TechAngels Romania invests 3.3 mln euro in local startups in H1

TechAngels, the largest network of angel investors in Romania, invested 3.3 million euro ($3.34 million) in local startups in the first half of 2022, up 10% on the year, it said on Monday.

A fifth of investors came up with up to 20,000 euro, a quarter invested between 20,000 euro and 100,000 euro, and 10% allocated to investments between 100,000 euro and 500,000 euro, TechAngels said in a press release.

“The data aggregated by the TechAngels members survey shows us a level of activity as intense as the one in 2021, a record year for the Romanian tech community and for the association,” TechAngels president Malin-Iulian Stefanescu said.

Automation solutions and those that propose efficient business processes, b2b, and e-commerce, represented almost half of the ideas presented by the startups encountered by TechAngels during pitches. The HR, fintech, and automotive fields have especially attracted the attention of the investors.

However, data indicates that 45% of TechAngels members chose not to invest during the review period, postponing investment decisions for the second half of the year.

“In the second quarter, there were signs of increased investor prudence. More than 30% of investors changed their investment strategies, opting either to allocate more resources through VCs, diversify their portfolio with non-tech domains, or to decrease the amounts allocated to investments. About 45% of investors intend to reduce their invested resources,” Malin-Iulian Stefanescu said.

The share of investors concerned by the current economic context increased from 65% in April to 80% in June, as a result of the continuation of the war, inflationary pressures and energy market problems.

TechAngels is an open group of private investors seeking to support the development of Romanian and regional technology startups. The association currently has 128 members.