Copyright business-review
The European Innovation Council (EIC) Work Programme for 2025 offers over EUR 1.4 billion in funding to support breakthrough technologies and innovative companies, which could also support the efforts of local startups looking for a launchpad to global markets. By Ovidiu Posirca EU instruments like the EIC Accelerator or the new STEP Scale-Up are huge opportunities for Romanian founders, but only if they’re used strategically, say investors. Cosmin Ochisor, Partner at GapMinder Venture Partners, suggests that Romanian startup founders should use EU instruments to bridge the credibility gap. “If you win an EIC grant after competing with hundreds of companies across Europe, it tells a US or German investor that you’re already vetted at the highest level. That’s worth as much as the money,” Ochisor tells BR. EU grants and blended finance can cover that early capital intensity, de-risking the technology so that international investors are more willing to step in for early-stage projects related to AI, semiconductors, or climate infrastructure. Romanian deep tech and green tech startups can leverage EU funding instruments such as the EIC Pre-accelerator, EIC Accelerator, and STEP Scale-Up not only for financing but also for validation, visibility, and access to international networks. “By engaging in these initiatives, startups can align their projects with EU strategic priorities such as sustainability, digital transformation, and industrial competitiveness, while strengthening their capacity to craft strong proposals and build international consortia,” says Diana Ardelean, Executive Director of the Romanian Tech Startups Association (ROTSA). The EIC Accelerator is for teams with serious tech (mid-to-high TRL) plus a credible route to market; it offers a mix of grant and equity, but the selection bar is high, adds Cristian Dascalu, Managing Partner at Techcelerator. “Start by framing your narrative around EU strategic priorities—industrial resilience, clean tech, cybersecurity, semiconductors, AI for industry—and quantify the impact, not just the tech. Then show demand, not intent: paid pilots, purchase commitments, letters from infrastructure or blue-chip buyers. That proof of pull is what moves you from ‘promising’ to ‘fundable’,” Dascalu tells BR. Elsewhere, Catalyst Romania has partnered with EIC in the syndicated EUR 5 million Series A investment in dotLumen, the Romanian-made innovative technology for the blind and visually impaired. Catalyst Romania led the round where EIC also invested equity. The round also received co-investments from SeedBlink, the largest equity crowdfunding platform in the region, and Scandinavian VC investor Tigrim Capital. Structure of EIC programmes for 2025 The funding is divided across several key programmes. EIC Pathfinder provides up to EUR 4 million for early-stage, visionary research projects at Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) 1-4. The EIC Transition scheme offers grants of up to EUR 2.5 million to help projects mature from a proof of concept to a viable prototype (TRL 3-6) and develop a business case. For companies ready to scale up, the EIC Accelerator offers a blended finance model, including a grant of up to EUR 2.5 million and an equity investment ranging from EUR 0.5 million to EUR 10 million. Lastly, the new STEP Scale-Up initiative provides larger equity investments of EUR 10 million to EUR 30 million for companies in strategic technology sectors, aiming to bridge a market gap in deep tech funding. Barriers and enablers of local startup scaling Romanian founders have the raw material international investors want: sharp technical talent, capital efficiency, and a growing bench of success stories that signal credibility. “Too many breakthroughs stall between lab and market because tech transfer is still uneven and commercialisation muscle (enterprise sales, regulatory paths, category creation) is thin. Add a late-stage capital gap—plenty of seed, far fewer local growth rounds—and scaling across the continent gets harder than it should be,” says Dascalu of Techcelerator. On the upside, he mentions that strong engineering depth plus lower build costs can buy speed. EU-wide IP routes make protection simpler and cheaper than before, so founders can defend their edge across the Single Market without burning a runway. Marius Ghenea, Managing Partner at Catalyst Romania, added that key barriers remain the substantial lack of public equity funding in the acceleration phase, the general lack of experience of Romanian startups when it comes to internationalisation, and the absence of successful programmes that could foster the internationalisation stage. “Part of the problem with the internationalisation of Romanian startups is also the fact that the local market, being the second largest in the region, seems a large enough target market for many startups from our country. This could be seen as complacency, but also as a pragmatic approach for some teams,” Ghenea tells BR. In terms of the lack of acceleration equity, he notes that a new programme launched by the EIF, named Romanian Innovation Fund, aims to address this. The programme should help launch a few VC funds aimed at equity investments in the acceleration stage as well as technology transfer, another missing link in the local early-stage ecosystem. For Ochisor of GapMinder Venture Partners, the biggest barrier for Romanian startups is that they often build with global-quality technology, but local-market thinking. “Too many teams validate only with regional customers, and when they try to raise in London, Berlin or even New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, investors don’t see the global proof points they expect. To overcome this, Romanian startups should adopt a global-first mindset early in their product development and go-to-market strategy,” Ochisor argues. On the other hand, he mentions that Romania has one of the most significant deep tech talent pools in Europe: not just engineers, but increasingly product and AI specialists, too. Local investors suggested that corporates could also play a bigger role in backing founding teams. Some local corporations have started to create their own Corporate Venture Capital Funds (CVCs), with notable examples including eMAG, Autonom, and BCR. For instance, Catalyst Romania Fund II has an investment into Carfix, where one of the early co-investors is Autonom CVC. Ochisor of GapMinder Venture Partners concludes that a startup that can say “we’re already deployed at Orange, BCR, or OMV” suddenly looks a lot more credible in front of international investors.
