Monthly Recap - September Edition

September came at full speed with plenty of updates, the first important of which is that we kicked off the first ever edition of our Scale Up Program, and we’re incredibly proud of the scale-ups that have joined us.?

But because the world didn’t stop to admire our own achievements, this newsletter will take you through the most important updates of September.?

Updates from Endeavor Romania

Scale Up by Endeavor: 19 entrepreneurs from 8 Romanian companies enter the first cohort?

We officially started our first-ever edition of the Scale Up Program with the kick-off event, hosted by UniCredit Bank Romania.?

The scaleups in this cohort are: Bright Spaces , Finverity , Finqware , Kinderpedia , Plant an App , Pluria , RepsMate , Spark Generation .?

The selected founders met in person for a small, intimate event, to learn about their peers, talk about their companies and the challenges they face as founders.

They were greeted by FEZA TAN , Deputy CEO at UniCredit Bank Romania and Sergiu Negut , CSO at FintechOS & Endeavor Entrepreneur, who joined us to meet the cohort, to encourage the peer-to-peer collaboration and to share his view on how Endeavor could support their growth going forward.

We Organized Women on Boards in partnership with EBRD Romania

Over 140 participants stayed engaged throughout the entire session, contributing to insightful discussions and thought-provoking conversations. Your energy and commitment have inspired us to bring even more events like this to life.?

Below you can find a more detailed presentation of the topics that were covered during this online session.?

Make sure to subscribe to our newsletter on MailChimp. Be the first to read this month’s exclusive interview with Flaviu Simihaian .?

A new global hub, a new era of impact - The London Hub Launch?

This month also marked the launch of the Endeavor London Hub, with a launch party that transformed the graffiti tunnel into a unique and special experience carefully crafted for Endeavor Entrepreneurs. Discover how it went:

Women in Tech?Romania - Empowerment in action

A conversation split into allyship, mentorship and sponsorship, that we were very happy to support through a partnership, and where Mihnea Craciun , our Managing Director, was invited as a panelist.?

DRUID AI , the second Romanian company to become Endeavor Entrepreneurs, have also participated in this event, showing once more that supporting the right causes is in the DNA of our mission here at Endeavor.

Local Updates

Creatopy ’s biggest product launch yet scheduled for October 17th?

The theme is Brand-Centric AI: Generating Winning Ads. Whether you work in product, marketing or design or you’re just curious about trends that will reshape this industry, you can join this one-hour presentation.?

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Early Game Ventures breaks into biotech with a pre-seed investment in The Cat Health Company

Early Game led the 500,000 euro pre-seed investment round raised by The Cat Health Company (TCHC), a biotech startup founded by Alex Voda and Alex Bacita, two scientists in the longevity field. Angel investors also joined the round.

After $7 million of investment, the Romanians from Bware Labs sell to Alchemy , keeping its team of blockchain programmers from Bucharest

The Romanian company Bware Labs, which develops a technology to access various blockchain systems for other companies, has announced that it has been acquired by the American firm Alchemy.

Alchemy is a category leader in the area of Web3, i.e. blockchain, and aims to become a technology provider like AWS in the traditional Cloud space. Alchemy thus develops tools for programmers who want to build applications on the blockchain.

Romanian-British startup Ogre AI gets €3 million in a funding round?

Ogre AI, the Romanian-UK data science technology startup specializing in providing AI-based forecasting solutions for the energy sector, has secured a €3 million investment in a new funding round.

Other investors such as Early Game Ventures, Soulmates Ventures, MMC Greater London Fund and Sofia Angels Ventures also participated in the round led by VERBUND X Ventures, the investment fund of Austria's main electricity supplier.

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The Romanian platform 123FormBuilder , sold to a large American company

The Romanian platform 123FormBuilder, launched in 2008 in Timi?oara, has been sold to a large American company, according to an official statement.

The American company Kiteworks bought the Romanian cloud platform that helps companies create online forms and surveys, the investment fund Catalyst Romania Fund I announced.

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Edtech startup Youni Choice attracted a new investment of €1 million to launch an AI based technology?

Local start-up Youni, developer of the platform Younichoice.com, a service that it helps students find the right college internationally, has attracted a new round of financing worth one million euros from the Czech fund Soulmates Ventures (lead investor), which was joined by the Early Game Venture fund, the latter being one of the company's first investors.?

A new regional investment fund is looking to bet more actively on Romania

bValue Fund , investment fund from Poland, is looking to invest in Romania in the next period, allocating a budget of 20 million euros for domestic companies.

Global Updates

We celebrated our 100th in-person International Selection Panel at Endeavor?

"For our entrepreneurs an ISP is the culmination of a rigorous selection process that starts locally, but it’s also the start of a long journey of support by Endeavor", says Adrian Garcia-Aranyos , President of Endeavor Global.?

Globant to Acquire U.S. IT Services Consulting Firm Blankfactor

Globant is acquiring Blankfactor, a U.S. based IT services consulting firm specialized in payments, banking, and capital markets. The technology services company signed a definitive agreement to buy Blankfactor, but Founders Michael Wear and Melody Pak will continue at the helm of Blankfactor once the deal has been completed.

The state of VC across the world: Europe?

Funding in Europe may be dipping. But deeptech companies are leading their industries with the region’s growing talent pool.

Pete Benedetto , Europe regional lead for Catalyst, shares the latest insights from our global mid-year VC snapshot.?

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Meet the founder that built 2 unicorns in 10 years?

Tony Jamous , CEO and founder of Oyster? , just secured a $59M Series D funding round valuing the company at $1.2B. His? journey with Oyster began in 2020, just three years after selling his first unicorn, Nexmo (now Vonage).