00September 22–25, 2026
How It Went
Eight investors and founders from Silicon Valley and New York spent the week in Timișoara.
Two days of pre-matched 1:1 meetings at Jecza Gallery, on investment, U.S. market entry, growth financing and commercial partnerships. Between them, a roundtable on the region’s own ecosystem with Politehnica Timișoara, ADR Vest, Vest Ventures, Asternova Vest and Growceanu, alongside delegates from Cogito Capital Partners and Full In Partners.
On Thursday, the AmCham Romania conference at Timișoara Convention Center, with the support of the U.S. Embassy, was fully booked. A hundred and fifty business leaders, and two panels: how companies from here reach the American market, and how American capital reaches here.
What the week produces will be measured in the months after it: the follow-up meetings, the partnerships, the investments, and the doors they open for everyone building here.
01Two days of private 1:1s
The Summit
U.S. managing partners and company founders came to Timișoara for two working days of 1:1 meetings with Romanian founders, funds, companies and universities. A 150-seat conference followed on Thursday.
Every delegate came in person, holding the authority to assess an investment, commission work or form a partnership.
02Facts
At a Glance
- When
- September 22–25, 2026
- Where
- Timișoara, Romania
- U.S. delegation
- Individually selected, by invitation
- Core format
- Two days of pre-matched 1:1 meetings
- Conference
- Thursday, September 24, Timișoara Convention Center
- Language
- English
03Value
What Each Side Gets
Romanian funds and companies
Romanian funds and companies met U.S. fund partners, founders and operating executives whose interests were reviewed before they travelled. The delegation includes funds looking for local co-investors, and for portfolio companies that have outgrown what a Romanian round can carry.
Each delegate brings a network the room does not contain: operators and co-investors across the Bay Area.
Romanian startup founders
Selected founders were profiled in the packet delegates read before they landed, so the first meeting opened with someone who had already read about the company.
Founders were matched only with investors whose thesis fit what they were building, and met them 1:1.
For most of them, this is where a U.S. network started.
U.S. delegates
Venture capital in Romania is close to a hundred times what it was a decade ago, according to the World Bank. The companies worth backing today were built before that money arrived. The ones being started now are the first to have it.
Across the table were Romanian founders, funds, enterprise decision-makers, the regional agency that funds expansion and research, and the technical university whose graduates work at UiPath, Intel, AMD and Google.
Three days at the same table. What began there is what compounds.
04Two private days, one public
Agenda
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Tue Sep 22
Arrival
The delegation arrived. A small dinner that evening, so people met before the working days began.
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Wed Sep 23
Private delegation day
A full day of 1:1 meetings and focused roundtables at Jecza Gallery, covering investment pipelines, U.S. market entry, growth financing, commercial partnerships, research and development, and university collaboration. It closed with a private dinner.
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Thu Sep 24
Meetings and the conference
Matched meetings continued alongside the AmCham Romania conference, where two panels placed the private discussions in a wider economic context.
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Fri Sep 25
Farewell brunch
Optional follow-up meetings and departures.
Private meetings were matched and confirmed in advance.
05Select delegation
The Delegation
A delegation of managing partners and company founders, from the Bay Area, New York and across the United States.
Each delegate was invited on the strength of a stated interest in Romania, a concrete contribution and a clear objective for the week. They arrived with a brief of their own.
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Martin Jasinski Managing Partner, Cogito Capital Partners · New York Early growth · €125 million fund · €5 to €15 million per company -
Zach Coelius Founder & Managing Partner, Coelius Capital · San Francisco Seed · up to $1 million per company · fourth fund -
Scott Hartley Managing Partner, Everywhere Ventures · New York Seed · $100M+ · 300 companies in 30 countries -
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Tanya Dadasheva Co-founder & CEO, Ainekko · San Francisco Bay Area Open-source AI silicon · RISC-V, from model to chip -
Roman Shaposhnik Co-founder & Head of Software, Ainekko · San Francisco Bay Area Apache Software Foundation board · co-founder and CTO of ZEDEDA
Their mandates span early-stage venture, growth software investment, enterprise AI, financial infrastructure, AI chips, sovereign data infrastructure, aerospace and dual-use technology, with check sizes from $500,000 to $15 million.
06Selection
The Romanian Side
The Romanian side was selected on the same standard as the delegation, from Timișoara, Cluj-Napoca, Bucharest, Oradea and the wider region. Every meeting had a clear reason to happen and a credible next step if both sides wanted to continue.
The funds in the room were the ones deploying now and able to write into the same round as a U.S. investor. The startups were the ones with a live path into the United States, or technology that had already drawn American interest unprompted. The rest of the room was people whose work already has peers outside Romania.
Delegates left with a short list of Romanian counterparts they intend to keep working with. That list is the week’s real output.
