I had the pleasure to attend the ROPEA hashtag#Gala2025. It was a full house event in the Grand Ballroom of InterContinental Athénée Palace Bucharest as the association celebrated hashtag#20Years and its most active year yet with 75 members and the significant increase in fund raising over the past 2.

Some ideas to hold on to:
– Horia Manda invoked the times of the inauguration in 2005, when the association was called SouthEastPEA, had 6 members in total, with only 2 from Romania
–Cristian Nacu & Minister Dragos Paslaru mentioned that the association and ecosystem grew in bursts, driven mainly by the 2018 and 2022 fund allocations funelled through European Investment Fund (EIF) and that the journey will continue
– Martin Bresson– Public Affairs Director of Invest Europe reminded us that, although at another scale, the PE&VC challenges are the same across the continent. The European industry and economies are loosing because of poorly and passively allocated funds with limited value generation
– Horia-Roman Patapievici reminded us in his keynote speech that we nees to DARE, even if things seem initially impossible. The great nations are the ones that transform the impossible into reality! His closing remark has been derived from the “talants” parable and was to DARE to Multiply the Value

The hashtag#Gala continued with the award ceremony. Congrats to all winners such as Regina Maria for the Exit of the year, Early Game Ventures for the most active VC or BibleChat and Druid etc for their achieveemnts and giving hope of the growth and consolidation of both PE and VC industries .

Such an occasion always a great opportunity to build or consolidate trust and awareness, but this year the PR teams flexed the muscles a bit too hard and the schedules derailed with 2 aditional hours 🙄. With the room full till the end, that just confirms the resilience and committment this industry has 😁

hashtag#InvestimInRomania