, idea fairs, and inspirational meetups) 

1. Bucharest Social Innovation Meetup

2. Bucharest Tech Week Partner Events

3. Codette

4. Colors in Projects - Meetup Group

5. Digital Talks

6. IoT Fest Bucharest

7. Modex Blockchain Labs

8. Softbinator

9. Startup Weekend FinTech Bucharest

2. Educate

1. Best Practices: Beginner knowledge-sharing events. (i.e. beginner events that serve to educate more than inspire, like Startup Founder 101, etc).

1. Academia Minților Creative

2. Agile Coaching and Beyond

3. Angular Bucharest (ngBucharest)

4. Bitcoin Bucharest

5. Blockchain Romania

6. Bucharest BI & SQL User Group

7. Bucharest Big Data Meetup

8. Bucharest Cryptocurrency Meetup

9. Bucharest Data Science Meetup

10. Bucharest DevOps Meetup

11. Bucharest FP

12. Bucharest Golang Group

13. Bucharest Mobile Development Group

14. Bucharest Mobile and Web Development Meetup

15. Bucharest Startup Businesses Meetup

16. Bucharest Tech Week Business Summits

17. Bucharest WordPress Meetup

18. BucharestJS

19. Business Club

20. Design Thinking Bucharest

21. IoT Bucharest

22. OpenStack Bucharest, Romania Meetup

23. PentaBAR Bucharest

24. Security Espresso

25. Startup Founder 101 Bucharest

26. Startup Grind Bucharest

27. Symfony Bucharest

28. Technology Trends

29. UiPath RPA Bucharest

30. Upgrader

2. Training & Feedback: Skill & Idea development. (Ex. bootcamps and comprehensive training programs, like Founder Institute, etc)

1. Bucharest AWS User Group

2. Bucharest Deep Learning

3. Bucharest Java User Group

4. Bucharest Machine Learning Applications

5. Bucharest PHP Meetup

6. Bucharest Startup: Idea to IPO

7. BucharestTech

8. CocoaHeads Bucharest

9. Coders Lab

10. Data Science Dojo

11. DesignThinkers Academy

12. Founder Institute

13. Future Makers

14. Google Cloud Developer Community Bucharest

15. Google Developer Group Bucharest

16. Guerilla Camp

17. Innovators for Children

18. Jademy

19. Lean Startup Bucharest

20. Lean Startup Machine Bucharest

21. Level-Up

22. Mobile Growth Bucharest

23. Product Camp Bucharest Meetup

24. ProductTank Bucharest

25. RubikEDU

26. Software Development Academy

27. Software Product Development Bucharest

28. Startup DNA

29. Startup Idea Bootcamp: How to Evaluate Your Ideas

30. StartupBootcamp Bucharest

31. StepFWD

32. The Bucharest Agile Software Meetup Group

33. Wild Code School

3. Validate 

1. Team Formation: Resources for teaming up. (i.e. events or other resources that facilitate early-stage recruitment and cofounder matching)

1. Bucharest A.D.C.E.S. Meetup

2. Bucharest AI Meetup

3. Bucharest Indies & Friends

4. Bucharest IoT Meetup

5. Bucharest Tech Startup Cofounder Matchmaking

6. Bucharest User Experience Design Meetup

7. CoFoundersLab

8. DevTalks Romania

9. Entrepreneurs in Romania

10. FounderDating

11. PWN Romania

12. SQL Server User Group Romania

13. Startup Co-Founder Matching: Find the Right Partner for Your Idea in Bucharest

14. Startup Matchmaking Event

15. Tech & Startups

2. Build First Product: Hackathons & resources to build. (i.e. hackathons and other builder-focused events and resources)

1. Bucharest DevOps Hackers Meetup

2. Bucharest Software Craftsmanship Community

3. Code for Romania

4. Comunitatea Hatch Bucuresti

5. Devhacks

6. Elevator Lab

7. FabLab Bucharest

8. Global Legal Hackathon

9. Hatch Hackerspace

10. InnovationLabs 2019 Hackathon

11. Inventeaza

12. Meteor Romania

13. Modulab

14. Nod Makerspace

15. Single Digital Gateway Hackathon

16. Space Apps Challenge Bucharest

17. Sponge Lab

18. Worldpay Hackathon

2. LAUNCH-STAGE

In this stage, entrepreneurs establish and formalize the company, develop the product, get feedback from customers, and prepare for the next step.

