EU Funding

Start-Up Nation 2017 — what the programme's first edition looked like

The first Start-Up Nation edition closed in July 2017 — this page preserves the figures, the lessons and the route to the editions you can actually apply to today.

Programme fact sheet

Programme: Start-Up Nation — ediția 2017
Programme family: Start-Up Nation
Managing authority: MMACA / AIPPIMM (now MEDAT)
Status: ClosedChecked on 30 July 2026
Submission deadline: 14 July 2017
Funding value: up to 200,000 RON
Eligible beneficiaries: SMEs

The programme's official applicant guide

Northdan Soft is a software supplier, not a funding consultancy, and is not affiliated with any managing authority or development agency. Programme information is indicative — always check the conditions in the programme's official applicant guide.

Every grant programme has an origin story, and for Start-Up Nation — Romania's best-known grant scheme for newly founded firms — it begins in the summer of 2017. Enrolment for the first edition ran from 15 June to 14 July 2017, offering aid that was 100% non-repayable up to RON 200,000, with a ceiling of 10,000 fundable firms per year. In the end, 8,531 files were admitted, and by 31 December 2017 some 8,444 funding contracts had been signed. That session closed long ago, but its mechanics — an automatically scored business plan, an explicit list of eligible digital costs, reimbursement backed by documents — became the template for every edition that followed. This page is an honest archive: it shows what the 2017 edition concretely financed, which lessons still hold for today's files and where applications are submitted now. Northdan Soft is a software supplier — presentation websites, online stores, management software — and prepares the technical offer and budget for the digital component for entrepreneurs applying to the programme's active editions.

Let’s talk about your project

Message us on WhatsApp or send an email — you talk directly to a developer.

Message us on WhatsApp Send an email

office@northdan.com · +40 752 070 247

How we help

Status clarified at first glance

You learn immediately that the 2017 edition is definitively closed and accepts no files, so you do not waste time on outdated information still circulating online.

Lessons from the founding edition

The 2017 structure — automatic scoring, explicitly listed digital costs, documented reimbursement — recurs in today's editions, so understanding it helps your current file.

A direct route to the active edition

The page sends you to Start-Up Nation edition 4 and to the session 2 announced by MEDAT, the only places where a new application makes sense now.

A supplier ready for today's file

Northdan Soft gives you the technical offer and budget for a website, online store or management software — supplier documents you attach to the current edition's business plan.

How the 2017 session unfolded and what it left behind

Enrolment for the first edition stayed open for a month, between 15 June and 14 July 2017, coordinated by MMACA through AIPPIMM. The grant was 100% non-repayable, up to RON 200,000, and the programme aimed to finance as many as 10,000 firms a year.

The official balance of the first round: 8,531 files admitted for funding and 8,444 contracts signed by 31 December 2017. Beyond the figures, the 2017 edition set the pattern: a business plan completed online, an automatically calculated score and implementation with strictly documented reimbursement — exactly the model the recent editions use.

Which digital costs the first edition funded

The 2017 procedure listed among eligible costs the presentation web page — with a ceiling of roughly RON 8,000 — the domain name, the software and licences needed for the activity, IT equipment and audio-video systems.

For many firms funded then, the grant-paid website was their first serious contact with an online presence. The lesson still holds: a digital component described with clear specifications and prices from a real supplier passes implementation checks far more easily than a vague budget line.

What is active now in place of the 2017 edition

The programme continued with the 2018-2019 and 2022 editions, and today edition 4 is running, financed through the Education and Employment Programme, with a session 2 officially announced by MEDAT. The current conditions — amounts, scoring, calendars — are checked exclusively on our pages dedicated to the active editions and in the ministry's announcements.

The RON 200,000 ceiling belonged to the 2017, 2018-2019 and 2022 editions; for session 2 of edition 4, MEDAT announced support of up to RON 250,000. For a file prepared for the current edition we scope the digital component — website, online store, management software — and hand over the supplier's technical offer and budget.

Frequently asked questions

Can files still be submitted for Start-Up Nation 2017?

No — enrolment ended on 14 July 2017, and the session is definitively closed, its projects long since implemented. New applications go only to the programme's edition 4, covered by our dedicated Start-Up Nation page.

How many firms received funding in the first edition?

The 2017 edition admitted 8,531 files, and by 31 December 2017 some 8,444 funding contracts had been signed, within the programme's ceiling of 10,000 firms per year.

What ceiling did the web page have in the 2017 procedure?

The presentation web page was eligible with a ceiling of roughly RON 8,000, alongside the domain, software and licences, IT equipment and audio-video systems — the exact details remain those in the edition's official procedure.

Where can I apply to Start-Up Nation today?

To edition 4, run through the Education and Employment Programme, for which MEDAT has officially announced session 2. Our live programme page carries the current conditions, and we prepare the digital component of your business plan.