# Marius Ghenea

> Marius Ghenea is a Series A investor at 3TS Capital Partners backing Software and SaaS. See 14 investments, check sizes, portfolio. Updated Aug 2026.

- Type: Angel Investor
- Fund: [3TS Capital Partners](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/3ts-capital-partners)
- Location: Bucharest, Romania
- Total investments: 14
- Last investment: Feb 2025
- Lead investor: 64%
- Last updated: Aug 2026
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marius-ghenea-691523a8
- X (Twitter): http://twitter.com/marius_ghenea
- Website: http://www.ghenea.ro/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ghenea.ro/

Marius Ghenea is a Series A investor at 3TS Capital Partners in Bucharest focused on Software and SaaS. • Partner of Catalyst Romania VC Fund (part of 3TS Capital Partners) - http://catalystromania.ro/ • “Investor of the Year in Romania 2016 and 2017" award by CESA with Catalyst Romania Fund • Serial entrepreneur and business-angel with successful investments in SEE, ranks in fortune Romanian surveys Capital, Forbes. • Experienceas an start-up entrepreneur with Flamingo, from zero revenues and capital to a $50M company, the largest IT product distribution network in Romania, in 7 years. Setting-up a Flamingo International group structure with direct operations in 7 SEE countries (Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Macedonia, Moldova, Yugoslavia) and one fully-fledged subsidiary in Holland, 1999 – 2001. • Manager of team of 500+ people with Flamingo, employees from various countries (majority Romanian), cultures, backgrounds and contributing to the creation of one of the best teams in the IT business in the Balkan region • Experience in private equity and venture capital investments. Deal-leader on 6 (123ContactForm, VectorWatch, Marketizator Friends, Intelligent IT/SmartBill, Smartdreamers, Vola.ro) out of 10 investments of Catalyst Romania Fund. • Exit track-record: VectorWatch, sold to FitBit early 2017, PCGarage, bought by Naspers/Emag in 2016; VikingProfil, bought by Pruzsinski of Poland, 2008, Flanco, successful exit in 2006, Flamingo, successful IPO in 2004, etc. • Co-Founder VentureConnect (regional matchmaking platform for tech start-up entrepreneurs and early-stage investors); President Romanian Association for the Online Stores (ARMO) • Entrepreneurship, Innovation and New Business Ventures Professor, Maastricht School of Management EMBA program • Co-organizer Schoolforstartups Romania, the first SE European entrepreneurship school • Author of “Entrepreneurship”, the first Romanian book on entrepreneurship and TV dragon in the Romanian Dragons’ Den

## Round sizes

| Stage | Round size |
| --- | --- |
| Series A | $549k–$3.7M |
| Venture - Series Unknown | $2.2M–$4.3M |

## Investment focus

### Industry

| Industry | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Software | 8 | 57% |
| SaaS | 3 | 21% |
| FinTech | 3 | 21% |
| Retail | 2 | 14% |
| Internet | 2 | 14% |

45 industries tracked in total.

### Stage

| Stage | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Series A | 5 | 36% |
| Funding Round | 3 | 21% |
| Venture - Series Unknown | 3 | 21% |
| Seed | 2 | 14% |
| Series B | 1 | 7% |

### Country

| Country | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Romania | 9 | 64% |
| United Kingdom | 2 | 14% |
| Serbia | 1 | 7% |

