5 Romanian tech scaleups targeting the US market in 2023

Pursuing growth on the United States market requires a lot of research, support, and meticulous planning, and diligent companies tend to come across substantial opportunities for development. For many Romanian startups and scaleups, breaking into the US market is a compelling prospect for rapid growth and boosted credibility. Let’s take a look at five Romanian companies that are taking on the US market this year.

By Claudiu Vrinceanu

One challenge for local firms is the fact that Europeans must improve and adapt their sales skills for the US market. To successfully sell there, you must be short, concise, and assertive. Europeans tend to be more laid back, wordy, and patient. You can always hire people with those skills, assuming that you are able recognise the gap. Still, if you’re from Europe, most people in your network are likely to be from here as well. The best solution would be to hire someone in the US who has experience working with Europeans or, better yet, country-specific experience, acknowledging that each country has a distinct culture. That person would be able to speak "American" with prospects and US-based partners while being aware of the culture internally. Founders moving to the US may also be a good solution, but learning the US culture and selling to prospects on that market takes time, so the short term requires a more concentrated effort.

Fintechos

FintechOS started its internationalisation process in the United States after the USD 60 million Series B funding led by Draper Esprit. The launch followed the company’s development in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. FintechOS has been forging links with American credit unions and traditional banks to remove common obstacles to digitalization that are currently hampering the market. The digital solutions provider forecasted intense demand for its US offering.

Arobs

AROBS Transilvania Software, a technology company listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange, is one of the Romanian companies trying to develop on the American market through acquisitions. In this sense, the Clujbased company bought Nordlogic, a local group of companies specialised in developing custom software products and platforms, with offices in Seattle. AROBS also took over Enea Software Development Services in a transaction worth EUR 17.9 million, which included the latter’s operations in the US.

Medicai

Romanian MedTech startup Medicai is already targeting markets in Western Europe, and entering the US is the next strategic expansion step for the company. Through new partnerships, Medicai already has access to some big software companies and ecosystems.The company is raising a new investment round to support its international expansion on the US market. Medicai has been accepted to AWS Expand, an incubation programme created by MATTER, a premier healthcare incubator and innovation hub, in collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS). With investors like ROCA X, DMoonshot, and Cleverage VC, Medicai has raised a total of EUR 1 million over the past two years.

KRUGMAN & PARTNERS

Krugman & Partners opened offices in New York and Bucharest last year, thus entering the competitive intelligence and cybersecurity market, which has been continuously growing in recent years. In 2019, the global value of this market was close to USD 40 billion, and estimates say that it will exceed USD 82 billion within the next five years.

OVES

OVES Enterprise, a software development company from Cluj, will expand its international presence in 2023 after opening an office in Silicon Valley—its fifth office opened outside the country in the last 11 months. The company is currently present in Germany (with two offices), the United Arab Emirates (Dubai), the UK, and the US. According to the OVES team, the US is one of the most attractive areas for developing IT projects, both from the financial perspective—with fees 20-30 percent higher than those in the DACH area—as well as in terms of project complexity and degree of innovation.