A new generation of highly ambitious tech and AI entrepreneurs is emerging across Southeast Europe, and 100 of the region’s most promising startups are about to be placed in front of influential investors, buyers and tech leaders shaping the global digital economy.

GITEX AI Belgrade today launched SEE 100, an initiative selecting 100 tech and AI startups from across the region to feature at its inaugural edition from 25-27 May 2027, taking place as the official technology and business event of EXPO 2027 BELGRADE.

Hosted by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia, SEE 100 is designed to give early- and late-stage companies direct access to the GITEX network, the world’s largest AI and technology ecosystem network, spanning six continents and 14 markets, annually converging 18,200 tech companies and 5,050 investors managing US$ 3.5 trillion worth of assets.

At the launch of SEE 100 today, Marko Čadež, President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia, said: “Southeast Europe’s startups possess both the technical ingenuity and the entrepreneurial ambition to compete worldwide, but talent alone doesn’t open doors in global markets; the right network does. SEE 100 puts our region’s most innovative minds in close proximity to the investors, buyers and partners who can take them international.”

“With EXPO 2027 bringing the world to Belgrade and GITEX bringing the global tech economy with it, there could not be a better moment for our region’s startups to demonstrate not simply the depth of talent, but the scale and sophistication of the innovation being built here.”

The Expo multiplier for a startup ecosystem growing 40% year on year

SEE 100 arrives as investor confidence in the region reaches new heights. Venture capital investment in Southeast Europe surged nearly 40% in 2025 to €398 million, with capital flowing into enterprise software, cybersecurity, aerospace hardware and industrial tech. SEE 100 will now accelerate this momentum.

The timing is fitting. As the official technology and business event of EXPO 2027 BELGRADE, GITEX AI Belgrade will take place when high-level ministerial, business, technology and investment delegations from the 140 countries will be in the city. For Southeast Europe’s startups, it offers a level of international exposure seldom available so close to home.

From regional champions to global contenders

Each of the 100 selected startups will exhibit from a dedicated branded pod at GITEX AI Belgrade, with around 95% of participation fees covered by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia. 

SEE 100 will also introduce ‘SEE Fintech – Powered by AiKBank’, a dedicated fintech category designed to move promising startups beyond visibility and into direct engagement with one of the region’s leading banking teams. One standout finalist will earn an exclusive AiKBank growth opportunity, combining a one-week technical speedrun with the bank’s technical team, access to senior leadership, and follow-on sponsorship for international expansion trips in 2027 and 2028.

The programme begins even before GITEX AI Belgrade kicks off, with two curated virtual workshops in March 2027 where investors and accelerators will work with founders to sharpen their pitch and growth strategy.

During the event, a dedicated matchmaking service will orchestrate hundreds of meetings between SEE 100 startups, investors and corporate buyers, turning visibility into commercial partnerships, pilots and investment. 

Selected startups will also be eligible to compete in the Supernova Challenge, one of the world’s largest startup competitions, offering a cash prize pool and acceleration support package.

SEE 100 is supported by a network of regional ecosystem partners, including Netokracija, SEE UP, Startup Cafe, Startup Club Skopje, and The Recursive, extending the programme’s reach into founder communities across Southeast Europe.

Dušan Obradović, Founder and CEO, SEE UP Accelerator, said, “Across Southeast Europe, we see founders building genuinely competitive products, but the biggest challenge is gaining access to the right customers, investors and commercial partners early enough to scale.” 

“SEE 100 by GITEX AI Belgrade can help close that gap by giving 100 promising startups a direct route into an international network. For us at SEE UP, that is what ecosystem building should deliver: practical connections that help founders turn strong products into real sales, investment and expansion beyond their home markets.”

A geography of new talent

SEE 100 is open to startups headquartered or registered in Serbia, Romania, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania, Greece, Bulgaria and North Macedonia, as well as companies founded or co-founded by entrepreneurs from those countries. A committee of ecosystem experts will assess applications on innovation, business model, scalability and the strength of the founding team.

SEE 100 is built on a proven track record across the GITEX network. First launched as Morocco 100 at GITEX Africa, the initiative became a sought-after fixture within the continent’s startup community, expanding this year to spotlight 300 startups. The model was also extended to the Egypt 100, creating another gateway for local founders into the wider GITEX ecosystem.

GITEX AI Belgrade will bring the global technology economy to Southeast Europe at scale, convening over 700 enterprises and startups and over 200 investors managing US$50 billion in assets, alongside business and tech executives from more than 120 countries.

For three days, Belgrade will become a global convergence hub for capital, innovation and commercial ambition; a high-density marketplace where investment conversations can scale startups, pilots can become deployments, and regional companies can begin mapping their route into international markets.

Applications for SEE100 will close on 27 November 2026. To apply, visit link https://innovate.expandnorthstar.com/en/challenges/see100-2027 

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As cities become increasingly dependent on e-commerce and on-demand services, urban logistics is reaching a turning point. Every retailer, marketplace and delivery platform building its own fleet may no longer be the most efficient model.

A growing number of innovators believe the future of last-mile delivery lies in collaboration rather than ownership. Instead of adding more vehicles to already crowded streets, the next generation of logistics platforms aims to connect the capacity that already exists.

One of them is HiO, a Romanian startup founded by logistics entrepreneur Bogdan Termure, whose vision is to create a shared digital infrastructure for urban deliveries. Rather than competing with existing courier companies, HiO connects marketplaces, retailers and logistics providers into a single ecosystem, helping them make better use of available resources.

Why Cities Need Shared Logistics

Last-mile delivery has become one of the fastest-growing segments of urban mobility, but also one of its most fragmented.

Marketplaces, retailers and logistics companies often operate independently, investing in separate fleets that frequently overlap geographically while leaving significant capacity unused.

HiO approaches the problem differently.