## Investments

| Company | Description | Amount | Stage | Date | Website |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Footprints AI | Retail Media Powered by AI That Understands Why People Buy. Connected to Real Shopper Purchases. Footprints AI is the most advanced platform to buy or sell retail ads - in stores and online - with precise targeting across the largest retail media ecosystem. | $2.4M | Venture - Series Unknown | Feb 25, 2025 |  |
| .lumen | dotLumen is a research startup that uses AI, robotics, and neuroscience to empower the blind. dotLumen was founded in 2020 and was headquartered in Cluj, Romania. | $4.1M |  | Jan 14, 2025 |  |
| Leanpay | Leanpay is an omni-channel POS financing company that aims to disrupt consumer loans segment, and help consumers buy products they need. Existing BNPL players are financing average basket size of around 150 EUR. Leanpay is focused on segment of bigger purchases up to 5.000 EURm, with average basket size 4x bigger compered to BNPLs. Today, thatsegment is mostly covered with traditional consumer loans provided by banks. Leanpay is able to disrupt the segment because it is regulated credit company with high competencies in providing in-dept credit analysis for its clients, preventing over-indebtedness and assuring Leanpay position as responsible lender. Leanpay has focus on markets in CEE region. | $10.8M | Series B | Jul 30, 2024 |  |
| ESX | ESX operates as a fitness subscription startup. | $2.2M | Venture - Series Unknown | Jun 20, 2023 |  |
| Hunch | Hunch empowers global e-commerce companies to dominate social commerce with performance driven creatives. Founded by a small group of creative technology pioneers in LA and Belgrade, Hunch has become a global leader in AI driven dynamic creative solutions for social commerce marketing. With Hunch, global brands across Europe, US, LATAM, and Asiafuel their growth online using data-driven, contextualized, and automated customer journeys at scale. | $4.3M | Venture - Series Unknown | May 31, 2022 |  |
| SeedBlink | Seedblink is Europe’s fastest growing investing platform specialized in sourcing, vetting, financing and scaling tech start-ups. We leverage software, capital and an exclusive industry community to lower barriers to accessing VC level opportunities for both investors and founders. | $3.7M | Series A | May 27, 2021 |  |
| SmartDreamers | SmartDreamers is a business application platform that acts as a center point solution for recruitment marketing automation. With SmartDreamers, companies become employers of choice, hiring faster, better and cost-effective. | $768K | Series A | Sep 06, 2016 |  |
| SmartDreamers | SmartDreamers is a business application platform that acts as a center point solution for recruitment marketing automation. With SmartDreamers, companies become employers of choice, hiring faster, better and cost-effective. | $768K | Seed | Sep 01, 2016 |  |
| Smart Bill | Founded in 2007, Smart Bill is a Romanian FinTech startup that offers billing solutions and SaaS-based services. It also provides small- and medium-sized businesses with invoicing and inventory management software. It offers Smart Bill Cloud, an online billing program which can be accessed from anywhere, from any internet-connected device. Thecompany is headquartered in Sibiu, Romania. | $1.1M | Seed | Mar 09, 2016 |  |
| Vector Watch | Vector Watch's vision is to change the way people use smart watches and wearable technologies. The company was founded in 2013 by a team of former executives in the technology industry, backed by young engineers and multi-awarded designers for their projects in international innovation competitions. | $5M |  | Nov 25, 2015 |  |

10 of 14 investments shown.

## Co-investors
- [3TS Capital Partners](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/3ts-capital-partners) — VC Fund, 4 deals together
- [Catalyst Romania](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/catalyst-romania) — VC Fund, 2 deals together
- [Gecad Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/gecadgroup) — VC Fund, 2 deals together
- [South Central Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/sc-ventures) — VC Fund, 2 deals together
- [SeedBlink](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/seedblink) — VC Fund, 2 deals together
- [BlackPeak Capital](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/black-peak-capital) — VC Fund, 1 deal together

## About 3TS Capital Partners

VC Fund · Helsinki, Finland

3TS Capital Partners is a European technology focused private equity and venture capital firms. 3TS provides expansion capital and buyout funding for small and medium-sized businesses in growth sectors including technology & internet, media & communications and technology-enabled services. Investors in the current and past 3TS fundstotaling over €300 million include EIF, EBRD, Cisco, OTP, Sitra, 3i and KfW among others.Its team of highly qualified experts become active business partners of the portfolio companies and deliver substantial value added beyond financing. When analyzing new investment opportunities and supporting portfolio companies, the company often augment its core team by its sector partners, various co-investors and other industry experts. 3TS is also an active member of several international industry associations and other organizations like EVCA – European Private Equity & Venture Capital Association, the International Venture Club and the Draper Venture Network.

5 contacts available at 3TS Capital Partners.

| Name | Title | Profile |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Marius Ghenea | Managing Partner Catalyst Romania VC Fund | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/marius-ghenea |
| Pekka Mäki | Managing Partner | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/pekka-santeri-mki |
| Sever Totia | Partner | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/sever-totia |
| Zbigniew Lapinski | Senior Partner | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/zbigniew-lapinski |
| Alina Georgescu | Investment Analyst | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/alina-georgescu |

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## FAQ

### What does Marius Ghenea invest in?

Marius Ghenea invests primarily in Software, SaaS and FinTech startups, most often at Series A and Funding Round stage. Most of the 14 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in Romania. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.

### What is Marius Ghenea's check size?

Marius Ghenea typically joins rounds of $549k–$3.7M at Series A and $2.2M–$4.3M at Venture - Series Unknown. These ranges are 10th–90th percentile round sizes calculated from confirmed public funding rounds, so they are a realistic guide to the rounds Marius Ghenea participates in.

### When did Marius Ghenea last invest?

The most recent investment recorded for Marius Ghenea closed in Feb 2025. Shizune tracks 14 investments in total for this profile, including round sizes, stages and portfolio companies, all sourced from confirmed public funding rounds and refreshed monthly.

### Is Shizune's investor data accurate?

Yes — every stat on this profile is calculated from confirmed public funding rounds monitored across hundreds of sources since 2020. This profile was last refreshed in Aug 2026 and is updated monthly. Spotted something off? Use the “Suggest an edit” link near the top of the page.

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