German investor: Forget Silicon Valley, Romania is better for startups

Romania is a better destination for those who want to set up startups than Germany or Silicon Valley due to low costs and talented employees, especially in the IT sector, said German investor Robert Knapp, who co-founded CyberGhost, a Romanian company offering VPN solutions, reports Profit.ro. When Knapp decided to open a startup in Romania, his friends considered him "crazy", saying that Romania is a third-country country that civilized people ought to avoid, according to ZDNet. Knapp moved to Romania in 2011 with USD 100,000 borrowed from investors and set up CyberGhost, a company that provides encryption and data security solutions. CyberGhost has become a leading provider of worldwide VPN solutions. The products developed by the Romanian company are being used by more than 10 million people. Knapp sold the CyberGhost startup this spring to Israeli company Crossrider for more than EUR 9 million. He remained the company’s CEO after the sale. “In Germany, we would have had to shut down the business after a year and a half, and in Silicon Valley, after a few months,” he said. editor@romania-insider.com (photo source: Blog.cyberghostvpn.com)