AWS for Startups Bucharest
Posted on January 15, 2026
Event Details
Date: March 3, 2026, from 10:00 until 18:00
Location:
BEANS&DOTZ (Mezanin), Cișmigiu, Bucharest
Cost: Free for Founders (limited to 100 seats)
March 3, 2026 | 10:00–18:00
BEANS&DOTZ, Bucharest
⏳ 0 remaining spots
AWS Startup Event Bucharest:
Raise Smarter. Scale Fearlessly.
The leading AWS startup event bringing together 100 pre-seed to Series A founders, VCs, and AWS experts. One day. Two problems solved: raise capital and scale infrastructure without breaking your runway.
Limited to 100 attendees. Intimate networking—not a conference. Free for founders.
Why Attend
Get direct guidance from AWS Solutions Architects on scaling infrastructure and accessing funding. Meet VCs from the investor panel, and network with 100 ambitious founders solving the same problems.
$100,000 in AWS Credits
Learn the insider playbook for maximizing your cloud budget before you raise. Applicable to almost every early-stage startup.
3-5 Investor Introductions
Founders leaving this event typically get direct intros to VCs actively investing in their space. Plus a clear fundraising roadmap to guide your 2026 pitch strategy.
Real Infrastructure Patterns at Scale
Learn what breaks when you scale to 100+ nodes. Real patterns from founders who’ve shipped production systems and optimized for cost.
Your Founder Community
Meet other founders at your stage. Your next co-founder, strategic partner, or investor connection is in this room.
What You’ll Walk Away With
By end of day, you’ll have concrete takeaways that move your startup forward:
Fundraising Clarity
- Personalized fundraising roadmap — Know who to pitch in 2026
- AWS funding program guidance — Understand Activate, PoC, and other programs
Technical Excellence
- Infrastructure scaling checklist — Learn from 2000-node Kubernetes platform
- Direct AWS expert access — Email follow-ups and office hours
Strategic Relationships
- 3-5 founder intros — Meet other founders at your stage for partnerships and opportunities
Agenda: March 3, 2026
A full day of insights, connections, and actionable strategies for founders.
Registration & Welcome Coffee
Check in, grab coffee, and start networking
Opening & Welcome
Setting the stage for the day ahead
AI Discovered: Accelerating Startup Innovation at Scale
How AWS AI services can accelerate your product roadmap
AWS Funding Programs for Startups
Unlock up to $100K in credits through Activate, PoC, and more
The 2000-Node Beast: Scaling AI at Massive Scale
Real infrastructure patterns from production systems
Lunch Break & Informal Networking
Connect with fellow founders over lunch
From Credits to Runway
How Adservio Turned $200K in AWS Credits into Real Savings
What Does It Mean to Fundraise in 2026? VC Panel Discussion
Panel with active investors
Coffee Break
Recharge before networking
1:1 Founder Matchmaking & Open Networking
2.5 hours of structured introductions and conversations
Event Closes
Continue conversations at nearby venues
Who Should Attend?
Founders raising capital, technical leaders scaling infrastructure, and VCs meeting ambitious startups. If you’re focused on fundraising, scaling, or deploying AI cost-effectively, you belong here.
🚀
CEOs & Founders
You’re raising in 2026. Learn who to pitch, what VCs want, and how to optimize cloud costs as you scale.
⚙️
CTOs & VP Engineering
Scaling to 100+ nodes? Learn what breaks before it breaks your runway. Real infrastructure patterns.
🤖
Product & AI Leaders
Ship AI features that generate revenue, not just impressive demos. Cost-effective patterns with Bedrock.
💼
Investors & VCs
Meet 100 ambitious founders shipping real infrastructure. Learn market trends from their perspective.
Meet the Speakers
Cosmin Ochisor
Partner, GapMinder
Cosmin focuses on B2B, enterprise, dev tools, and consumer platforms. He led GapMinder Fund I investments into Frisbo, Smart Dreamers, Soleadify, DeepStash, Machinations, Innoship, Planable, and Yarooms.