“Our role is to understand where demand exists and move fleets in a way that they can cover their idle time,” explains Bogdan Termure. Instead of building another delivery network, the platform orchestrates existing logistics resources, creating a more efficient ecosystem for every participant.

From Competition to Collaboration

Termure has worked in logistics since 2011, giving him a front-row seat to the rapid evolution of the delivery industry. One of the biggest lessons, he says, is that operational excellence eventually outweighs branding.

In the early days of on-demand delivery, many platforms insisted that every courier should carry their own branded equipment. Over time, however, customers proved to value reliability, speed and affordability far more than the logo on a delivery bag.

“What matters is that the service is done well—not necessarily who delivers it,” is the conclusion the industry gradually reached, according to Termure. Delays, high costs and inconsistent service ultimately have a much greater impact on customer satisfaction than visual branding.

Why Marketplaces Are Rethinking Delivery

Another trend reshaping the sector is the growing separation between commerce and logistics.

Rather than investing heavily in delivery operations, marketplaces increasingly focus on connecting buyers and sellers while outsourcing fulfilment to specialised logistics partners.

According to Termure, this model is not only operationally simpler but often more profitable. Marketplaces can concentrate on generating transactions and platform revenue, while dedicated logistics providers handle deliveries more efficiently.

HiO positions itself as the technological layer that enables this collaboration between retailers, marketplaces and delivery fleets.

Building the Digital Infrastructure for Smarter Cities

To accelerate this vision, HiO secured funding through a European Union research programme.

The objective extends beyond improving deliveries for individual businesses. The project aims to create a digital platform capable of interconnecting all logistics actors within a city, allowing them to share resources and collaborate instead of duplicating infrastructure.

For smaller businesses, the impact could be significant. Instead of investing in vehicles, drivers and operational capacity that may remain underutilised, they gain access to logistics services on demand.

“If everyone starts building their own fleets, it becomes a nightmare,” says Termure. “Small companies often don’t have the resources to build and maintain their own logistics operations.”

Beyond Last-Mile Delivery

HiO’s vision reflects a broader shift taking place across Europe’s innovation ecosystem.

As cities search for ways to reduce congestion, improve sustainability and make better use of existing infrastructure, collaborative logistics is emerging as an increasingly attractive model. The future may not belong to the companies with the largest fleets, but to those capable of connecting them intelligently.

For HiO, the ambition is not to become another delivery company. It is to build the digital infrastructure that allows urban logistics to function as a connected ecosystem—where retailers, marketplaces and logistics providers all benefit from shared capacity, lower costs and smarter resource allocation.

The post Shared Fleets, Smarter Cities: The Future of Urban Logistics appeared first on Startups&TheCity.

The new generation of entrepreneurs no longer accepts financial chaos and is looking for solutions that give them real control over their businesses.

In Romania, for many small businesses, the biggest problem is not a lack of customers, but a lack of financial clarity. Unpaid invoices, records kept in Excel, deadlines set by ANAF (the Romanian tax authority), a constant lack of visibility into cash flow, and a veritable “zoo” of disconnected tools for accounting, issuing documents, and processing payments are common realities for local businesses. In addition, many founders lack the technical knowledge needed to connect all these services into a functioning system themselves.

Although digitalisation has advanced in many areas, financial management remains a fragmented, complex, and time-consuming process for many.

A Real Need for Simplification

More and more entrepreneurs are beginning to understand that the problem is not the volume of work, but the lack of a coherent system. Simply issuing invoices is no longer enough. They need organisation, visibility, and real-time control.

The solution is designed specifically for small businesses and freelancers who want to issue invoices that comply with legal requirements without having to buy expensive accounting software, pay monthly subscription fees, or deal with a complicated setup.

Pureconto is opening its early access programme, and interested entrepreneurs can already join the waiting list on the platform’s website.

Pureconto: A New Player in the Romanian Market

In this context, Pureconto is announcing its entry into the Romanian market through a partnership with Pop-Up Media.

The platform is designed to eliminate chaos and bring essential functions together in one place: issuing and tracking invoices, organising income, and gaining a clear picture of their financial situation, without requiring advanced technical knowledge.

At the heart of the solution are tools developed for the practical needs of freelancers, service providers, and microbusinesses. The invoicing service enables users to generate accurate invoices quickly without the monthly cost of cumbersome software, while integrated payment links allow clients to pay invoices directly, reducing the time between issuing an invoice and receiving payment.

Everything works as a unified system: the invoice and the payment option are included in the same document, while entrepreneurs can track what they have issued and what they have collected in one place.

The platform was built with the understanding that businesses are no longer limited to a single country:

“A freelancer in Bucharest works just as often with a client in Ljubljana, Slovenia, as with one in Cluj. The platform needs to work just as simply in both situations: the same invoice, the same payment collection process, regardless of where the client is based.” — Klemen K., Pureconto

The solution aims to eliminate unnecessary complexity, replace the multitude of scattered applications, and give users straightforward control over their businesses.

A Fintech with Big Ambitions

Pureconto is not just another invoicing app, but a fintech platform with global ambitions. In July, Alex Kshutashvili joined the team, bringing experience from launching more than 22 fintech projects worldwide. He joined as a strategic investor, contributing his expertise to ensure a successful launch and the project’s rapid growth.

Why Romania: Plans for Q3 and Q4 2026

The local market is maturing rapidly. The growing number of freelancers and microbusinesses creates favourable conditions for adopting digital solutions that simplify operational processes.

As part of the partnership with Pop-Up Media, the main objective for Q3 and Q4 2026 is to work closely with its first users (early adopters). Their feedback will help refine the platform into the most robust and convenient solution for the Romanian market. In addition, the company has expressed its intention to invest in the local ecosystem and hire talent in Romania.

