Public funding for startups in Romania. Identified problems. Recommendations based on good practice and lessons learned

Abstract

Access to financing is particularly difficult for Romanian entrepreneurs and given the current development stage of the Romanian startup ecosystem, public grants play an extremely important role in the business growth. Main objectives of the master thesis Public funding for start-ups in Romania. Identified problems. Recommendations based on good practice and lessons learned are to identify differences between two of the most important public funded programs for start-ups in Romania: Startup Plus and StartUp Nation, to identify additional services entrepreneurs and startups need to have in their public grant entrepreneurial journey and to elaborate relevant recommendations to the most important stakeholders in the development of a performant Romanian public funded startup ecosystem. To achieve the stated objectives, a literature review and an extensive empyrical research were necessary to be performed. I conducted interviews with grant administrators and a survey among the financed entrepreneurs under Startup Nation and Romania Startup Plus funding opportunities. On the basis of the results of the research, it can be concluded that Romanian entrepreneurs still face burdensome bureaucracy and uncertainty which prevent an optimal implementation of the financed business plans. Also, the findings support the view that future development of the ecosystem should take into account the experience of the grant administrators.