Open call: Startup Reaktor applications - access to pre-seed investment and internationalization in Western Europe and Scandinavia

Original article in Romanian firstly published on startup.ro.

‍Founders of early-stage technology startups from Romania and the region can enroll in Startup Reaktor, the program that gives them access to pre-seed investments and internationalization in Western Europe and Scandinavia.

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Founders of early-stage technology startups from Romania and South-Eastern Europe can register until March 22nd in Startup Reaktor, an internationalization program through which they have access to pre-seed investments and the possibility to expand in Europe of the West and Scandinavia.

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More than 40 teams from Romania, Bulgaria, the Republic of Moldova, Ukraine, Serbia, and Hungary have already signed up for the program.

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Startup Reaktor is a program launched in 2022 by the Romanian Tech Startups Association - ROTSA, which is in its fourth edition and is carried out through an Innovation Norway grant in partnership with Techcelerator, EIT Digital, European Startup Network - Brussels, Strategy Tools - Norway, TechAngels Romania, Linnify, SeedBlink, and local investors.

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The program is open to startups from fields such as data automation, artificial intelligence, enterprise software, financial services, eHealth, crop tech, cleantech, edutech & future of work, marketplaces, SaaS, transport and mobility, aerospace & defense, smart-city, cyber security, gaming, data & analytics, and agri tech.

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Founders can apply to Startup Reaktor until March 22

via https://www.f6s.com/startup-reaktor/apply 

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Project evaluation criteria include team composition and expertise, business model, intended impact of the solution, international scaling potential, target market size, identified competition, and validation actions carried out to date.

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The companies selected in the program will go through four intensive boot camps that will address the following topics:

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• Adaptation of the business model to be favorable for international development (through matchmaking with international mentors and experts, access to a lead mentor for customer development actions)

• Validation techniques - together with Linnify
• Market analysis (analysis of target markets and identification of suitable international market for launch, conducting experiments and customer analysis in selected markets for expansion, support in identifying suitable partners in that market)
• Accessing the market (realization of the internationalization strategy, support in the commercialization plan, and the generation of leads in the area of ​​customers and distributors)

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The Startup Reaktor internationalization program is supported by more than 30 partners from the tech startup ecosystem in Europe. Founders will also have access to mentoring and applied support from over 100 international experts from the ten partner countries in Western Europe and Scandinavia. Consulting and expertise services are provided by Strategy Tools - Norway, a program partner alongside Innovation Norway.

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On April 29, the program will host Startup Reaktor Alpha DemoDay, a pitching event where participating startups can present their businesses to international partners and investors associated with the program.

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Through the program's partnership with SeedBlink and other local investors, top-performing companies will have access to listing on SeeBlink for pre-seed investment rounds from €50,000 to €300,000.

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Following these activities, the startups will continue to have access to the infrastructure and support of the Startup Reaktor team, ROTSA, and the program's European partners.

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Startup Reaktor is the first "internationalization first" program dedicated to tech startups from Southeast Europe in the early stage and very early stage, with a focus on validating and launching new markets.

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"In 2022, when we designed Startup Reaktor, we started from the data, from the plans and needs of entrepreneurs expressed in the report How to Support Startups To Go Global carried out by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development - OECD. This information showed us that more than 50% of EU startups internationalize in the first year, and over 86% in the first three years. On the other hand, 37% of startups consider the EU as the most important market to develop, and within the EU the most frequently targeted markets are Great Britain (15%), Germany (13%), and the Scandinavian area (9 %), according to the Startup Heatmap Europe 2021. Thus, the internationalization of business is an essential point for most founders and a challenge for all economies."

"Programs like Startup Reaktor are necessary because they can minimize risks, operate based on strategic partnerships, and provide access to local infrastructures from new markets, people, and already existing data. All these actions can make the internationalization of as many startups as possible successful and much faster",

says Cristina Țoncu, regional director of the Romanian Tech Startups Association (ROTSA) and Programs Partner Techcelerator.

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The activities in the program aim in particular for startups to be able to launch and develop quickly in international markets, especially in the Nordic countries and the Western European area, to certify the investment value of the startup at the end of the program, and to facilitate the attraction of financing through investors associated with the program.

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"Startup Reaktor was created to respond to the intersection of some critical needs of founders aiming to attract a pre-seed round and obtain accelerated international validation and traction. So that more and more founders from Romania and South-East Europe can achieve this goal, Startup Reaktor together with local and European partners has validated a number of features, which make this program effective and unique in the regional landscape."

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"Thus, Startup Reaktor is dedicated to companies before the first or second round of funding, it focuses almost exclusively on exploring new markets; and ensures the support of local partners facilitated by the Romanian Tech Startups Association and a community of organizations united in the European Startup Network and facilitates access to the targeted international markets, this being the critical phase of launching a tech startup on a new market."

"Through this program, we support more and more founders from Romania and the region to benefit from these opportunities, and for their internationalization efforts to be successful",

says Tudor Pasc, director of the incubation programs developed by the Romanian Tech Startups Association (ROTSA).

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