GapMinder to finance Romanian tech start-ups with 26 mln euro

BUCHAREST (Romania), January 22 (SeeNews) – Venture capital fund GapMinder targeting innovative tech start-ups in Romania said on Monday it has entered the country’s market with an initial budget of 26 million euro ($31.8 million).

In the following years, GapMinder plans to invest in seed companies up to 1 million euro and potentially other 3 million euro per company as follow-up rounds, it said in a press release.

GapMinder will also invest up to 100,000 euro in start-ups at first round of investment or in acceleration phase.

The fund targets innovative tech start-ups with scale potential for global expansion in verticals such as: IT services and software, cyber security, artificial intelligence, digital transformation, healthcare IT & MedTech and FinTech.

In order to benefit from a sustainable pipeline, GapMinder will have an accelerator component in Bucharest and Cluj, called Techcelerator.

In order to facilitate an efficient first round of investment, the selection of the startups will begin shortly through the Techcelerator programme. Any tech start-up looking for funds can apply for the acceleration program.

“The innovative tech start-ups ecosystem in Romania has a huge potential and is often overlooked, thus our ambition is to support it by investing in solutions with bright future, in projects and companies scalable at global level. We help them grow by fueling founders with funds and vast experience of mentors enrolled in the program,” founding partner Dan Mihaescu said.

GapMinder founding members are active investors in the local start-ups ecosystem, with previous top management positions in tech  multinationals. They are as well as active members of the entrepreneurial environment, with background in national and international acceleration programs.

GapMinder is the first venture capital fund created following the selection made by the European Investment Fund (EIF). The Fund is mostly financed via Operational Programme Competitiveness 2014 – 2020 and co-financed by The European Fund for Regional Development.

EIF is part of the European Investment Bank Group and is the main venture capital source for SMEs in Europe, via venture capital instruments, guarantees and microfinance.