“In a new market, visibility creates opportunity, but local relevance drives adoption. For Pureconto, we are building a differentiated position around one clear advantage: bringing invoicing and payment collection together in a single experience for local and international entrepreneurs.” — Loredana Lavric, Founder & CMO, Pop-Up Media

A Step Towards Greater Control

Pureconto’s entry into Romania marks a clear direction: a shift from technical chaos and fragmented processes to simple, clear, and accessible systems. For entrepreneurs who want greater financial clarity without unnecessary software costs, solutions like this are becoming a necessity.

The post Pureconto Enters the Romanian Market in Partnership with Pop-Up Media appeared first on Startups&TheCity.

When conversations turn to innovation, the vocabulary is remarkably predictable. Artificial intelligence, startups, venture capital, smart cities and emerging technologies dominate the discussion, while urban innovation is often reduced to sensors, digital platforms and new infrastructure.

Yet some of the most meaningful innovations emerge without inventing anything at all.

Sometimes they begin by looking differently at what already exists.

The first edition of Night of the Churches, held in Cluj-Napoca this summer, offers a compelling example. More than 20,000 people visited eighteen places of worship belonging to six different religious denominations during a single evening.

Churches that many residents pass every day became spaces for guided tours, concerts, conversations, architectural discovery and community gatherings.

The event was widely covered as a cultural success. What received far less attention, however, was the innovation model behind it.

In a conversation following the event, Andi Daiszler, president of the Daisler Association and one of the project’s initiators, repeatedly returned to a simple idea: innovation is not necessarily about creating something new, but about recombining what already exists.

“We just took what we had here in Cluj, put it together, gave it another perspective and presented it differently.”

That sentence may be the most interesting takeaway from the entire project.

Rediscovering the invisible city

Cities accumulate assets over centuries. Historic buildings, public squares, industrial sites, inner courtyards and religious landmarks form layers of infrastructure that often become almost invisible to those who live alongside them. Familiarity breeds indifference.

Night of the Churches challenged that perception by treating religious heritage not merely as a collection of sacred buildings, but as part of the city’s cultural infrastructure.

The churches themselves were never the innovation.

The innovation was changing the relationship between citizens and places they thought they already knew.

This distinction matters because it shifts the conversation away from investment towards imagination. Rather than asking what a city should build next, the project asks a more provocative question: what existing assets are we failing to see?

Daiszler believes the same approach could extend far beyond churches.

A “Night of the Courtyards.” A “Night of the Factories.” Other overlooked places that already exist, waiting to be experienced differently.

“The potential is there,” he told me. “What is needed are the people willing to make it happen.”

Trust as civic infrastructure

If the physical infrastructure already existed, another form of infrastructure had to be built from scratch: trust.

Bringing together six religious denominations in a common initiative had never been attempted in Romania. Rather than approaching each community individually, the organisers first sought institutional legitimacy by asking the Prefect of Cluj to invite every recognised religious denomination to participate.

It was a strategic decision.

An invitation coming from a public institution carried a different weight than one coming from an NGO. The organisers recognised that credibility, in this context, was as important as creativity.

Only after that initial layer of trust was established could the real collaboration begin.

This may be one of the strongest lessons for founders, civic entrepreneurs and city makers alike. We often think of infrastructure as roads, buildings or digital networks. Yet projects involving multiple organisations frequently succeed or fail because of a less visible form of infrastructure: the ability to build confidence between partners who have never worked together before.

Innovation, in other words, is often social before it is technological.

Seeing beyond a building’s primary function

One idea from the interview stayed with me long after we finished talking.

“We look at a church only as a place for Sunday mass,” Daiszler said. “Just as we look at a car only as something that gets us from A to B.”

It is a simple observation, but it reveals a broader pattern in the way we think about cities.

Buildings become defined by a single purpose. Schools educate. Libraries lend books. Churches host religious services. Factories produce goods.

Urban innovation begins when those assumptions are challenged.

A church can also become a place for architecture, music, dialogue, exhibitions or simply curiosity. None of these new uses diminish its original purpose. Instead, they expand the ways in which citizens relate to it.

Perhaps the greatest untapped resource in many cities is not land or funding, but imagination.

Innovation without technological spectacle

One answer surprised me.

When I asked about the role of technology, Daiszler was unconvinced that the project needed more of it.

Night of the Churches, he argued, was never intended to be a showcase for digital experiences. Its value came precisely from face-to-face encounters, conversations and shared experiences inside physical spaces.

He was equally dismissive of another common assumption—that more resources automatically produce better innovation.

With unlimited funding, he suggested, the project might actually lose some of the creativity born from constraints.

It’s an uncomfortable idea in an era that often equates scale with success.

Yet many breakthrough civic initiatives begin with modest budgets and strong ideas rather than the other way around.

Communication that invited curiosity

Another understated strength of the project was the way it was communicated.

There were no grand promises or exaggerated claims. The organisers did not try to convince people to become more religious, nor did they present the event as an extraordinary spectacle.

Instead, they offered a simple invitation: come and rediscover your city.

That message attracted audiences well beyond traditional churchgoers. Curiosity—not ideology—became the common denominator.

It is a reminder that communication can shape participation as much as the programme itself does.

A broader lesson for cities

With a second edition already planned, Night of the Churches has the opportunity to evolve from a successful cultural event into a replicable model of civic innovation.

Its greatest achievement may not be the number of visitors it attracted, but the perspective it introduced: that cities do not always need new landmarks to become more vibrant. Sometimes they simply need new ways of experiencing the ones they already have.

If that idea encourages other communities to rethink their own overlooked assets—whether churches, inner courtyards, former industrial sites or public buildings—then the project’s most lasting legacy may not be the event itself, but the mindset it inspires.

The post What If Urban Innovation Isn’t About Building Something New? appeared first on Startups&TheCity.

For most navigation apps, the shortest or fastest route is the default choice. Romanian startup Defensive Pedal is taking a different approach: helping cyclists reach their destination using the safest route instead.

