Bucharest – Tel Aviv – New York – London
If you are a tech startup founder, you can apply in just a few minutes for the opportunity to accelerate your business’s global growth.
If admitted, you will gain rapid access to know-how, networking opportunities, capital and other resources that help you move faster through the growth process.
This is made possible by an advanced accelerator designed by Arieli Capital and launched in Romania through a partnership initiated by Upgrade 100 alongside How to Web, with strategic backing from AmCham—the American Chamber of Commerce—and the support of Raiffeisen Bank Romania.
In Italy, Slovenia and the US state of Utah, this accelerator has already enabled investments totalling hundreds of millions of dollars. Alongside Romania, the programme is also preparing to launch in the Czech Republic.
- Find details of all country- and industry-focused programmes delivered worldwide using this methodology here.
How will the programme work?
The programme gives startups access to the know-how of key experts and investors worldwide, with a focus on mature markets such as the United States and Israel—a country with half Romania’s population that has already produced more than 90 unicorn companies like UiPath.
Arieli Capital’s main development centres are in Tel Aviv, New York and London.
- The video below features feedback from the equivalent programme in Slovenia. More opinions from entrepreneurs in Italy, the United States and Slovenia who participated in the programme are available here.
The accelerator designed by Arieli Capital and brought to Romania by Upgrade 100 has a compelling goal for early-stage entrepreneurs: connecting local ideas with global investment ecosystems.
Startups best suited to the accelerator meet two main conditions:
- They already have a product or minimum viable product, rather than only an idea or vision.
- They have already secured at least one round of funding from a third party, rather than relying entirely on the founders’ resources.
The five-month accelerator consists of pre-selection, finalist selection and an intensive stage in Milan, Italy, in the spring of next year.
During this period, entrepreneurs whose applications are selected—with a target of 8 to 12 startups from Romania—will meet leading investors and experts from Israel and the United States.
Projects of this kind attract billions of dollars annually in these countries for sectors including digital health, fintech, food engineering and cybersecurity.
“We live in an era when technology does more than transform industries; it shapes our future. Tech startups drive this transformation, and our mission is to help them expand beyond local borders and become global forces. We enthusiastically joined GO GLOBAL! and hope to see as many Romanian startups as possible achieve their full international potential in the coming years,” said Bogdan Popa, Vice President of Operations & IT at Raiffeisen Bank Romania, when the project’s launch was officially announced.
Other successful launches in Europe and the United States
The accelerator now available to new Romanian businesses has helped entrepreneurs in Slovenia and Italy expand their projects and think globally.
One example was presented at the programme’s recent launch in the Czech Republic.
The event’s participants included Marta Bonaconsa, pictured here, a researcher turned successful entrepreneur named by Forbes Italia among the country’s 100 most successful businesswomen.
She co-founded Nanomia, a company working in nanotechnology and the study of microplastics. At the Czech launch, Bonaconsa explained how joining the Arieli Capital ecosystem changed her business journey.
“The most important question was, ‘Where am I going wrong?’ Then I learned to listen carefully to the answers. I was impressed by Israel’s ability to attract investors. I found nothing like that magnetism anywhere in Europe. The mindset is that everything must be designed to work internationally and be the best. That requires investment,” Marta Bonaconsa explained.
When will it launch in Romania?
In practice, right now. Applications are already open on the initiative’s official website, GoGlobal.ro.
Full details will be presented at How to Web 2024 on 2 October, starting at 11:00.
🎙️ Smaranda Heroiu, Executive Director of Upgrade 100, will welcome the following guests at the GO GLOBAL! launch:
🎙️ Andrei Pitiș — Serial Tech Entrepreneur, Investor and Genezio Co-founder
🎙️ Bogdan Popa — VP, Raiffeisen Bank Romania
🎙️ Marta Bonaconsa — CEO, Nanomnia, and
🎙️ Or Haviv — Partner, Arieli Capital
- For questions or additional information, you can also contact us by email.