#Community
Startups Change Moldovan Future
“When a startup from Moldova raises millions abroad, that’s validation that our products and teams have real international potential,” says Olga Melniciuc from Startup Moldova.
24 Nov 2025
CEO of Startup Moldova, Olga Melniciuc, notes that Moldova is only at the beginning of its prosperity. Photo credit: Startup Moldova
Once better known for its vineyards and remittances, Moldova now fosters a growing number of ventures that span fintech, medtech, robotics, agritech, cybersecurity, and creative tech. The country's circumstances - like a 7% flat-tax tech zone, evolving instant payments and many others - have turned it into a sandbox.
Innovation as Infrastructure
“To me, the turning point came when Moldovan startups began raising millions in international funding,” says Olga Melniciuc, CEO of Startup Moldova. “That’s validation from investors that the talent and products coming from Moldova can compete globally.”
A few years ago, when Olga took over Startup Moldova, she found herself explaining her job at family dinners more than in boardrooms. “People would ask: why would you leave business to work with startups? And what even is a startup, just small newly established companies?” she recalls. To people around her, the whole thing sounded like charity work for dreamers. But Olga had a different answer. “I started telling them about Uber, Spotify, and Netflix. I’d say, ‘Imagine if you had invested when no one believed in them.’ And then I’d add - now we have startups like that too. Right here.”
She gives a vivid example right away. One of the Moldovan diamonds is Argus AI. The company develops virtual reality tools that help neurosurgeons simulate and plan surgeries using detailed 3D anatomical models. Created in close collaboration between engineers and practicing clinicians, the system allows surgeons to pre-visualize critical procedures based on patient-specific MRI and CT scans. After initial deployments in Chișinău hospitals, Argus AI is now seeking European medical certification.
Argus AI hints at what is ahead for Moldova’s health tech sector. Its early success stems from Moldova’s rare combination of regulatory flexibility, medical accessibility, and close-knit collaboration between surgeons and engineers. Photo credit: Iurie Gandrabura
Then, in the industrial robotics segment, Moldovan co-founder Dorin Cerbu from XiniX AI has introduced a prototype called “Sprout”. It’s a flexible robot designed to navigate pipes and confined environments for inspection and monitoring. Its goal is to improve safety and efficiency in sectors where human entry is hazardous. The team received a European Innovation Award in 2025 and is currently piloting the solution with industrial partners.
“What impressed me wasn’t just the technology,” says Melniciuc. “It’s how quickly teams iterate, test, and support each other even at international summits, founders jump in to help each other sell when needed. That community spirit is what makes people keep going.”
“We’re seeing more than just startups launching. We’re seeing usage, revenue, and resilience,” says Melniciuc. “And the volume of capital raised? It’s doubled since last year, from $7.9M in 2024 to over $15M already in 2025.”
Xinix built a robot that folds out like a sock and can access very narrow spaces, where it would be dangerous for humans to enter. Photo credit: Odense Robotcs Startup Fund / screenshot
Moldova as Launchpad, Not Destination
Most of Moldovan startups have a firm connection with two institutions. The first is the aforementioned Startup Moldova, the national support platform that connects founders with mentors, grants, and global partners. The second is the Moldova Innovation Technology Park (MITP), a digital jurisdiction offering simplified registration, streamlined regulation, and a flat 7% tax for tech companies.
In collaboration with those two, Parkopedia is another example of how far Moldova can go. The company’s founder Eugene Tsyrklevich was born and raised in Moldova, launched everything in London and still has a majority of his team in Moldova’s capital, Chisinau. Today, under MITP’s flat tax, Parkopedia’s Moldova office handles core backend and AI features. Despite his global trajectory, Tsyrklevich still serves on Startup Moldova’s board.
“When I launched Parkopedia, I had no investors, no contacts, and no team,” Eugene Tsyrklevich, founder and CEO at Parkopedia, recalled. Photo credit: Iurie Gandrabura
“This is what we aim to do,” Melniciuc says. “Even when startups set up headquarters abroad, they often keep development in Moldova because of cost, because of community, and because they want to give back.”
She also points to companies like Aspect Health, founded by a young Moldovan from the Transnistrian region. Within months, the women’s health platform raised more than $10 million and broke into the U.S. market.
“It’s exactly the kind of story you could never have expected to happen. And yet, it did. That’s our strength,” she says. “Our market is small, but that is what forces founders to build globally from day one. They’re not stuck optimizing for the local niche, they’re testing for New York or Berlin from the start.”
Moldova’s startup push is also backed by high-level political momentum. In 2024, the government launched the creation of the country’s first Moldova High Tech Park. It’s a multimillion initiative to support researchers, corporations, and early-stage startups. “We have young people returning home to build industrial robots and electronic chips. This initiative will help connect universities and companies, and draw long-term capital into innovation,” ex-prime minister Dorin Recean said.
At Moldova Business Week 2025, Recean reaffirmed the country’s ambition to become a global innovation platform: “Moldova is increasingly integrating into the global economy. We are a fertile ground for investors.” He emphasized the role of digital public services, MITP’s tax regime, and industrial infrastructure in “creating new opportunities for businesses to operate and attract global talent.”
A Future With Ambition and Stability
For the ecosystem to grow steadily, Moldova has already given birth to a few important fintech companies.
Finergy, a startup founded by two experienced professionals from the banking sector, builds digital infrastructure for Moldova’s new real-time payment system. Its core product, miaPOS, connects directly to the national Instant Payments network (MIA) and the European SEPA system, enabling transactions to clear in seconds. Unlike traditional card payments or wire transfers, Finergy’s miaPOS reduces reliance on hardware terminals and simplifies settlements for businesses of all sizes. The platform now serves both private companies and government entities, with implementation rooted entirely in Chișinău.
Then Sirius, another Moldovan fintech company, focuses on digitizing accounting and is designed to replace outdated software in small businesses. Sirius automates invoicing, tax reporting, and payment tracking. In 2025, the platform surpassed €150,000 in processed invoices per day.
Several big Moldovan banks use Finergy’s tech . Photo credit: Iurie Gandrabura
Despite the challenges, Melniciuc sees Moldova’s constraints as part of its power. “We haven’t peaked yet,” she says. “We’re still early in the curve, barely at the blade of the hockey stick, getting the proper momentum to scale. The slope is upward. And fast.”
Melniciuc underlines: “What seems like a disadvantage – small market, fewer resources – actually makes our founders sharper. Start here, and you’re battle-tested for anywhere.”
Leave your email to subscribe to our newsletters *
By subscribing you agree with our Privacy Policy
© 2024 Startup Moldova Foundation. All rights reserved.
