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"This year we facilitated €4.5 million which is an increase of 2.5 X compared to 2023 and we raised an investment round of €1 million. In 2025 we will launch more services to develop a financial ecosystem for freelancers and small entrepreneurs, as our target is to facilitate investments of over €10 million," stated Tudor Darie, founder and CEO of Fagura.

"Creatopy is a platform that enables brands and agencies to streamline their digital ad creation processes, increasing productivity and significantly reducing both costs and campaign delivery time through AI technologies. This year has been a busy one for us: we opened our Bucharest office, launched our newest version of the product, and expanded our team in the US to be closer to our customer base”, declared Benedetta Ioance, Chief of Staff, ScaleUp of the Year winner Benedetta Ioance.

The competition was open to early stage startups (pre-seed, seed) that have a tested MVP and can prove traction through revenue, partnerships, customer interest or have raised investments.

The winners were selected according to the following criteria:

• Market potential (total addressable market and scalability)
• Business model and traction (revenue generation & projections, customer base and partnerships)
• Innovation and differentiation (uniqueness of solution, competitive advantage)
• Societal and environmental impact (positive societal impact and environmental sustainability)
• Team and management of the startup (team experience and skills)
• Presentation and quality of materials submitted through the application (clarity and organization)

The awards were decided by 20 of Romania's best-known investors and technology & business development experts. Among the 20 board members are: Marius Istrate - Chairman of the Board TechAngels, Bogdan Iordache - General Partner Underline Ventures, Andrei Dudoiu - CEO SeedBlink, Valentin Filip - Managing Partner Fortech Investments, Ilinca Păun- Founder Bravva Angels, Marion Hegarty - Chapter Director Women in Tech Romania, Olga Melniciuc - CEO Startup Moldova, Alexandru Ruff - Partner GapMinder, Dan Călugăreanu - Partner Early Game Ventures, Alexandru Agatinei - CEO How to Web, Dragoș Stanca - Founder UpGrade 100, Mădălin Ioniță - Executive director Măgurele Science Park, Vlad Andriescu - Editor-in-chief Start-up.ro, Alex Dascălu - Lead Director Founders Institute, Ciprian Stănescu - President & CEO Social Innovation Solutions (SIS), Adrian Seceleanu - Journalist Business HighTech; Sorin Maxim - General director West Regional Development Agency (Agenția pentru Dezvoltare Regională Vest - ADR Vest), Mălin Ștefănescu - Angel Investor TechAngels.

The competition is organized by the Romanian Tech Startups Association - ROTSA, and the partners are Techcelerator, EIT Digital, SeedBlink, TechAngels, PPC România, BT Stup, Startup Reaktor, European Startup Network, Măgurele Science Park, Start-up.ro, Romania Insider și DiFine PR.

ROTSA (Romanian Tech Startups Association) is a nonprofit organization that aims to promote, support and represent the interests of technology startups in Romania. ROTSA, by collaborating with actors of the national ecosystem, realizes the national mapping of tech start-ups in Romania, in an effort to generate data related to the status and evolution of tech start-up companies. ROTSA's vision is to develop and support the tech startup ecosystem, being at the same time a connector for the main actors and a link to other already existing international ecosystems.

*This is a press release.

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