The world feels tense. A potential US recession, ongoing war in Ukraine, political instability at home and abroad — these aren’t the kinds of headlines that encourage risk-taking. For startups in Romania, the environment in 2025 is anything but predictable.
But uncertainty doesn’t stop innovation. It just changes how investors think — and how founders must act.
It feels like déjà vu
Remember 2021, when a good pitch deck and some traction could get you a seed round in just a few weeks? That hasn’t been the case for a while. As 2025 began, things were starting to look better — investors were slowly coming back, and there was more hope in the air.
But that didn’t last. In just a few months, the mood changed again. With new uncertainty around the economy and global politics, funding has slowed once more. Startups are back to focusing on the basics: extending runway,…