Among the startups showcased in the Techsylvania Startup Alley, Defensive Pedal has developed a navigation app that analyzes road infrastructure, traffic conditions, weather, and dozens of other variables to recommend routes that minimize cycling risk rather than travel time.

“We’re essentially building Google Maps for safe cycling,” said Victor Rotariu, founder of Defensive Pedal, during an interview with Startups&TheCity.

A risk algorithm built on European cycling data

At the core of Defensive Pedal is a proprietary risk-scoring algorithm developed using European cycling accident data and extensive rider feedback.

According to Rotariu, the first versions of the model were validated with input from over 2,400 cyclists, while the current algorithm evaluates approximately 80 different factors that influence cycling safety.

Most of these variables relate to infrastructure, including:

• road type;
• roundabouts;
• tunnels;
• parks;
• road curvature;
• traffic models;
• weather conditions.

Rather than relying solely on mapping data, the platform combines multiple public datasets with its own analytical model to generate a safety score for every road segment.

According to the team, routes generated by Defensive Pedal are currently 2.1 times safer than the default cycling routes in Romania. The claim is based on an internal validation in which the startup compared 10,149 routes generated by the Defensive Pedal algorithm with Google Maps routes between the same randomly selected origin and destination pairs across Romania. The safety assessment used the company’s proprietary risk model, which incorporates cyclist risk factors identified in official European research on the causes of cycling accidents. 

AI continuously improves route recommendations

Although the core risk model is deterministic, Defensive Pedal adds an AI layer that continuously refines its recommendations.

As cyclists use the app, they can report unsafe locations, while anonymous usage data helps the system understand whether riders follow the suggested routes or choose alternatives. This feedback loop enables the algorithm to identify potentially dangerous areas that may not be evident from public data alone.

“The AI helps us continuously improve the quality of the safety ratings,” Rotariu explained.

Already live in Romania

The Android version of Defensive Pedal has been available for about two weeks and currently covers the entire Romanian road network. The iOS version also launched last week.

The startup has intentionally kept marketing efforts limited during the initial rollout, focusing instead on validating the product and collecting user feedback.

Even so, the platform has already attracted a few hundred active users from word of mouth alone, while approximately 900 cyclists have signed up for early access and are expected to join.

Helping cities improve cycling infrastructure

The technology is designed not only for individual cyclists but also for urban planners.

Defensive Pedal is collaborating with the World Bank on cycling consultancy projects, using its risk algorithm to identify dangerous streets and intersections at a highly detailed level.

Rather than simply highlighting that one city is safer than another, the platform can pinpoint exactly where infrastructure improvements would have the greatest impact on cyclist safety.

Rotariu said the company can already calculate safety scores for individual cities and plans to publish a city ranking covering most Romanian and European cities in the near future.

Expanding across Europe

While Romania serves as the startup’s launch market, the ambition is significantly broader.

The team plans to expand across the European Union within this year. Since much of the required infrastructure and traffic data is publicly available, adapting the platform to new countries is technically straightforward, although each market requires local validation, cyclist feedback, and adjustments to national traffic regulations.

A mixed business model

Defensive Pedal plans to monetize the platform through several complementary revenue streams.

The navigation app will remain free for basic users, while premium features are planned under a subscription model. Beyond consumer subscriptions, the company also sees commercial value in aggregated cycling intelligence.

Anonymous mobility insights can help outdoor brands, bicycle retailers, and local authorities better understand where cyclists travel and how infrastructure influences riding behavior, while municipalities can use the data to prioritize investments that improve cycling safety.

As cycling continues to gain momentum across European cities, Defensive Pedal is betting that safer navigation—and better data—can become essential infrastructure for both riders and the organizations building more bike-friendly urban environments.

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Artificial intelligence dominated the agenda at the fifth edition of UNCHAIN Festival, which brought together more than 1,000 financial and technology leaders from over 40 countries in Oradea. Across two days, 170 international speakers debated topics ranging from agentic AI and digital identity to stablecoins, the Digital Euro, fraud prevention, and the future of banking.

But after speaking with executives from Visa, Finshape, Creatio, Tremend, AMICredit, and disruptive strategy training & consultant Andrew Taylor, along with other companies building financial technology across Central and Eastern Europe, one thing became clear: the most interesting conversations were no longer about AI itself.

No one questioned whether artificial intelligence would reshape financial services. That debate appears to be over.

Instead, discussions focused on a different set of questions. How do banks integrate AI into decades-old core systems? How do they ensure compliance with increasingly complex regulations? How can organizations deploy AI without compromising trust, security, or customer experience? And perhaps most importantly, what happens to employees as intelligent agents begin taking over an increasing share of routine work?

Although each interview explored a different corner of the financial ecosystem—from payments and lending to insurance, CRM platforms and digital strategy—the same themes surfaced repeatedly. Together, they paint a picture of an industry moving beyond experimentation and into a far more demanding phase: implementation.

AI is no longer the question. Implementation is.

Perhaps the strongest common thread across all eleven interviews was how much the conversation around AI has matured.

Only a year or two ago, discussions at financial conferences often revolved around whether banks should embrace generative AI at all. At UNCHAIN Festival 2026, that question had effectively disappeared. Executives no longer debated the technology’s potential. Instead, they discussed deployment models, governance frameworks, customer trust, integration with legacy infrastructure, and measurable business outcomes.

Catalin Cretu, General Manager of Visa for Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia and Slovenia, pointed to changing consumer behaviour as evidence that the market has already moved forward.

“More than 50% of online users now use AI tools to search for products and compare prices,” he explained.

For Visa, that behavioural shift is driving the development of what the company calls agentic commerce, AI-powered assistants capable of searching for products, comparing offers, and eventually completing purchases on behalf of consumers. Rather than replacing existing payment infrastructure, these AI agents rely on trusted payment networks to authenticate users, prevent fraud, and execute transactions securely. Pilot projects are already underway, with broader deployment expected over the coming year.

