The Romanian Scaleup scene lags behind other European countries

Romania’s scaling-up performance lags behind other European countries, including in the presence of tech scaleups and unicorn companies.

By Claudiu Vrinceanu

Romania has only 24 scaleup firms and it is on the last place (25th) on the list of European countries based on the total number of scaleups and share in the EU, according to Research and Innovation Performance report.

The Commission released its latest report on the EU’s Science, Research and Innovation Performance, through which it analyses how Europe performs in the global context.

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Lithuania has 28 scaleups, Hungary, 39, Greece has 48 and Poland 78 scaleups, according to the study.

Europe needs to better support the scaling up of its innovators and SMEs and when it comes to tech scaleups and unicorn companies, a pronounced scaling-up gap remains in relation to the United States and (sometimes to) China, said Research and Innovation Performance report. “Europe should capitalise on its strong science and richness of ideas for innovation to have key players in the global scene that reflect EU’s values and ambitions. This is compatible with a ‘tech-with-a-purpose’ approach which integrates social and environmental concerns in business missions to ensure that new products and services bring not only economic but also societal value”, based on the report.

Overall, there is a strong need for policy initiatives that aim to tackle the scaling- up needs in terms of capital in EU startups, such as the European Innovation Council, the VentureEU programme, and the different financial instruments available via the European Investment Bank.

An alternative way to look into high growth concerns the amount of funding raised. Europe lags considerably behind the United States as regards the presence of tech scaleups. A scaleup is defined by Mind the Bridge (2019) as a tech company that has raised more than EUR 1 million in funding. Europe has a lower number of tech scaleups than the United States and China and, when standardised by population, it still lags behind the United States. As of 2018, there were 1.3 scaleups per 100 000 inhabitants in Europe compared to seven scaleups in the United States.

France, Germany and Sweden represent half of all tech scaleups in the EU. Just five EU Member States – France, Germany, Sweden, Spain and the Netherlands – account for nearly two thirds of all scaleups identified in the EU3.

Furthermore, the number of UK and Israeli tech scaleups is higher than any EU Member State.