Techcelerator, the SEED accelerator targeting advanced technology start-ups in Romania and South Eastern Europe, has received recognition from the prestigious business publication Financial Times in the Europe's Leading Start-Up Hubs 2024 report, a ranking of the top startup hubs that offer incubation and/or acceleration programs for people looking to start or grow a company.
Techcelerator is ranked 51st in Europe and third in Eastern Europe with 74,763 points.
InnovX from Romania is also in the top, ranking 11th overall and first regionally.
The top three in the overall ranking are UnternehmerTUM from Germany, Hexa from Belgium and SETsquared from the UK.
In total, 125 hubs are recognized in this ranking.
To create this top, the Financial Times collaborated with Statista R, a subsidiary of international data and research company Statista, as well as Sifted, a leading media brand for the European startup community.
Techcelerator is the accelerator founded in Romania in 2017 with the support of the European Investment Fund (EIF) in cooperation with the GapMinder VC investment fund and is aimed at startups in the acceleration and post-acceleration phase. Techcelerator cooperates with most funds in Europe and Central and Eastern Europe, regional business angel clubs such as Tech Angels Romania and crowdfunding platform Seedblink.
Since its launch, Techcelerator has successfully backed over 200 startups and its portfolio companies have benefited from a total funding of over €40 million through the investment rounds attracted so far, with a portfolio value of over €150 million.
The Accelerator focuses in its programs on supporting verticals such as Enterprise Automation, Fintech, Cybersecurity, Data/Analytics, Cleantech, eHealth, B2B SaaS, and on helping entrepreneurs to be ready to raise Seed and Late Seed funding (investment readiness) and for international expansion.
Techcelerator supports programs such as Advancing AI, NEXTFintech, Scale Match and Investment Readiness Booster. In terms of regional ecosystem development Techcelerator is a supporter of the regional internationalization (market readiness) platform StartupReaktor.com and is involved in various pan-European initiatives such as AccelerAction - European deep-tech and innovation ecosystem development, Co-investin - European venture capital ecosystem development and provides services for the European Innovation Council - EIC.
"Techcelerator has been growing continuously since 2017 and this is an international recognition of the competitiveness that can be delivered by the ecosystem in Romania and the region. In the few years we have had, we have managed to establish ourselves in the market and organise ourselves in the region, but the most exciting years are yet to come. Romania is increasingly validating itself as a regional hub in the SEE, which we support from the perspective of developing deeptech startups and attracting investment, and this is concretely seen by the number of companies in our portfolio", said Cristian Dascălu, Co-Founder and Managing Partner Techcelerator.
The ranking methodology involved a registration process and a survey.
“Several elements were considered for the evaluation, with the main criterion being the assessment of the respective start-up hub by alumni who participated in at least one incubator or accelerator program run by the respective hub. In addition, the recommendations of external experts, such as investors (business angels, representatives of venture capital firms), entrepreneurs and academics were included. On top of that, the most successful startups coming out of a hub were examined”, is explained on the Financial Times website about the methodology behind the ranking.
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