The discussion at Finshape reflected a similar shift, but from the perspective of traditional banking.

“Banks are no longer asking whether AI works,” said Dan Toderici, Country Manager Romania at Finshape. “They’re asking how to restructure their systems so AI can actually function.”

That distinction is significant. The competitive advantage is no longer simply adopting AI. It lies in building the organisational and technological foundations that allow AI to deliver value consistently and securely.

Anton Solodkyi, Customer Success Director at Creatio, observed the same evolution while working with banks deploying AI-driven CRM and loan origination solutions. The technical capabilities already exist, he explained. The challenge is integrating them into highly regulated environments without disrupting existing operations.

Taken together, these conversations suggest that the financial sector has entered a new phase of AI adoption. The technology itself is no longer the limiting factor. Success increasingly depends on execution—how institutions redesign processes, prepare data, train employees, and establish governance models that allow AI to operate safely at scale.

In other words, the competitive question has shifted from “Should we use AI?” to “Can our organisation actually support it?”. That challenge extends beyond technology. As Carlos Parker, Head of Arxia’s AI Acceleration Program, recently told Startups&TheCity, the future of AI inside companies may depend less on the models themselves and more on leadership, organizational culture, and change management. Through the AI Acceleration Program, Arxia focuses on helping organizations bridge exactly that gap—moving from AI experimentation to AI embedded in everyday business operations.

Legacy systems—not AI—have become the industry’s biggest bottleneck

If there was one challenge mentioned more often than any other during the interviews, it wasn’t artificial intelligence itself. It was everything that came before it.

For decades, banks and insurance companies have built technology stacks by adding new systems on top of existing ones. The result is a complex web of core banking platforms, customer databases, CRM systems and internal applications that were never designed to support AI-driven decision making.

Several interviewees described this legacy infrastructure as the single greatest obstacle to AI adoption.

Marius Scarlat, Head of Product Management CEE at Tremend, sees this challenge every day while helping banks modernize their digital services. Although AI has already been successfully deployed in projects such as customer onboarding and relationship management for major European financial institutions, including Lloyds Bank, implementation is rarely straightforward.

“Banking is one of the most regulated and traditional industries,” Scarlat explained. “Technology alone isn’t enough. You have to earn trust, understand existing processes and modernize them carefully.”

That gradual approach reflects the reality of enterprise banking. Replacing core systems is rarely an option, so most institutions are looking for ways to introduce AI without disrupting the infrastructure they already depend on.

Dan Toderici described a similar situation from Finshape’s perspective. Rather than replacing legacy platforms, the company builds a middleware layer that sits between existing banking systems and modern AI-powered applications. Its role is to organize, clean and contextualize fragmented customer data before it reaches AI models.

Without that intermediate layer, even the most advanced AI solutions struggle to produce reliable results.

Anton Solodkyi, Customer Success Director at Creatio, believes this explains why many AI initiatives fail to move beyond the proof-of-concept stage.

“Organizations often focus on the AI itself,” he said. “But the bigger challenge is understanding and documenting the business process you’re trying to automate. If the process isn’t clearly defined, an AI agent won’t fix it.”

His observation highlights a recurring misconception surrounding AI adoption. Automation doesn’t compensate for operational complexity—it amplifies it. Organizations with fragmented processes simply expose those weaknesses faster when AI enters the equation.

The same challenge extends beyond banking.

Sándor Székely, who develops embedded insurance solutions in Hungary, said that launching new AI-powered insurance products is rarely limited by the technology itself. Instead, the biggest delays occur inside insurance companies that must integrate new digital products into legacy policy administration systems built years—or even decades—ago.

The technology is ready.

The infrastructure often isn’t.

Across banking, insurance and enterprise software, the pattern was remarkably consistent: AI is exposing technical debt that many financial institutions have accumulated for years. Before organizations can become AI-first, they first need to modernize the digital foundations on which AI depends.

In the AI era, clean data has become a competitive advantage

Closely connected to legacy infrastructure is another theme that surfaced repeatedly throughout the interviews: data quality.

Every executive agreed that AI is only as good as the information it receives.

That may sound obvious, but in financial services it represents one of the industry’s biggest transformation challenges.

Banks typically operate dozens of disconnected systems built over many years. Customer information is scattered across different databases, product lines and business units, making it difficult to create the unified view that modern AI applications require.

“Banks are investing heavily in AI,” Dan Toderici explained, “but before AI can generate meaningful insights, the data has to be structured, cleaned and connected.”

Finshape addresses this challenge through a customer data platform that creates a unified customer profile across multiple banking systems. Once that foundation exists, AI can deliver personalized financial recommendations, targeted marketing campaigns and intelligent customer interactions.

One of the company’s flagship examples is its collaboration with Raiffeisen Bank Romania. What began as a digital loyalty application has evolved into an AI-powered personalization platform with more than one million active users. The system analyzes customer behavior and transaction history to deliver highly personalized offers inside the bank’s mobile application—demonstrating that AI creates value only after the underlying data has been properly organized.

Creatio faces similar challenges from the CRM side.

According to Anton Solodkyi, many organizations underestimate how much preparation is required before AI agents can automate business workflows.

“Structured information is the foundation,” he explained. “Without it, even the smartest AI agent has nothing reliable to work with.”

Tremend has reached the same conclusion internally. Beyond client projects, the company is increasingly using AI to accelerate software development and modernize legacy code through proprietary tools such as Backlog AI and Slingshot. Even there, however, human review remains essential to validate AI-generated outputs before they become production-ready.

Taken together, these conversations suggest that data has become the new competitive advantage in financial services.

The race is no longer about who has access to the latest language model. Those models are becoming widely available.

The real differentiator is who has built the cleanest data architecture—and therefore who can generate the most reliable, secure and context-aware AI experiences.