1. Start

1. Establish: Law firms & banks for startups 

1. Alpha Bank Romania

2. Banca Comercială Română

3. Bank Leumi Romania

4. Banca Transilvania

5. BCPA

6. BCR

7. Biris Goran

8. BLOM Bank France

9. bpv GRIGORESCU ŞTEFĂNICĂ

10. BRD

11. CEC Bank

12. CMS Law

13. Credit Europe Bank

14. Dentons

15. Deutsche Bank

16. DLA Piper

17. Idea::Bank

18. ING Romania

19. Intesa Sanpaolo Bank

20. OTP Bank Romania

21. PETOŠEVIĆ

22. First Bank

23. ProCredit Bank

24. R&R Partners Bucharest

25. Raiffeisen Bank

26. UniCredit Bank 

2. Workspace: Co-working and flexible workspaces (note: “official” office space goes in 3.1.a. Infrastructure) 

1. 360HUB

2. ARTHUB Bucharest - art hub in Romania

3. aSpace

4. City-Hub

5. Commons

6. Coworking București 160

7. Impact Hub

8. Ingenius Hub

9. MindSpace

10. Nod Makerspace

11. OMEGA HOUSE

12. Pura Vida Hub Bucharest

13. Seneca Anticafe

14. Spaces

15. Talent Garden Bucharest

16. TechHub Bucharest

17. The Atelier

18. The Office Hub

19. V7 Startup Studio

20. We accelerate

21. We Love Digital Unirii

2. Develop

1. Formalize: Accounting, development and HR for early-stage startups. 

1. Computaris

2. Contabilul Tau

3. Ecovis Global

4. George Butunoiu Executive Search Consultants

5. HR TIME

6. Hypersense Software

7. INNOBYTE

8. JPA Romania

9. Keez

10. Mazars

11. mReady

12. NNDK

13. RoWeb

14. Soma Social

15. SmartBill

16. TPG Group

17. Von Consulting

18. V&™

19. Turca Zbarcea & Asociatii

20. Web Dots

2. Prepare for Seed: Incubators and advanced mentorship. (i.e. advanced knowledge sharing, later stage events and resources for startup TEAMS)

1. Carbon Incubator

2. Gemini Solutions Foundry

3. Hubcelerator

4. Impact Hub

5. Innovation Labs 2019

6. Orange Fab

7. Risky Business

8. Startarium

9. Startup Next Bucharest

10. Startup Spinner Markeathon

11. Spherik Accelerator

12. Tech Ventures Startup Incubator

13. TechHub Bucharest

3. Launch

1. Seed Accelerators: Seed funding mentor programs (Techstars-style programs that provide funding)

1. Carbon Incubator

2. Data Market Services

3. Early Game Accelerator

4. InnovX BCR Business Accelerator

5. Orange Fab România

6. Techcelerator

2. Pitch & Demo: Show local startups for investment (i.e. demo days for companies seeking seed investment)

1. Changeneers

2. Global Pitch

3. How To Web

4. Innovation Labs 2019 Demo Day

5. Orange Fab Romania Demo Day

6. Pitch for Purpose Online Demo Day

7. PowerUp! Country Final - Startups Pitching Event

8. Startup Live Bucharest

9. Techcelerator DemoDay

10. UPGRADE100

3. GROWTH-STAGE

Here, a startup proves their utility, receives recognition, and scales up. This usually requires funding, angels, VCs, and ways to connect them to startups.

1. Recognition 

1. Investor Networking:  Connect professional investors with founders. (i.e. events or groups that facilitate connections with professional investors)

1. Access Silicon Valley Bucharest  

2. Angel Investment Network

3. BNI Romania

4. Business Angels Romania

5. Business Circle

6. Human Finance

7. TechAngels

2. Major Media: Mainstream local business press. (i.e. major local or regional publications that frequently champion local businesses)

1. Azi

2. Biz

3. Bursa

4. Business Review

5. Capital

6. Cotidianul

7. Curierul National

8. Daily Business

9. Evenimentul Zilei

10. Forbes Romania

11. Jurnalul National

12. Romania Journal

13. Wall Street

14. Ziarul Financiar

2. Funding

1. Angels / Micro-VCs: Seed-stage investors (search AngelList, Gust, Crunchbase)

1. Bogdan Atanasiu

2. Catalina Rusu

3. Dragos Nicolaescu

4. Max Gurvits

5. Mihai Guia 

6. Mike Costache

7. Purcarea Mihai

8. Radu Atanasiu

9. Radu Georgescu

10. Saulius Adomaitis

1. Venture Capitalists: Series A and beyond

1. 3TS Capital Partners

2. Axxess Capital

3. Black Sea Capital

4. Carpathia Capital

5. Catalyst Romania

6. Early Game Ventures

7. Gapminder VC

8. Gecad Ventures

9. Morphosis Capital

10. PrimaInvest 

11. Roca X

12. Sparking Capital

13. Zeyshare Group

4. Growth

1. Infrastructure: Office space, HR, local business insurance. (i.e. office space/ HR/ insurance providers for capital-rich companies to grow and scale) 

1. Amrop

2. Antal International

3. Asirom

4. DCA Insurance

5. F Recruitment International

6. Groupama

7. Head Hunting IT

8. Inchiriere-Birou

9. Instant Offices

10. International Insurance Broker

11. Lugera

12. Manpower

13. Office Rent Info

14. Otto Broker

15. Randstad

16. Regatta Real Estate

17. Regus

18. Search Office Space

19. Target Offices

2. Expansion: Growth accelerators/consultants. (i.e. programs and business consultants for capital-rich companies to grow and scale)

1. Accenture

2. Amaris Consulting

3. Antreprenoria

4. Aon

5. A.T. Kearney

6. BearingPoint

7. Capgemini

8. Deloitte

9. Ensight Management Consulting

10. Ernst and Young

11. Gartner

12. Grant Thornton Romania

13. Kantar Millward Brown

14. Kantar TNS

15. Korn Ferry

16. KPMG

17. McKinsey & Company

18. Milliman

19. North Highland

20. Omega Consulting

21. PwC

22. Roland Berger

4. SUCCESS STORIES

Successful homegrown companies that have raised significant institutional funding, employ a large workforce, or have achieved liquidity.