Vlad Panait
Managing Partner, Sparking Capital
Vlad Panait is a business executive with 25+ years of international commercial experience, including senior leadership and Board roles in multinational companies. He is now Managing Partner of Sparking Capital. He holds an MBA and a postgraduate diploma from Rotterdam School of Management (Erasmus University) and teaches in two master’s programs at FABIZ, ASE.
Florin Vișa
Partner, Early Game Ventures
Florin joined Early Game Ventures in 2024 to lead the second EGV fund. He brings deep expertise from Private Equity, EBRD, M&A, and venture capital investments across Europe.
Alexandru Badut
Partner, Underline Ventures
Alex is a developer-turned-product manager, now an investor with Underline Ventures. Over the past decade, he has taken on startup roles, building and scaling award-winning SaaS and digital products across the US, Romania, Hungary, and Cyprus.
Nikita-Nathan Hartschenberg
AWS Startup Investor Manager
Nikita-Nathan strengthens the CEE startup ecosystem through VC partnerships. He connects founders with AWS-backed resources and strategic opportunities.
Alin Stanciu
Partner, Catalyst Romania
Alin Stanciu, Partner of Catalyst Romania, has an extensive entrepreneurial and management experience within the telecom, e-commerce, publishing, and online media business sectors. With over 20 years of industry activity, Alin has achieved notable success as a commercially focused e-commerce leader, including founding a top Romanian e-commerce company and leading various acquisitions and fundraising activities.
Maria Lehtinen
AWS Solutions Architect
Maria specializes in ML and AI adoption across EMEA. She helps founders accelerate secure cloud adoption with expertise in regulated industries.
Pavel Karatkevich
AWS Account Manager
Pavel helps CEE startups scale and succeed with cloud solutions. Passionate about innovation and building meaningful tech partnerships.
Slava Sheliakin
Senior Solutions Architect, Amazon Web Services
Solution Architect with 15+ years of experience specializing in helping startups scale through smart, scalable, and cost-effective solutions.
Andrei Manea
CloudHero, Founder and CEO
Andrei is the Founder and CEO of CloudHero, an AWS Advanced Partner helping startups and mid-market companies scale cloud infrastructure without breaking their runway. His team has delivered 100+ AWS projects across DevOps, data, and AI, earning the 2024 AWS Partner of the Year award.
Felicia Oleanu
Marketing & Comms Lead, The Recursive
Felicia manages complex marketing projects by blending input from advertising and brand strategy with tech industry knowledge.
Alexandru Holicov
Founder & CEO, Adservio
Alexandru is the Founder and CEO of Adservio, Romania’s leading digital education platform. A founding member of EdTech Romania and VP at the YES Foundation, he focuses on digitalizing schools and streamlining operations for educators across Romania.
Alexandru Ghita
DevOps, MeetGeek
Alex is a DevOps Engineer at MeetGeek, where he manages a highly scalable infrastructure build on AWS architected for exponential growth.
Partners
Co-Organizer
Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a comprehensive, secure, and widely adopted cloud platform offering over 200 fully featured services from global data centers. AWS for Startups provides specialized programs, cloud credits, and technical resources tailored to help early-to-mid-stage companies scale, particularly focusing on generative AI, media, and entertainment industries. Through initiatives like AWS Activate, startups can access up to $100,000 in credits, technical support, and mentorship.
Media Partner
The Recursive is the community-born media for innovation in Central and Eastern Europe.
Why CloudHero?
CloudHero is an AWS Advanced Tier Services Partner focused on cloud-native execution for startups. We host this event because we’re passionate about the startup ecosystem. Through this networking forum and our services, we help founders optimize AWS infrastructure, avoid costly mistakes, and make scaling decisions that protect runway.
Need expert support beyond this event? Explore our AWS services or learn more about CloudHero.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is this event free?
Yes, completely free for founders. Investors have separate registration options.
Who should attend?
Founders raising capital, CTOs scaling infrastructure, and VCs meeting ambitious startups. Anyone focused on fundraising, scaling, or deploying AI cost-effectively.
What’s the format?
VC panel, technical talks, case studies, and 90 minutes of structured 1:1 networking. Designed for real conversations, not lectures.
How do I get there?
BEANS&DOTZ (Mezanin), Cișmigiu, Bucharest. View on Google Maps.
