Romania is present in the main category of the Deloitte 2022 CE Technology Fast 50 ranking of the fastest growing start-ups in the region through Wave Studio, which ranks 22nd

• The Romanian start-ups Pentest-Tools.com and DRUID are included in the Companies to Watch category of the ranking

• Hermix, Kinderpedia and Tokinomo are the local start-ups recognized with the Impact Stars Award
  

Romania is present in the main category of the Deloitte 2022 Central Europe Technology Fast 50 ranking of the fastest growing start-ups in the region through the technology company Wave Studio, specialized in mobile app development for Android and iOS, which ranks 22^nd, with a growth rate of 1,319% of the revenues registered between 2018 and 2021. Also, two Romanian companies are also ranked in the Companies to Watch category, which includes the fastest growing companies between 2019 and 2021 which do not meet the criteria for the main Fast 50 ranking yet. Pentest-Tools.com, the local start-up which created a cloud-based platform to perform penetration testing and vulnerability assessment, ranks 17^th out of 25 start-ups, with a growth rate of 441%, while DRUID, the technology company specialized in developing intelligent virtual assistants dedicated to complex enterprise processes, ranks 19^th, with a growth rate of 345%.

Additionally, three Romanian companies – Hermix, Kinderpedia and Tokinomo - are recognized by the Deloitte 2022 CE Technology Fast 50 programme with the Impact Stars Award, which acknowledges start-ups for successfully linking products and services with a positive impact on society, business, innovativeness, environment and diversity. Hermix is the developer of a platform that helps companies understand the public sector market by automating business-to-government strategic marketing, sales, presales, and bid activities, Kinderpedia is the creator of a complete communication and management solution for schools and childcare centers, and Tokinomo is specialized in the creation of robots for in-store experiential marketing campaigns.

“Over the last two decades, the growth source of the technology industry in Europe has shifted from hardware to software, which now accounts for two-thirds of the industry revenue, according to a Deloitte analysis. This prevalence of software companies is also visible in the Fast 50 Central Europe competition, where they continue to dominate the main ranking, but also on a local level, where five out of the six companies included in the program represent the software sector. Nevertheless, the variety of niches in which local technology companies are expanding is an evidence of their outstanding creativity and of the growth potential of the local market. We are honoured to celebrate their achievements through the recognition provided by the Fast 50 platform and by the programme partners, Google Cloud and Citi,” said Andrei Ionescu, Partner-in-Charge, Consulting and Risk Advisory, Deloitte Romania, and Local Leader for Technology Fast 50 Central Europe competition.

This year, Google Cloud is the official regional technology partner for the Deloitte CE Technology Fast 50 Programme, while Citi is the local partner of the competition.

The fastest growing technology companies in Central Europe

For the second successive year, the winner of the main category of the ranking, which recognizes the fastest growing technology companies in CE that have been operating for at least four years, is FTMO, a fintech from Czech Republic, with a growth rate of 25,255%, which has developed an educational platform for traders on the financial markets that enables them to focus on risk management and disciplined trading to adopt best practices, avoid errors and reduce waste. Companies included in the main ranking registered an average growth rate of 2,351%, the highest ever achieved (up from 2,278% in 2021).

This years’ competition, now at its 23rd edition, is dominated by software companies (33 entries), followed by fintech (6), hardware (5), media and entertainment (4) and healthcare and life sciences (2).

The “Companies to watch” and “CE Tech Rocketship” categories

Besides the main category, which includes the fastest growing companies in the technology sector, the Deloitte 2022 Central Europe Technology Fast 50 also includes the “Companies to watch” category, which showcases companies that do not meet the criteria for the main Fast 50 ranking yet. The first position of the category, including companies that have base-year operating revenues of minimum €10,000 (2019) and current year operating revenue of minimum €30,000 (2021), was claimed by DIANA Biotechnologies, a Czech biotech company that develops products based on cutting-edge research in areas including molecular diagnostics and drug discovery, with a growth rate of 100,314%.

In collaboration with Google Cloud, this year’s edition of the Deloitte CE Technology Fast 50 competition introduces a new category, “CE Tech Rocketship”, which marks out businesses that have developed high-quality, scalable solutions with the potential to satisfy the most demanding customers. The winner is Polish e-signature pioneer Autenti, which created a solution enabling entrepreneurs to sign legally binding documents online and securely, in just one click.

About Deloitte Central Europe Technology Fast 50

In order to be considered eligible for the main category of the CE Technology Fast 50 ranking, companies had to meet several financial criteria, such as having reported a minimum €50,000 annual operating revenue in the first three years (2018-2020) and at least €100,000 in 2021. They also must be headquartered in Central Europe and own proprietary intellectual property or proprietary technology.

More information about the Deloitte Central Europe Technology Fast 50 programme is available here.

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