1. AlphaBlock

2. Amber Studio

3. Appsulate

4. Axigen

5. Bitdefender

6. Bittnet

7. Blugento

8. Brainient

9. Clever Taxi

10. DeviceHub

11. Elefant

12. eMAG

13. FaceRig

14. FintechOS

15. FeedCheck

16. How to Web 

17. Hubgets

18. Instant Factoring

19. Liverail

20. Maven Hut

21. Mondly

22. Questo

23. RAV Antivirus

24. Skobbler

25. SmartDreamers

26. SymphoPay

27. UiPath

28. Unloq

29. Vector Watch

30. Zitec

31. FintechOS

Supporters

To facilitate the steps, every ecosystem needs strong supporters.

1. EVANGELISTS

Successful local founders who lead the ecosystem & frequently mentor newbies.  (i.e. Local leaders who have taken a leadership position, speak at a lot of startup events, mentor all the programs, etc)

1. Alex M. Dascalu

2. Alexandra Petruș

3. Alexandru Radovici

4. Ana Iorga

5. Ana-Maria Udriste

6. Andrei Pitis

7. Antonio Eram

8. Bogdan Iordache

9. Bogdan Manoiu

10. Condruz Ionut Catalin

11. Cosmin Curticapean

12. Cristian Orasanu

13. Cristian Patachia-Sultanoiu

14. Dan Calugareanu

15. Dan Cearnau

16. Dan Mihaescu

17. Daniel Marin

18. Daniel Rosner

19. Daniel Secareanu

20. Dan Stefan

21. Diana Dumitrescu

22. Dragos Anastasiu

23. Dragos Nicolaescu

24. Dragos Rosca

25. Florin Cioaca

26. Florin Grosu

27. Gabriel Păunescu

28. Gregoire Vigroux

29. Horia Velicu

30. Ilinca Paun

31. Liviu Dragan

32. Magda Ropotan

33. Malin Stefanescu

34. Marius Alexandru Mitroi

35. Marius Dosinescu

36. Marius Ghenea

37. Marius Stefan

38. Mihai Rotaru

39. Mircea Capatana

40. MIrcea Criveanu

41. Oana Craioveanu

42. Ovi Negrean

43. Ozana Giusca

44. Paraschiv-Pop Elena

45. Razvan Crisan

46. Sergiu Negut

47. Tudor Stanciu

48. Valentina Zaharia

49. Vladimir Oane

2. GOVERNMENT

Public organizations that facilitate local economic development

1. AmCham Romania

2. British Romanian Chamber of Commerce

3. Bucharest Chamber of Commerce and Industry

4. Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Romania

5. Institute for Digital Government

6. Invest Romania

7. Ministry for Business, Commerce and Entrepreneurship

8. Ministry of Economy

9. Start-up Nation

10. Startup Romania

11. US Embassy Entrepreneurship Program

3. TALENT

Major local business or tech universities and employers that attract and retain local talent.

1. Local Universities (universities with prominent technical or business programs)

1. Bucharest University of Economic Studies

2. Dimitrie Cantemir Christian University

3. Hyperion University of Bucharest

4. Politehnica University of Bucharest

5. Romanian American University

6. Spiru Haret University

7. The Entrepreneurship Academy

8. Titu Maiorescu University

9. Universitatea Artifex

10. University of Bucharest

11. University Nicolae Titulescu

2. Local Employers (Major technical employers, like Microsoft or Google or large local companies, with large local offices) 

1. 3M

2. Adobe

3. Amazon

4. ATOS IT Solutii si Servicii

5. Avira

6. BOSCH

7. Cisco

8. Dell

9. Deutsche Telekom

10. DXC Technology

11. Electronic Arts

12. Endava

13. Ericsson

14. Fitbit

15. Gameloft

16. GE

17. Google

18. Hootsuite

19. HP

20. Huawei

21. IBM

22. Infineon

23. Intel

24. Metro Systems

25. Microsoft

26. Nobel

27. Nokia

28. NXP Semiconductors

29. Oracle

30. Orange

31. Philips

32. Samsung

33. SAP

34. Siemens

35. Softvision

36. Ubisoft

37. Vodafone

38. Zitec

Learn more about the Startup Ecosystem Canvas here, and leave us your thoughts on the Bucharest Canvas on this collaborative Google document (This is just a draft, and more input is needed!)

Are you looking to build a startup in Bucharest? Then apply to the Bucharest Founder Institute today