07September 24
The Conference
AI & Business Perspectives, AmCham Romania’s regional conference in Timișoara.
A half-day conference in English, and the public day of the summit. U.S. investors and technology founders, Romanian and regional business leaders, AmCham Romania members and U.S. companies already operating in Romania meet around two panels, on Romanian technology scaling to the United States and on venture capital, followed by a networking lunch.
Where
Timișoara Convention Center
1-3 Mărășești Street, Timișoara
When
Thursday, September 24
10:00 to 13:00, doors at 9:30
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9:30–10:00
Registration and welcome coffee
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10:00–10:10
Welcome remarks Letiția Pupăzeanu, Executive Director, American Chamber of Commerce in Romania Brittany Banta, Senior Commercial Officer, U.S. Embassy in Romania
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10:10–10:25
Remarks Dominic Fritz, Mayor of Timișoara Sorin Maxim, General Director, Regional Development Agency West Florin Drăgan, Rector, Politehnica University of Timișoara
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10:25–11:05
Panel 1 Romania’s Technology Prowess Scaling to America Moderated by Dragoș Stanca, Founder, Upgrade 100 Alexandre Lazarow, Managing Partner, Fluent Ventures Sabin Totorean, Country Senior Officer, Nokia Romania Scott Hartley, Managing Partner, Everywhere Ventures Remus Radvan, Chief of Staff, FlowX.ai
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11:05–11:10
Q&A
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11:10–11:50
Panel 2 Fueling Innovation: Venture Capital, Startups, and Scaling from Romania Moderated by Dragoș Stanca, Founder, Upgrade 100 Zach Coelius, Founder & Managing Partner, Coelius Capital Ioana Ștefănuț, General Partner, Asternova Vest Martin Jasinski, Managing Partner, Cogito Capital Partners Andrei Munteanu, Co-founder & Programs Managing Director, Vest Ventures
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11:50–11:55
Q&A
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11:55–12:00
Closing remarks Ionuț Alexandru Antiu, Organizer, U.S.-Romania AI & Business Summit
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12:00–13:00
Networking lunch
Free to attend, by registration in advance through AmCham Romania. One representative per company, at CEO or C-level. Every seat was taken.
08Context
Why Romania
Romania has been a member of NATO since 2004, the European Union since 2007 and the Schengen area since 2025. Romanian students place consistently among the leading national teams at the International Mathematical Olympiad.
Google runs its largest wearables development center in EMEA here, shipping features to Pixel users worldwide. Adobe runs its largest EMEA research center in Bucharest. AMD designs in Iași, Intel in Timișoara. The case for Romania rests on that engineering base and the growth of local capital.
Timișoara
Timișoara is the city from which Romania turned west in 1989, and European Capital of Culture in 2023. Around 250,000 people live in the city and more than 400,000 in the metropolitan area. Politehnica Timișoara anchors the country’s third largest technology workforce: Intel runs its Romanian AI silicon work here, Nokia develops Open RAN, and Continental builds driver-assistance systems. The city is compact, which keeps formal meetings and unhurried conversation in the same few streets.
The relationships between U.S. capital and Romanian technology are still being formed. Capital moves in a quarter. Knowing a company well enough to answer the phone takes years.
09Organizers
Who Convenes It
Partner
The convening partner for U.S.-Romania business since 1993, with more than 600 member companies including major Fortune 500 companies operating in Romania.
Partner
The regional development agency for West Romania.
Partner
The technical university behind the region’s engineering and research base.
Partner
The first venture capital fund dedicated to West Romania, investing in pre-seed technology startups across the region.
Partner
A €37 million venture capital fund for seed and Series A companies in West Romania, managed by Paris-based Aster Capital.
Ionuț Alexandru Antiu
Organizer
Technology entrepreneur and fractional CTO for U.S. enterprises and startups for over ten years, including Western Digital, SanDisk, Upthere and Bluescape. Based in Timișoara.
Community partners
The community of founders and makers in Timișoara.
Equity-free startup accelerator in Piatra Neamț, powered by the North-East Development Agency and ranked among Europe’s leading start-up hubs by the Financial Times.
10Media
Press
AmCham Romania
[email protected]Ionuț Alexandru Antiu
[email protected]For background, interviews and photographs. The summit took place from September 22 to 25, 2026 in Timișoara.
About the U.S.-Romania AI & Business Summit
The U.S.-Romania AI & Business Summit was an invitation-only delegation and public conference organized by Ionuț Alexandru Antiu in partnership with the American Chamber of Commerce in Romania, ADR Vest, Politehnica Timișoara, Vest Ventures and Asternova Vest. It ran September 22 to 25, 2026 in Timișoara. A select delegation of U.S. investors and technology founders met Romanian founders, funds, companies, universities and public institutions across two days of pre-matched 1:1 meetings, followed by a conference for 150 attendees.