AI is changing work, not eliminating it

One of the clearest divergences between public perception and real-world deployment of AI in financial services is what actually happens inside organizations once automation is introduced.

The expectation is often substitution. The reality, across multiple interviews, is reconfiguration.

At AMICredit, the introduction of AI agents fundamentally changed how work is distributed inside the company—but not in the way many might expect. Rather than reducing headcount, the organization expanded.

Karoly Totos, CEO of AMICredit, described a system where AI handles repetitive, structured tasks such as onboarding and customer communication, while human employees shift toward higher-value operations.

“We’re hiring more people, not fewer,” he explained. “AI agents handle repetitive tasks, making the whole organization more productive.”

The impact is measurable. Onboarding workflows that previously consumed up to 40% of employee time have been largely automated. IT costs have been reduced by nearly half, while customer retention in AI-assisted flows has increased by 15–20%.

But the deeper change is not operational efficiency. It is the redefinition of what human work inside financial organizations actually is.

A similar shift is visible in broader discussions about the labor structure of financial services.

Visa’s perspective on agentic commerce highlights a future where AI systems increasingly handle discovery and comparison tasks on behalf of users. Andrew Taylor, who studies strategic disruption, frames this shift in broader terms: routine cognitive tasks are gradually moving toward machine execution, while humans transition toward supervision, validation, and system-level decision-making.

Across all interviews, a consistent pattern emerges: AI is not removing humans from the system—it is moving them up a layer in the decision hierarchy.

Human oversight remains a structural requirement, not a temporary phase

Despite rapid advances in automation, no interview suggested a future in which financial systems operate without human intervention.

Instead, a consistent governance model appears across banking, insurance, CRM systems, and payment infrastructure: AI proposes, humans decide.

At Creatio, this principle is embedded directly into CRM and workflow automation systems. AI agents assist in loan origination and customer service processes, but final decisions remain with human operators.

Anton Solodkyi described this as a design constraint rather than a limitation.

“AI generates recommendations, but humans make the final decision,” he said.

The reason is not technological weakness but regulatory and operational reality. In highly regulated industries such as banking, full autonomy introduces unacceptable levels of risk—both in terms of compliance and reputational exposure.

Tremend’s experience reinforces this view. Even in advanced implementations such as AI-driven onboarding and relationship management systems used by major European banks, human validation remains a core component of the workflow.

Visa’s experiments with AI-driven commerce also depend on human confirmation before transactions are executed, particularly in early deployment phases.

Across all cases, the same architectural principle appears: AI systems are being designed as decision-support layers, not decision-making authorities.

Regulation is no longer a barrier—it is a design constraint

If earlier phases of fintech innovation often framed regulation as friction, the interviews suggest a more mature relationship has emerged between AI systems and regulatory frameworks.

Rather than slowing adoption, regulation is increasingly shaping how AI systems are built from the ground up.

In insurance, compliance requirements were a central factor in deployment timelines. Sándor Székely noted that achieving regulatory approval for AI-driven insurance products required extensive validation processes, including data privacy assessments and alignment with national authorities.

Even when the underlying technology is ready, institutional approval cycles can extend implementation timelines to several months.

Similarly, Finshape’s work with banks across Central and Eastern Europe shows that GDPR compliance and data governance are no longer treated as external constraints but as embedded design parameters in system architecture.

Narcis Nagy highlighted a related dynamic: organizations are under pressure to demonstrate AI capability quickly, but must still align with strict European regulatory frameworks such as the EU AI Act.

This creates a structural tension between speed and compliance—but also a clear directional shift. Instead of resisting regulation, companies are increasingly designing systems that assume it from the start.

The result is a quieter but significant transformation: regulation is becoming part of the AI architecture itself.

The pressure to adopt AI is driven by competition, not strategy

While much of the discussion around AI adoption focuses on technological readiness, one of the more subtle insights from UNCHAIN 2026 is that the primary driver of adoption is not internal transformation agendas.

It is external pressure.

Organizations are not adopting AI because they have fully mapped out long-term strategies. They are adopting it because competitors already have.

Narcis Nagy, General Manager & Cofondator at RELOAD CONCEPT described this dynamic directly, noting that the pressure to implement AI often comes from the market rather than internal leadership teams.

“The pressure comes from competition,” he explained. “Not from within the company itself.”

This creates a paradox. Companies accelerate AI initiatives not necessarily because their systems are ready, but because standing still is no longer an option.

Andrew Taylor’s strategic framing adds another layer to this observation. In environments where technological change is accelerating, organizations increasingly shift from predictive planning to adaptive response. Strategy becomes less about forecasting outcomes and more about reacting to systemic shifts initiated elsewhere in the ecosystem.

Across both perspectives, the implication is clear: AI adoption is becoming less of a strategic choice and more of a competitive necessity.

Conclusion: finance is being rebuilt, not disrupted

Across the eight interviews spanning payments, banking infrastructure, insurance, CRM systems, and strategic consulting, a coherent picture emerges.

Financial services are not undergoing simple technological disruption. They are undergoing structural reconstruction.

Artificial intelligence is already embedded across multiple layers of the financial system. But its integration is constrained by legacy infrastructure, fragmented data, regulatory frameworks, and institutional trust.

As a result, the dominant model emerging across the industry is not autonomous AI-driven finance, but supervised intelligence operating within tightly governed systems.

Visa’s agentic commerce, AMICredit’s AI-driven onboarding, Finshape’s data infrastructure, Tremend’s enterprise deployments, and Creatio’s CRM agents all point toward the same reality: AI is becoming embedded, but not independent.

And perhaps the most important insight from UNCHAIN 2026 is this:

The defining challenge of the next phase of financial transformation is not building more capable AI systems.

It is building financial institutions capable of absorbing them.

