The Romanian startup scene seems to be booming lately. Local players get more and more active on the global scene, while international eyes increase their attention to the area. Now Romanians have the opportunity to nominate local startups for Romanian Startups Awards, hosted in Bucharest by TheNextWeb in association with Geekcelerator.
“The more this kind of Pan-European events happen in Romania, the more local players not only know but also feel they are part of a global industry, which will lead to more Romanian founders building products for clients from all over the world, not only for Romanian ones. It’s not an overnight process, true, but the more steps we take, the closer we are to the destination. And I’m happy that we have quite a few entrepreneurs doing it already.” Catalina Rusu, Geekcelerator
The process is the following:
1) Nomination: The public can make nominations here for 7 categories ( Startup of the Year, Best (Co-)Founder, Best Web app, Best Mobile App, Best Design, Best User Experience, and Best Investor)
2) Selection by Jury: Ziad M. Kane, CEO of TheNextWeb.com, TNW co-founder Patrick de Laive and editors Robin Wauters and Martin Bryant, selects max. 5 companies or people per category that will move on to the voting round. “The jury members (who see and review startups all day) rate the companies that are nominated, they look at the idea, look and feel, and quality.” Patrick de Laive, The Next Web
3) Voting by Public: For one week, anybody can vote for their favorites via a dedicated social voting platform. “In the end, the best 5 of those shortlists are chosen. Next, it’s up to the finalists, as it is still a public voting system. So it helps if the companies do their marketing well. So basically it could be that a company is good, but doesn’t win.” Patrick de Laive, The Next Web
4) Awards Ceremony: The winners of the 7 categories are announced at the Startup Awards Ceremony on February 5th in Bucharest. Here the startup community will gather for drinks, chats and to celebrate the winners and nominees. Each winner receives a ticket to the TNW Europe Conference in Amsterdam in April 2013.
Romanian Startup Awards is one of the 12 Startup Awards TNW is organizing throughout Europe.
“Romania is on the list of 12 because we see a vast growing tech-scene there. We think Romania is (becoming) a big tech-hub in Europe and that the Startups there deserve a global podium. We’d like to discover all these great startups so we can follow them with thenextweb.com.” Patrick de Laive, The Next Web
“It was exclusively TNW’s initiative to bring the Awards Ceremony to Romania as well. We just jumped in with Geekcelerator to support it, since we believe the local scene will really benefit from a more intense international exposure.” Catalina Rusu, Geekcelerator
Geekcelerator, an international business accelerator co-founded by a Romanian team with an impressive track record, is indeed quite active in the local and international startup community since its launch last summer.
“We are about to officially start our investment activity, true, but our primary interest is not to select for investment teams from those participating in the contest. If it happens, it happens. Our involvement in TNW Romania Startup Awards is more about supporting the local community.” Catalina Rusu, Geekcelerator.
