Last year, the Moldovan ecosystem grew by 91.9% – the best indicator among European countries and one of the highest in the world. Such data are given in the report Global Startup Ecosystem Index 2026 of the international platform StartupBlink.
According to the study, Moldova ranks 90th in the global ranking of startup ecosystems and 22nd among Eastern European countries.
The Moldovan startup ecosystem includes more than 300 startup businesses and a number of organizations supporting them. The ecosystem is valued at $1.8 billion. The density is 102 companies per 1 million population. This is the highest concentration of projects per population in the region.
Nine components of Moldovan startups
Financier Ghenadie Cernei told LP about the startup ecosystem in Moldova. He spent more than five years as head of the Agency for Innovation and Technology Transfer of the Academy of Sciences of Moldova, and currently heads the startup Finergy. In Moldova, this company helps banks develop technologies for accepting payments through the MIA system. And at the international level, it develops software for instant payments – payments using a phone number. Finergy is already working in the Middle East, several African countries and the Bahamas.
“The ecosystem is all the elements that support startups at different stages of their existence,” explained Ghenadie Cernei. – But first of all, we need to define what a startup is.”
According to the financier, it is “a business that has not yet found a sustainable business model”.
That is, it is not only about software development. A startup idea is any innovative product, from offshore platforms for data centers to a new type of keychain. In all cases, you should look for your niche in the market with a clear mechanism for scaling up and attracting new and new customers.
In other words, at the idea stage, a lot of issues should be worked out, from prototyping to marketing to sales.
What are the current elements of support for startups in Moldova?
First of all, these are incubators. People come to them for support in order to get a product: to clearly formulate an idea, to form a team, to show the direction of development, to bring it to a preliminary result that can be seen or felt.
There are several such incubators in Moldova: we can actually name 2 or 3 at the Technical University of Moldova, one at the Academy of Economic Knowledge, one at Balti.
Along with incubators we can name other supporting mechanisms. For example, support centers that Tekwill created in different cities of the country at the expense of foreign donors: in Chisinau, Cahul, Balti, Comrat, Tiraspol.
Or Dreamups, a community of young people and ideas that encourages innovation and supports startups in Moldova and modestly calls itself the “local Silicon Valley”. By the way, among its founders in 2012 was Andrei Spinu, who later became Deputy Prime Minister.
There are co-working centers, where startups work at different stages of their existence. There are quite a lot of them.
After incubation, when there is already a product, there is a period of acceleration of the startup. There are four or five gas pedals in Moldova.
A business gas pedal (literally – “gas pedal”) is a social institution that supports startups. The term describes both the institutions and the programs organized by them for intensive development of companies through mentoring, training, financial and expert support, sometimes in exchange for a share in the company’s capital.
There are no venture capitalists in Moldova, but there is state support
First, the Organization for the Development of Entrepreneurship (ODA) has a special program to support startups.
Secondly, the Ministry of Education and Research also has ways of support. And the Moldovan Academy of Sciences. Through them it is possible to get access to the largest European programs to help innovators.
Funding. Naturally, this is the most difficult issue. Dreamups has contacts with several business angels, including Dan Sturza, son of the former Moldovan Prime Minister and a well-known Romanian entrepreneur. They also have the Mozaic program, a kind of venture fund.
In addition, the Moldovan fintech startup Fagura (registered in Estonia) can help raise money through crowdfunding.
However, there is no full-fledged venture fund in Moldova yet, although there have been talks about its creation for a long time.
The non-governmental organization Startup Moldova is trying to coordinate the actions of the above-mentioned entities. It is a foundation that builds and supports the entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystem in Moldova. Through startup support programs, access to funding, events, international partnerships and public policy initiatives, Startup Moldova unites tech startup founders, investors and corporations around a common goal: a Moldova where good ideas get resources and access to markets.
Thus, Ghenadie Cernei counted nine elements of startup support in modern Moldova.
Romania helps
While venture capital funds and gas pedals are being created in Moldova, Moldovan startups are turning to Romania for support. The venture capital market in Romania is one of the most dynamic in Central and Eastern Europe, with about 47 funds operating there. Key investors are based in Bucharest and specialize mainly in SaaS, deep tech and cybersecurity, providing checks from $50,000 to $1 million+ at pre-seed and early stage (seed and Series A).
There are alternative funding sources such as SeedBlink (the leading crowdfunding platform in Romania and the EU, bringing together angel investors, VCs and syndicates (checks from $100k to $1M). And TechAngels – Southeast Europe’s largest business angel network for seed and prototype stages. As well as many startup gas pedals, co-working spaces and other support elements.
Moldovan tech startups are actively exploring the Romanian ecosystem to raise capital from funds such as Underline Ventures and Early Game Ventures. Pitching events are regularly organized in Bucharest, such as Moldova Startups Day, where Moldovan projects present their solutions (Fintech, Healthtech, AI) in front of Romanian and international investors.