Read also: Riding the AI Wave: Why the Real Challenge Is Not Technology, but Change, a related interview on how organizations can navigate the shift from AI experimentation to execution.

The post Beyond the AI Hype: What Fintech Leaders Revealed About the Future of Financial Services at UNCHAIN Festival 2026 appeared first on Startups&TheCity.

Techsylvania, Eastern Europe’s flagship technology and innovation conference, is accelerating toward its June 25–26 takeover of Cluj-Napoca with a powerhouse wave of speaker announcements. Each new name signals the same thing: 2026 isn’t just bigger, it’s a step-change.

Taking the stage this year:

• Hermann Hauser – Co-Founder & Venture Partner, Amadeus Capital Partners
• Hrvoje Ćosić – CEO, Aircash
• Guido Brinkel – Policy & Partnerships Lead Germany & CEE, OpenAI
• Jeanie Fang – Director of Data & AI, Crunchbase
• Sacha Dragic – Founder & CEO, Super Technologies
• Florian Steger – General Partner, betacluster Ventures
• Praveen Ghanta – Founder & CEO, Fraction
• Vladimir Danila – Founder & CEO,  Linearity
• Lian Boerma –  Chief Product Officer, EWOR
• Oana Ruxandra – Co-Founder & CEO, PopHatch

… and more high-impact voices dropping soon.

From deep tech and AI to fintech, venture scaling, and leadership in a machine-driven world, the 2026 lineup maps the full stack of global innovation, bringing together the operators, investors, and thinkers actively engineering what’s next.

Lock in your access

Techsylvania 2026 isn’t one to watch from the sidelines. Secure your place now while regular pricing is still live.

Use code TECH26 for 25% off Builder and Premium tickets (valid until June 18).

Get your ticket: techsylvania.com/tickets/

The first draft of the Techsylvania 2026 agenda is now available for preview at techsylvania.com/agenda/. We invite our community to explore the sessions and speakers shaping this year’s programme. 

Please note that the agenda is subject to change as we continue to finalise details.

Beyond the main stage

Techsylvania extends far beyond the conference floor. In 2026, Cluj-Napoca transforms into a distributed innovation network through its Satellite Events program.

Think curated meetups, product drops, investor sessions, brand activations, and late-night gatherings, spanning cafés, rooftops, and creative hubs across the city. It’s where real connections happen, ideas get stress-tested, and collaborations kick off organically.

Explore satellite events: techsylvania.com/satellite-events/attend/

Backed by ecosystem leaders like Super Technologies, UniCredit Bank, Google, Hexagon Offices, Oracle ACE Program, 3Pillar, Aily Labs, Principal33, BMW Techworks, DataEdge, M247Global and RunPod, Techsylvania is more than a conference, it’s a high-density convergence point for builders, backers, and visionaries.

If you’re shaping products, funding innovation, writing code, or tracking where tech is headed next, this is your ground zero.

Event Date: June 24-25 2026

Location: Cluj Innovation Park, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Tickets: Get yours now at techsylvania.com/tickets/

The post OpenAI, Crunchbase and Amadeus Capital Executives Join Techsylvania 2026 appeared first on Startups&TheCity.

The historic Oradea Fortress in Romania is set to become the epicenter of European financial innovation on June 17–18, 2026, as it hosts the 5th anniversary edition of the UNCHAIN Festival. This high-level summit will bring together over 800 senior leaders and decision-makers from more than 40 countries, representing a unified front for the future of finance in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE).

A Distinguished Keynote and Global Participation

This year’s summit is headlined by Prof. Marek Belka, former Prime Minister and Finance Minister of Poland. A renowned economist with a career spanning the IMF and the European Parliament, Prof. Belka will provide critical insights at the intersection of economics and public policy.

He will be joined by an elite lineup of:

• Central Bank Governors from across the CEE region.
• Regulators from the European Commission and the European Banking Authority.
• Industry Giants and disruptors from Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, and beyond.

Navigating the “Finance Fortress”

Moving beyond the “fintech” label, the 2026 edition adopts the theme of the “Finance Fortress,” focusing on regional resilience and the “EU Inc.” vision. The agenda is designed to tackle the most pressing challenges of the decade, including:

• The Digital Euro: Modernizing payments while preserving monetary sovereignty.
• AI Governance: Moving AI from a “blunt tool” to an internal efficiency engine in banking.
• Asset Tokenization: Leveraging DLT to enhance capital market efficiency.
• Cybersecurity: Ensuring operational resilience under the DORA framework.

Spotlight on Innovation

A dedicated segment of the festival will showcase the most dynamic ecosystems in the region, providing a platform for top disruptors from the CEE and Baltic countries. “UNCHAIN Festival was created for meaningful dialogue,” says Alexandra Pollack, Founder and CEO. “The 2026 edition marks a significant step in connecting ecosystems to accelerate innovation”.

The event will conclude by honoring excellence through the UNCHAIN Awards, recognizing the most outstanding innovators shaping the regional financial landscape.

Tickets are almost gone. Secure your spot now: unchainfestival.com/tickets.

The post CEE Finance Leaders to Gather in Oradea for Milestone 5th Edition of UNCHAIN Festival appeared first on Startups&TheCity.

AI is no longer a futuristic concept—it is a global tsunami hitting every industry from the United States to Chile, Uganda, and Romania. Yet, while executives rush to adopt AI just to keep up with the competition, the real battle is being fought on the old battlegrounds of digital transformation: people first, processes second, technology third.

This contrast between market rush and operational reality was the catalyst for a recent workshop I’ve attended, led by Carlos Parker, head of Arxia’s AI Acceleration Program, in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Working with a local consultancy firm, the discussion proved that while AI models are evolving faster than ever, the real art lies in learning how to surf the wave rather than fighting it.

