On September 24, AmCham Romania brought the Business Perspectives: U.S.-Romania AI & Business Summit to Timișoara on the occasion of a U.S. VC Funds delegation coming to Romania from San Francisco and New York.

The morning opened with welcome remarks from AmCham’s executive director, Letiția Pupăzeanu and Senior Commercial Officer, Brittany Banta from the U.S. Embassy in Romania. This was followed by remarks from the Mayor of Timișoara, the Director of ADR Vest, and the Rector of Politehnica University of Timișoara.

Two panels, both moderated by Dragoș Stanca, looked at one central question: what does it take for technology built in Romania to scale in America, and who funds that journey?

Panel 1 |  Romania's Technology Prowess Scaling to America

The panel brought together investors who back companies across borders, Alexandre Lazarow, Managing Partner, Fluent Ventures, and Scott Hartley, Managing Partner, Everywhere Ventures; a global corporation with deep roots in Romania and a strong presence in the U.S. market, represented by Sabin Totorean, Country Senior Officer, Nokia Romania; and a fast-growing Romanian tech company, represented by Remus Rădvan, Chief of Staff, FlowX.ai. Together they looked at what it really takes to go from building in Romania to selling and scaling in the U.S.

Romania has long been known for its engineering talent. The next step is turning that talent into companies that lead globally.

Panel 2 | Fueling Innovation: Venture Capital, Startups, and Scaling from Romania

The panel brought together U.S. investors Zach Coelius, Founder & Managing Partner, Coelius Capital, whose portfolio companies have been acquired by General Motors, Dropbox and McDonald's, and Martin Jasinski, Managing Partner, Cogito Capital Partners, a New York fund backed by European institutional investors; a regional fund investing at Seed and Series A, represented by Ioana Ștefănuț, General Partner, Asternova Vest; and a pre-acceleration program building the pipeline of early-stage founders in Western Romania, represented by Andrei Munteanu, Co-founder & Programs Managing Director, Vest Ventures.

Together they looked at what counts as real validation, what U.S. investors check before they commit, and what it would take for more Romanian private capital to back local startups.

Romania needs founders ready for the American market but it also needs local capital ready to back them.

AmCham thanks all our speakers for their insights, and everyone in the room for the questions.

Special thanks to Alexandru Ionuț Antiu for bringing the summit together and to the Regional Development Agency West (ADR Vest) and Politehnica University of Timișoara (UPT) for their support in making the event possible.