July 14 (SeeNews) - Over 70% of Romanian technology start-ups have been affected to some extent by the Covid-19 pandemic, a survey conducted by the Romanian Tech Startups Association (ROTSA) showed.
Startups' response to the pandemic was influenced by their level of development and maturity, namely by the number of years on the market, number of employees and income, ROTSA said in its "Impact of Covid-19 on Technology Start-ups in Romania" survey presented on Tuesday.
ROTSA found that start-ups have made changes in three major areas: employees, finance and market positioning. While some start-ups have downsized all their operations, others went in the opposite direction and chose to grow their teams and increase their investments. Others have balanced lowering administrative costs with team expansion, or increasing marketing budgets to gain a higher market share, the survey showed.
The main challenge for technology start-ups is the need for funding to support operations and expansion, according to ROTSA. The main source of funding for technology start-ups is self-financing, while 36% of them have raised financing from sources like business angels, venture capital or equity crowdfunding.
The profile of a Romanian technology start-up is: locally registered organization, active on the market for less than four years, with less than four employees and a turnover of approximately 150,000 euro ($177,578) per year. The highest revenue and the highest number of employees are in automation, fintech, and marketing.
According to the findings of the study, the most thriving ecosystem of local technology start-ups is located in Bucharest, followed by Cluj, Timis and Bihor. Also, the main markets represented or targeted by the Romanian start-up ecosystem are in Europe, France, Spain, Italy and 41% of respondents indicate the USA as their main market.
The research that the study was based on has been conducted between February and March 2021 on a sample of 117 technology start-ups in Romania.
($=0.8447 euro)