Endeavor Wraps Up the Year: Lessons Learned and Trends for 2023
2022 has been both a challenging and record-breaking year for the emerging tech startup ecosystem in Romania. As we approach the end of the year, we find this to be the perfect time to reflect on the growth journey, drawing lessons from the challenges and milestones along the way. It is also a time to start planning the next steps.
So, we wondered what these lessons and priorities are for the Endeavor Romania community of mentors and supporters. Which sectors hold the biggest promise in the eyes of investors and ecosystem builders? What startups will they be watching closely in 2023? And what lessons are they taking with them from the past year?
Continue reading to get insights from our community:
- Alexandru Boghiu, Managing Partner Mavers Wealth Management and Co-founder Nooka Space
- Monica Cadogan, Entrepreneur, Investor, and Member of the Board Endeavor and Purcari Wineries
- Mircea Tiplea, Partner at Amrop Executive Search Romania
- Marius Istrate, Investor and Adviser at multiple tech startups and UiPath alumnus
- Vlad Panait, Founding Partner at Sparking Capital
- Alexandru Bogdan, CEO of Roca X
Lessons taken from 2022
Our community agrees on one lesson that clearly and strongly reverberated through 2022: history repeats itself. “What goes up must come down – and rise again,” as Alexandru Boghiu puts it.
In 2022, we saw “a bigger shock, as clouds of recession came after the 2021 all-time peak in startup investments” says Alexandru Bogdan.
Business conditions have changed very quickly, as Monica Cadogan points out. We talk about trends every year, but no trend is forever. The tech startup ecosystem, although less susceptible to macroeconomics than other sectors of the economy, is still very much dependent on external conditions. And in the past few years, political trends have been increasing the influence of governments on the business environment.
In these tough economic times, it’s no surprise that due diligence is mandatory. Even in a risk-tolerant world, minimizing the chances of failure is becoming more important when money is scarce.
That said, this is not a reason to accept things for what they are when you see an opportunity for change that requires some degree of risk.
“The assumption that history passes through cycles of good times and bad times, through golden ages and dark ages is dangerous because it leads to complacency,” Vlad Panait reflects.
“You win when you dare when others fear,” Monica Cadogan adds.
In a fast-changing environment, staying focused on the long term may sound counterintuitive, but it is instead key to sustained growth. “Avoiding noise is critical,” says Mircea Tiplea. “Learn to navigate the difference between catchy headlines and reality,” Alexandru Bogdan adds.
Finally, “less is more,” agrees Marius Istrate.
Finally, having a united and engaged team is essential, but has been more difficult for companies in 2022. Looking ahead, Monica Cadogan advises that “employee retention is all about common values”. Finding and aligning the team with common values will further require leaders to “listen with an open heart” to build intimacy and trust, Vlad Sarca adds.
Hot tech trends and startups to follow in 2023
In 2023, we see a few common verticals of focus for our Endeavor Romania community, pointing to existing opportunities in these sectors.
The most obvious one, mentioned by half of the interviewees, is artificial intelligence (AI), whether we talk about opportunities in health, optimizing e-commerce, overall business decision-making, or emerging applications such as content creation. At a global level, the market size of AI is expected to grow by 28% until 2030.
With two mentions, medtech (e.g. Medicai) is next on our experts’ list of trends to follow in 2023. Medtech and health tech have been on the rise in the past few years, with a strong focus on automating the more bureaucratic tasks for health professionals or improving diagnostics. On the consumer side, wearables were also mentioned as an area of interest in 2023.
Cleantech got two mentions from our respondents, with focus on clean energy and energy efficiency, impactful investments pushed by regulation, and circular economy solutions (INKI Tech, Flip.ro, and Autonom Protect). Food tech also got two mentions.
Other individual mentions were agritech (expansion and the adoption of automatization), proptech (Bright Spaces), microfinancing, cybersecurity (Arcanna.ai and CODA Intelligence), and clean tech (INKI Tech, Flip.ro, and Autonom Protect with circular economy-fitting solutions).
And although fintech was not often mentioned as a vertical in focus, FintechOS was by far the most frequently indicated as startup experts will be following in 2023.
Other Romanian startups on the lookout for investors and ecosystem builders are DRUID, and whether their products can become mainstream, Hellas Direct, for their ability to find a niche in a traditional market, FlowX.ai, mentioned as the fastest growing startup in the region since UiPath, GoodLegal.io and Parol.