Carlos, who has delivered workshops across Europe, Latin America and Africa, says the conversation around AI has become universal. From Romania and Ukraine to Chile and Uganda, businesses everywhere are talking about artificial intelligence. Yet, according to him, the technological challenge itself is not the hardest part. 

“The real issue is not the technology itself,” he explains. “It’s about operationalizing it. How do companies integrate AI into their workflows? How do they measure return on investment? How do they help employees adapt?”

In his view, AI is not fundamentally changing the classic rules of digital transformation. The same principles still apply: people first, processes second, technology third.

AI Is an Accelerator, Not the Core

One of the strongest ideas emerging from my discussion with Carlos was that AI should not be treated as a goal in itself.

“The core has always been process optimization,” Carlos says.“You spend far more time defining workflows, defining policies, and managing organizational change than teaching people not just how to prompt, but also how to integrate and orchestrate AI tools effectively.”

This perspective contrasts sharply with the current market trend, where many organizations rush to “adopt AI” without clearly defining why they need it in the first place.

According to him, many executives are under pressure to demonstrate AI adoption simply because competitors are doing the same. Some companies already demand internal AI KPIs, even when employees are using AI for tasks that provide little practical value.

“The fact that you can use AI doesn’t mean you should,” he argues. “The important question is: does it actually improve efficiency or solve a real problem?”

Surfing the Wave Instead of Fighting It

Asked whether people should fear AI, Carlos used a simple metaphor.

“AI is like a wave,” he says. “You can try to fight it, or you can surf it.”

He believes the acceleration of AI development is unlikely to slow down. Governments, corporations and entire regions now see artificial intelligence as a strategic race tied to competitiveness, economic power and geopolitical influence.

“The United States, China and Europe all understand this is a priority,” he explains. “Once countries start investing resources at this scale, it becomes very difficult to stop.”

Competition itself becomes the engine. If one country or company believes another is advancing faster, everyone feels pressured to continue investing.

Beyond Automation: The Bigger Philosophical Question

The conversation also moved far beyond productivity and automation.

Carlos believes society is underestimating the deeper implications of AI — especially if artificial general intelligence (AGI) eventually becomes reality.

“If AI becomes better than humans across all economic domains, then we enter a completely different scenario,” he says. “And we don’t really have political or economic frameworks prepared for that.”

Unlike previous industrial revolutions, which created new categories of jobs alongside automation, AGI raises a more difficult question: what happens if machines can improve, maintain and optimize themselves?

Modern economic systems — whether capitalist or socialist — are fundamentally built around human labor. If work itself is no longer necessary, entire ideological structures may need to be reconsidered.

“How much meaning in our lives is connected to the work we do?” he asks. “What happens if that disappears?”

Eastern Europe’s Unexpected Advantage

One particularly interesting part of the discussion focused on Eastern Europe and its relationship with technology adoption.

While AI adoption among businesses remains cautious, Carlos sees the region as having a major long-term advantage due to its strong engineering and technical culture.

Countries such as Romania, Ukraine, Estonia and Moldova inherited a deep emphasis on science and engineering education — something he believes still shapes society today.

“In Eastern Europe, engineering and technology are culturally valued,” he says. “You see it in the number of programmers, in technical education, and even in the role of women in engineering compared to many Western countries.”

Romania, in particular, was mentioned as a country that historically adapted quickly to new technologies. From internet infrastructure to software development talent, the region may ultimately prove more flexible than some Western European economies traditionally perceived as more advanced.

At the same time, resistance to change remains universal.

“People adopt technology slowly everywhere,” he notes. “A lot of it is cultural. Change always involves risk.”

AI Adoption Is Ultimately About Trust

One of the workshop’s recurring themes was that companies are often less afraid of AI itself and more afraid of uncertainty.

Managers understand that change is coming, but many do not know where to begin.

That is why, Carlos argues, successful AI implementation should resemble a gradual organizational transformation rather than a simple software rollout.

“You don’t just buy licenses for everyone and expect magic to happen,” he explains. “Successful AI adoption requires a strategic, company-wide transformation process implemented gradually. You start with focused teams or use cases, validate what actually works in practice, measure results, build internal know-how, and then scale adoption step by step across the organization.”

In other words, the future of AI inside companies may depend less on the models themselves and more on leadership, organizational culture and change management.

The technology is already here. The harder question is whether people, businesses and institutions are ready to evolve with it.

And this is precisely the gap that Carlos aims to address through Arxia’s AI Acceleration Program — a framework designed to help companies move beyond experimentation and actually operationalize AI inside their organizations.

The post Riding the AI Wave: Why the Real Challenge Is Not Technology, but Change appeared first on Startups&TheCity.

The eYou platform, a Romania-based social media startup currently in pre-launch, aims to become a European alternative to traditional networks, focusing on algorithm transparency, user control over feeds, and AI-powered fact-checking. The project has raised €300,000 in pre-seed funding from Fil Rouge Capital and has already attracted over 10,000 sign-ups on its first day.

Founded by Jasseem Allybokus and Grégoire Vigroux, two French entrepreneurs based in Romania, eYou positions itself as a “trust-by-design” platform in contrast to global players like Facebook and X.

At the core of the product is a real-time fact-checking feature integrated directly into the user experience. With a single click, users can access AI-generated assessments of posts, based on credible and neutral sources, enabling them to verify claims without interrupting the flow of conversation.

The platform also introduces a transparent recommendation system, allowing users to view and adjust the profile built about them. This gives users direct control over the signals shaping their feed and the option to diversify content exposure beyond algorithm-driven echo chambers.

Built in Europe and aligned with strict data protection standards, eYou enters a market increasingly concerned with misinformation, platform accountability, and the dominance of non-European tech giants.

The public launch is scheduled for May 2026. Until then, users can join the waitlist and secure early access at: eyou.social.

The post eYou raises €300,000 to build a European social media alternative, surpasses 10,000 sign-ups on day one appeared first on Startups&TheCity.