Make IT in Oradea, a public-private partnership aiming to accelerate the development of the startup ecosystem in Oradea, in western Romania, has offered a first funding round of EUR 50,000 to the locally-based technology startup OptiOffer.

OptiOffer is a Supplier - Reseller Platform (SRP) focused on Business to Business transactions, managing price quotes and eCatalogs. It connects suppliers and resellers to make selling and buying products more efficient, without having to deal with hundreds of PDF or printed catalogs, price lists and emails. Such a platform brings the Business to Consumer experience to B2B transactions to achieve connected selling and streamlined buying. The platform helps entrepreneurs and salespeople to focus on customer relationships instead of spending that time to manage catalogs, price quotes and supplier orders. 

The product targets small and medium enterprises that sell equipment. These can be either resellers or distributors doing B2B selling in industries such as hospitality, green energy, HVAC equipment, and more.  

"In the sector of professional equipment, to create a single price quote, it can take from a few hours, up to a few days, depending on the complexity of the project. Currently, this process is done manually: the salesperson copies the product descriptions, specifications, and prices from PDF catalogs into a Word or Excel document - the price quote. It is a back-and-forth process for many companies, which didn't improve considerably since the 1990s," Bogdan Boța, co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of OptiOffer, explained.

"With OptiOffer we want to help end customers to get quotes and other documents from resellers as fast as possible and not get lost in dozens of emails for each purchase. We want resellers to be able to sell from wherever they are and collect the payments as soon as possible. Last but not least, we want manufacturers to have access to a network of curated and verified resellers, and give instant access to their eCatalog," Nichita Herpuț, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of OptiOffer, said.

Make IT in Oradea, launched in November 2020, is an initiative of several privately-owned tech companies in Oradea supported by Oradea City Hall & ADLO (Oradea Local Development Agency), alongside national partner Orange Romania. It is aimed at developing, accelerating and promoting the local technology startups ecosystem.

Make IT in Oradea manages an annual fund of EUR 300,000 through Bright Labs Incubator, a program where technology startup founders apply to receive mentoring and financing. 

Over the past 12 months, 35 teams have pitched for a place in the organization's mentorship and incubation program, 22 have been selected in the pre-incubation phase, and eight have been accepted into the Bright Labs Incubator. 

"The role of Make IT in Oradea is to help startups with real market potential develop and finance their operations from a very early stage, namely pre-seed. It is one of the most difficult moments for the founders and the stage at which there are very few funding options to turn to," David Achim, Executive Director of Make IT in Oradea, said.

"We believe in the potential of the founders first and foremost, and also of the product they are developing. We want to offer them a favorable context to develop in Oradea. Our goal is to create a community of technology startups in Oradea and to educate the local market," he added.

(Photo courtesy of Make IT in Oradea)

simona@romania-insider.com