On October 30, 2024, Oradea hosted Bright Labs Demo Day, an event that brought together 15 promising startups from across the Central and Eastern European (CEE) region.
Their executives pitched projects in fields like artificial intelligence, medtech, fintech, and extended reality (XR) to an audience of over 150 attendees, including investors, corporate leaders, and mentors.
The highlight of the day was the Bright Labs 2024 Pitching Competition.
The competition was won by the startup Data Sweep (foto) – which thus earned a spot in the Go Global program powered by Arieli Capital. This will help the startup expand to international markets and connect with investors and mentors worldwide.
Bright Labs Demo Day was packed with startup pitches, mentorship sessions, and networking opportunities. For instance, keynote speaker Matei Psatta, founder of Blindspot, highlighted the challenges of scaling startups in the CEE and shared his insights on creating sustainable impact.
As a central event of the Day, our colleague Smaranda Heroiu (Executive Director, UPGRADE 100) hosted a panel titled Overcoming the “No Startups vs. No Capital” Dilemma in CEE, featuring investors Mircea Ghiță, Răzvan Șuta, and Cristian Otgon, official representative of the North-West Regional Development Agency.
The three panelists identified education as fundamental for creating impact and generating long-term value. Fostering curiosity and boldness among founders was also highlighted as essential for fueling innovation in CEE.
Panelists emphasized that rejection and failure are part of the journey and should be embraced as learning opportunities.
A critical message was that there is no “easy money”: grants, EU funds, and venture capital require significant effort to secure and even more to sustain growth.
With Romania boasting one of Europe’s highest concentrations of technical talent, panelists argued that, with the right investments and ecosystem support, our country has the potential to become a major tech hub.
The Bright Labs Incubator program has become an invaluable platform for early-stage startups in CEE, offering up to €50,000 in funding and additional grants to help founders bring their ideas to market.
This year, 14 startups were selected from a competitive pool of 355 applicants.
Nine teams even temporarily relocated to Oradea to take full advantage of the incubator’s resources, which include workshops, mentoring, and coworking space at Oradea Fortress.
Founders also received guidance from high-caliber mentors, such as Timmy Ghiurău (Volvo’s Innovation Manager) and Irina Scarlat (former Uber and Revolut executive), who helped shape their strategies and sharpen their product visions.
Bright Labs Demo Day 2024 showcased how CEE startups are shaping the future of technology, with Oradea emerging as a key center for innovation. The event was more than a demo day; it was a testament to the region’s potential to lead in tech.
Bright Labs and initiatives like it are proving that, with the right support, CEE startups cannot only compete, but thrive on the global stage.
