Imagine having invested in Romania’s or Estonia’s first unicorn—Moldova now offers that same kind of opportunity. When it comes to startups, this country is still a hidden gem.
I spoke to Dima Namashco, CEO and co-founder of Mozaic Angel Syndicate in Moldova. He shared:
"We don't yet have a major success story—no unicorns or massive exits. But we're looking for that breakout company that will inspire the ecosystem, like UiPath did for Romania."
Following a career in banking, he transitioned into VC and angel investing, starting the first angel syndicate from scratch in Moldova. With a thorough procedure and legal frameworks, he has grown it from two investors to over 60, adapting them to international standards.
The syndicate invests only in Moldovan founders. Legally, most of the transactions are done in Estonia because it's very digital-friendly.
While Moldova has strong digital-first infrastructure, it's still a work in progress, as Namashco shared that the syndicate was incorporated in Estonia.
"Moldova's legal framework is just too complicated. It's slow, expensive, and bureaucratic, which creates stress for startups, investors, and us. Estonia's structure just works, it's all online, with bank accounts via Wise."
The investments are sector-agnostic, and the portfolio includes B2B and B2C tech startups, such as SaaS, niche marketplaces, edtech, health tech, fintech, and a babysitting platform.
"We've made one exception for a hardware startup — Renter, they make e-bikes for couriers and are growing fast."
In terms of investment, he notes, "We've been fortunate to be the first syndicate to build an angel investing culture here, at affordable valuations. We have strong talent and a solid portfolio that we believe will deliver strong returns in the next 2–5 years."
"We're early—being among the first is a unique opportunity."
Low taxes, top talent, big potential
Besides tech talents and government initiatives that make Moldova an attractive place to work and invest — stay tuned for tomorrow's article, which will deep-dive into all the reasons why Moldova is the next big ecosystem for startups.
Moldova has rapidly developed a highly attractive ecosystem for startups under the auspice of the Moldova IT Park program MITP.
Founded in 2018 as a quasi-governmental entity — created by government decision but not funded by the state — and a first of its kind, "e-park" within a broader e-governance ecosystem, it aims to nurture growth and simplify the entrepreneurial journey.
MITP's standout feature is a unique tax regime designed specifically for IT businesses registered under MITP, allowing companies to pay just 7 per cent.
This single tax replaces corporate tax, personal income tax, social security contributions and other levies, making it one of the simplest and most attractive tax setups for tech entrepreneurs and their teams.
Namashco states:
"This makes Moldova attractive for companies looking to open development offices here. Labour is affordable and talent is strong, especially in engineering."
Further, Moldova is slated to join the EU by 2040 and according to Namashco, this will result in more funds and a boost to the local startup ecosystem.
At the Startup Moldova conference, Doina Nistor, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Economic Development Digitalisation, announced several government initiatives for startups, including a plan to expand the national startup program in the coming months. It's increasing the grant threshold for Seed stage startups from €40,000 to €100,000 and matching VC co-funding.
It's also launching the first government-backed fund of funds for alternative funding for VCs and equity investment funds.
A valuable R&D testbed
Moldova is a valuable testbed for both local and in the future international startups — the recently adopted Energy Sandbox law promotes space for R&D and product testing in energy and renewables, for example.
As Namashco explains, 'It's cheaper to test things here—customer acquisition and marketing costs are lower than in Romania, Estonia, or the Nordics."
However, he notes that if a founder says they only want to launch locally, that's a red flag:
"The Moldovan market is just too small for venture-backed startups. There's a place for lifestyle businesses, sure. But scalable technology should scale, ideally with marginal cost."
So, where is there room to improve?
A recurring theme in my conversations across Moldova is around a lack of sales and marketing staff. Namashco says, "Culturally, we're not natural sellers."
Why has Moldova's startup ecosystem been slow to evolve?
I wondered why Moldova have been slower in terms of startups than contemporaries like Romania, Estonia, and Lithuania.
Namashco asserts that first, it's about politics:
"Estonia cut ties with Russia early and started liberal, pro-tech reforms in the 2000s. That helped create a favourable climate for investment.
Their government-backed fund-of-funds model also played a significant role.
Second, luck—Skype opened an office in Estonia, not Moldova. That mattered."
Third comes the mindset. According to Namashco, Moldovans still carry a post-Soviet mentality.
"We're not natural entrepreneurs like Americans. We're better at delivery than at bold vision or sexy storytelling. Most of our IT sector is outsourcing.
However, Endava was founded in Moldova and IPO'd on the NYSE with a $8b market cap. But it was an outsourcing firm, not a product company.
Who might be the first Moldovan unicorns?
While there are no unicorns in Moldova yet, two names I heard bandied about are parking tech startup Parkopedia – as acquired by EasyPark Group in February this year — and Bloomcoding which teaches kids to code.
There's also women-led healthtech company Aspect Health, focused on addressing hormonal imbalances and metabolic health issues that uniquely affect women, such as PCOS, menopause, and fertility challenges.
And another earlier standout Simpals — Moldova's largest tech company, which is known for operating several of the country's most visited websites, including:
- 999.md: The largest online classifieds platform in Moldova
- Point.md: A comprehensive news and information portal
- Stiri.md: A news aggregator
- Play.md: An online video platform
- Forum.md: A community discussion forum
It also operates an in-house studio that makes short films and promotes sports and community engagement in Moldova by organising events such as the Chișinău International Marathon.
It also spun out SONR, a wearable waterproof communication system using bone conduction to enable real-time interaction between swim coaches and their athletes during training sessions.
Further, the startup scene is maturing, and several promising companies are beginning to attract attention:
Startups to watch
Argus AI
The brainchild of Neurosurgeon Alexandru Andrusca and AI specialist Vladimir Verbulski, Argus AI is working to help surgeons achieve better patient outcomes by leveraging AI and VR/AR technologies.
NodeShift
NodeShift focuses on optimising cloud infrastructure costs for businesses. Providing tools to manage and reduce cloud expenditures offers significant value to companies leveraging cloud services.
Renter
Renter is an electric bike rental service explicitly tailored for couriers and delivery professionals.
Each e-bike comes equipped with two batteries, giving riders an extended range of up to 120 km per day, perfect for long shifts.
Offering flexible weekly or monthly rental plans and all-inclusive maintenance, Renter offers an affordable, reliable, and convenient solution for couriers looking to maximise their productivity and comfort on the job.
Robolex
Robolex is an AI-powered legal automation platform designed to help lawyers, legal teams, and law firms streamline and automate repetitive legal tasks.
Automate claims, debt recovery, and legal document drafting in seconds, freeing professionals from time-consuming manual processes like drafting documents, checking compliance, and calculating penalties.
Lead image: Freepik.
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