Several local IT firms have managed to go beyond creating software for international companies and developed brands of their own, which they successfully exported. Others expanded abroad by acquiring foreign companies. Among them, Romania’s first tech unicorn UiPath and the well known cybersecurity group Bitdefender, as well as other companies such as TotalSoft or AROBS, says Romania-Insider.com.
UiPath
UiPath, Romania’s first tech unicorn, is one of the most successful IT companies started by local entrepreneurs. It was founded in 2005 by Daniel Dines and Marius Tirca and develops a platform for Enterprise Robotic Process Automation (RPA).
The company became the first Romanian tech unicorn after it secured a USD 153 million financing in a funding series this spring. It continued its growth and in mid-September reached a USD 3 billion valuation after raising USD 225 million from Sequoia Capital and CapitalG, two of the biggest venture capital funds in the U.S.
It is now headquartered in New York, with its presence extending to big cities around the world, such as Bucharest, London, Paris, Tokyo, Singapore, Amsterdam, Dubai, Washington, Brussels, Rome, and Milan. More than 1,500 enterprise customers and government agencies use UiPath’s Enterprise RPA platform, according to the company’s presentation on LinkedIn.
Bitdefender
Founded in 2001 by Romanian entrepreneur Florin Talpes, Bitdefender is now one of the top cybersecurity and anti-virus software companies in the world. The company serves some 500 million users worldwide, working with government organizations, large enterprises, SMEs and private individuals across more than 150 countries. It has over 1,300 employees and a team of 600+ engineers and researchers.
Romanian entrepreneur Florin Talpes controls Bitdefender while London-based private equity fund Vitruvian Partners holds a 30% stake. The group has a direct presence in markets such as US, France, Germany, Denmark, Spain, Italy, UK, UAE, Sweden and Canada. Most recently, it also established a direct presence in Australia after the acquisition of assets from its local partner SMS eTech.
eMAG
eMAG is the biggest online retailer in Romania. Established in 2001 as an online store for computer systems and office products, eMAG was acquired in 2009 (51% of shares) by Asesoft Distribution. Three years later, in 2012, 70% of eMAG’s shares were acquired by the South African investment fund Naspers. Then, in 2017, Naspers reached a stake of almost 80% in Romania’s largest online retailer after investing about EUR 100 million in the company. Romanian businessman Iulian Stanciu owns a minority stake in the company.
eMAG is now serving four markets in South-Eastern Europe through offices in Bucharest, Sofia, Budapest and Warsaw, with a team of about 4,000 people. Although eMAG is a retail group, it is also one of the biggest software companies in Romania. Its IT research division, which develops the groups various sales platforms, had close to EUR 20 mln in sales and a team of 550 people in 2017, according to official data from the Finance Ministry.
TotalSoft
A team of six specialists led by Liviu Draganestablished TotalSoft in Bucharest, Romania, in 1994 and laid the foundation of one of the most successful Romanian companies. The company is now one of the most important providers of business software systems (ERP, HCM, CRM, DM and BI) in Central Europe, with projects in 46 countries on four continents.
In the autumn of 2016, Logo Software Investment, the largest independent software provider in Turkey, acquired TotalSoft for over EUR 30 million. Prior to this transaction, the majority stakeholder was Greek investment fund Global Finance, with Romanian Liviu Dragan being a minority shareholder.
AROBS Transilvania Software
Local entrepreneur Voicu Oprean founded AROBS Transilvania Software in Cluj-Napoca, in 1998. The company is now one of the biggest software producers in the country, with over 750 employees and collaborators at its local offices in Cluj-Napoca, Tg. Mures, Baia Mare, Arad, Suceava, Iasi and Bucharest and international offices in Germany, Hungary, Moldova, Indonesia, Netherlands and Belgium.
In September this year, AROBS signed an agreement to take over SAS Grup, a smaller IT firm that specializes in fleet management services. Following this transaction, AROBS became one of the biggest fleet management services providers in Central and Southeastern Europe, with over 6,500 clients and 85,000 vehicles monitored every day.
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