- Romanian development agency ADR Nord‑Vest launched a EUR 30M fund supporting startups in Romania’s North-West region
- Fortech Ventures manages the fund, providing investment expertise, mentoring, and operational guidance
- The fund shifts from grants to equity, enabling scalable, high-growth companies to thrive
- This initiative is poised to inspire more region-based equity funds across Romania in the future
This November, ADR Nord-Vest—the regional development agency for Romania’s North-West region, managing EU funds and coordinating economic development programs in the region—announced the creation of a EUR 30M+ fund as a support vehicle for young and aspiring local entrepreneurs. The fund will be managed by the well-known Romanian VC firm Fortech Ventures (invested in Sales Partner, among others).
The Background of the Parties
ADR Nord-Vest is the Regional Development Agency responsible for coordinating economic development and managing EU structural and investment funds in the North-West region of Romanian comprising six counties: Cluj, Bihor, Maramureș, Satu Mare, Bistrița-Năsăud, and Sălaj. It works to design and implement regional strategies, support local authorities and businesses, and channel funding toward projects that improve competitiveness and quality of life. Its role places it at the intersection of public policy and regional innovation, helping translate EU priorities into concrete local initiatives.
Fortech Ventures is the private investment manager that was selected to operate and deploy the EUR 30M equity fund for startups and SMEs in Romania’s Nord-Vest region. It brings expertise in evaluating companies, structuring equity deals, and guiding founders through growth and scaling challenges. The firm combines financial investment with strategic mentorship, aiming to accelerate regional innovation and develop businesses with long-term impact.
The Updated Approach to Supporting the Local Startup Scene
Valentin Filip, Partner at Fortech Ventures
Traditionally, ADR Nord‑Vest has been providing grant-based funding to support regional development projects and startups. The new partnership with Fortech Ventures additionally enables VC-style investments, providing equity to selected startups rather than one-time grants. This approach allows the agency to support scalable, high-growth businesses while continuing its broader role in regional economic development.
In this partnership, ADR Nord‑Vest serves as the public authority, managing EU and regional funds, setting the fund’s objectives, and ensuring compliance with regulations. Fortech Ventures, in turn, manages the fund, sources startups, conducts due diligence, structures investments, and supports portfolio companies with mentoring and operational guidance. Briefly put, ADR Nord‑Vest provides oversight and funding, while Fortech Ventures drives the commercial execution and growth of the invested companies.
Public-Private Partnership and Its Regional Equity Fund
ITKeyMedia approached Fortech Ventures’ partners Valentin Filip and Irina Misca to find out more about the new fund, its policies, objectives, and ambitions:
Concerning the division of roles between ADR Nord-Vest and Fortech Ventures, how do you balance public accountability and private investment agility and ensure both sides complement each other?
Valentin Filip: While ADR Nord-Vest provides public funding and will represent a significant part of the fund contribution, the involvement of ADR Nord-Vest will be identical with LPs. The entire responsibility of the investment decisions and internal structure is in the purview of the GP team. The reporting we will be doing involves a few extra steps considering the public nature of ADR Nord-Vest, but overall, we will be organising ourselves as a regular VC fund.
How will Fortech Ventures balance support vs. control when investing equity in new portfolio companies?
VF: We have noticed during the past 4 years that a meaningful contribution to the development of the portfolio companies brings additional trust and transparency from the founders. With this, we can have higher confidence in the outcome of our investment while also having visibility.
What are the key criteria, beyond coming from the six eligible counties, to evaluate startups/SMEs for this fund?
Irina Misca: Our main goal is to provide funding for ambitious startups, both funded in the region and those with a subsidiary here. This can be a strategic step either for benefiting from the vast local technical talent pool or for going to market from here and toward broader Europe.
When it comes to evaluating startups, considering we will be investing from the early days of the development of the companies, we focus on the team members and their ability to materialise their ambitions, the clarity of the problem they solve, and the size of the market they address.
While the size of the market is important, the go-to-market strategy is also key, where an important aspect is for the team to have an international approach from the beginning.
Given the regions covered and their economic context, are there specific sectors or problem spaces you expect to prioritise?
Irina Misca, Partner at Fortech Ventures
IM: While the region is focused on a set of ‘smart specialisation domains,’ the opportunity lies in utilising the available talent pool that has both great technology focus and international pedigree. Vertical-wise, we aim to support startups that address opportunities from the health, finance, manufacturing, energy, and defence industries.
What support do you plan to offer concerning the scaling and growth of invested companies beyond capital?
VF: With our management and entrepreneurial experience, we were able to support our current portfolio startups from scaling from 0 revenue to EUR 2M+ ARR in the last 4 years. With all the companies being technology companies, we can use this experience to guide the professionalisation of teams and their products. When it comes to go-to-market, the international pool of startups in our portfolio enables us to capture the specifics of each market and help startups enter them. Most of our investments come from inbound recommendations from other investors, so our network of trust is both used for attracting new startups and helping our current ones grow and expand. Now, we bet on the same approach at a significantly larger scale.
From your experience as an investor, can you point out the common missteps that this new fund will help avoid?
VF: There are multiple traps into which startups fall, like:
- building too much before selling;
- focusing on their domestic market too much;
- starting a startup with people that have not worked together;
- or not allocating enough equity for each member.
We strive to improve the quality of each company in which we invest so that we can both impact the domain it is addressing and reap the reward afterwards.
What exit horizon or return expectations do you envision for this fund?
IM: Considering the recent macroeconomic developments, the VC ecosystem has also been impacted, resulting in longer holding periods for startups. While this has an impact on the exit strategies and scenarios, we will continue to aim for the regular horizon for the entire fund.
Our intention is to surpass other investment strategies when it comes to returns, providing investors with both diversification and financial gain by choosing to support us.
Looking ahead, do you see this fund as a ‘pilot’ for more region‑based equity funds in other Romanian regions? If so, what outcomes in terms of milestones and metrics should validate this pilot for further scaling?
VF: We do believe we will see a few more funds being launched in other regions of Romania shortly after ours. This fund is also a key driver in adapting the funding strategy from the EU to Romania towards a financial instrument approach rather than public grants. This will greatly improve access to capital for companies and create a collaboration climate based on real competence and need, coupled with the expediency of the private sector.
The new partnership between ADR Nord‑Vest and Fortech Ventures marks a significant step in transforming regional entrepreneurship, with Romania’s North-West as a launchpad. Combining public oversight with private-sector investment expertise, it also shifts from traditional grants to equity-based funding. The new EUR 30M fund enables scalable, high-growth startups to access both capital and strategic mentorship, fostering innovation and long-term business development. The initiative both strengthens the local startup ecosystem and sets a precedent for future region-based investment funds across Romania.
Kostiantyn is a freelance writer from Crimea but based in Lviv. He loves writing about IT and high tech because those topics are always upbeat and he’s an inherent optimist!
