Deloitte Romania opens applications for the 23rd edition of Technology Fast 50 Central Europe competition

Deloitte Romania opens application for the 23rd edition of Technology Fast 50 Central Europe competition, addressed to large and small local companies in the technology sector, public and private, which register accelerated growth. Providing both established and emerging technology companies the platform to highlight their leading position in their field of activity, the competition is held simultaneously in other 17 Central European countries, namely Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia.

The Deloitte Technology Fast 50 Central Europe is a program that ranks 50 fast growing technology companies, based on percentage revenue growth over the previous four years and includes all related industry sectors – communications, environmental technology, fintech, hardware, healthcare and life sciences, media and entertainment, software.

This year’s winners are selected by ranking their revenue growth for the period 2018-2021. In order to be considered eligible for the main CE Fast 50 ranking, companies must meet several financial criteria. Thus, companies need to have a minimum €50,000 annual revenue in the first three years (2018-2020) and at least €100,000 in 2021, be headquartered in a Central Europe country and own proprietary intellectual property or proprietary technology.

“The Romanian and European economies are facing more and more disruptions lately, and I am confident that all these events have stimulated local companies to innovate and develop digital technologies that can help overcome economic difficulties. For these companies, the Deloitte Central Europe Technology Fast 50 program is an opportunity to confirm their involvement in the ongoing development of modern solutions, adapted to the present challenges and prepared for the future,” said Andrei Ionescu, Partner-in-charge, Consulting and Risk Advisory, Deloitte Romania, and Local Leader for Technology Fast 50 Central Europe competition.

Since 2008, more than 35 local businesses have been either included among the fastest growing 50 companies in Central Europe or awarded with distinctions in special categories, such as „Most disruptive innovation” or “Impact Star”. They include, UiPath, a global leader in robotic process automation, one of the Romanian companies recognized in 2017 with the “„Most disruptive innovation” award, and the travel agency Vola.ro, awarded for the “Biggest Growth in Central Europe” in 2011 and holder of the first position for the next two consecutive years. In 2021, two Romanian companies were recognized by Deloitte CE Fast 50 programme among the fastest growing start-ups in the region: Druid, ranking first out of 25 start-ups in the Growth Stars category, with a growth rate of 6,753%, between 2018 and 2020, and FintechOS, ranking 16th in the same category, with a growth rate of 715%. Additionally, three Romanian companies – Gama IT, Tapptitude Apps and Wave Studio - were recognized by the Deloitte 2021 CE Technology Fast 50 programme with the Impact Star Award.

In addition to the “Fast 50” category, the competition includes the “Companies to watch” category, which showcases companies that do not fulfill the criteria for the main Fast 50 ranking yet, but they are required to be in business a minimum of three years (founded on or prior to December 31, 2018), and have base-year operating revenues of minimum €10,000 (2019) and current year operating revenue of minimum €30,000 (2021). The competition has one special recognition, the “Impact Stars” category, which recognizes a company for successfully linking great products and services with a positive impact on society, business, innovativeness, environment or diversity.

The online application and eligibility criteria can be found on the regional Technology Fast 50 website, here, and on the local website, here. This year, Citi, the leading global bank, is the local partner of the competition.

The application process will close on August 31, 2022. The ranking results will be announced in November 2022.

Historical winners are available here.

Deloitte provides worldwide audit, consulting, legal, financial advisory, risk advisory, tax and related services to public and private clients spanning multiple industries. Deloitte serves four out of five Fortune Global 500 companies through a globally connected network of member firms in more than 150 countries and territories, bringing world-class capabilities, insights, and high-quality service to address clients' most complex business challenges. Deloitte's goal is to make an impact that matters through its more than 345,000 professionals.

Deloitte Romania is one of the leading professional services organizations in the country providing, in cooperation with Reff & Associates | Deloitte Legal, services in audit, tax, legal, consulting, financial advisory, risk advisory, business processes as well as technology services and other related services, through over 2,600 professionals.