Healthtech in CEE: Why Regional Collaboration Is the Missing Piece

Earlier this month, Endeavor Greece hosted a closed-door session at our offices in Athens with a focused group of founders, investors, and health industry stakeholders. The goal: to explore how innovation in healthtech can scale more effectively across Central and Eastern Europe (CEE).

The conversation featured Sergiu Negut, Endeavor Entrepreneur, Co-Founder of FintechOS, and Managing Partner at Cleverage VC, moderated by Diana Mereu, Founder of HealthFluencer. Their exchange offered both tactical insights and a broader look at what’s needed to unlock the region’s healthtech potential.

From Operator to Investor: Sergiu Negut’s Perspective

Sergiu’s path to venture has been quite unconventional. He began his career in large pharma, helped scale Regina Maria into one of Romania’s leading private healthcare chains, co-founded enterprise fintech company FintechOS, and has now co-founded Cleverage VC, a specialized healthtech fund in the CEE region.

As noted by Sergiu, he has worked across corporate, entrepreneurial, and investment roles. This experience equips him with a perspective on what it actually takes to scale in regulated, operationally intensive sectors like healthcare.

Cleverage VC was born out of that experience, today, having grown into an active early-stage investor with 15 healthtech companies in its portfolio across diagnostics, digital health, medtech, and more.

What Sets Healthtech Apart

Unlike consumer or SaaS startups, healthtech ventures often face longer timelines, more complex go-to-market strategies, and heavier regulatory oversight. This creates unique challenges when it comes to securing funding, especially in early stages.

It was observed by Sergiu that there’s often a disconnect - founders may have deep technical or clinical expertise but limited commercial background. At the same time, many VCs don’t have the sector knowledge to evaluate healthtech risks and opportunities properly.

Cleverage VC aims to fill that gap by offering both capital and operational support, helping generalist funds underwrite risk, and helping founders shape viable paths to market.

Greece and the Region: Untapped Potential

While Cleverage VC is based in Romania, its focus is regional. And Greece, Sergiu said, presents a real opportunity. Sergiu observes that there is a strong health science talent, growing founder ambition, and a private healthcare sector that’s open to innovation. But he also pointed out the need for scale. He notes that no single country in the region is large enough to sustain healthtech companies with global ambitions, so the path forward is cross-border collaboration from day one.

Specialized investors like Cleverage VC are emerging to meet this need, bringing both sector understanding and capital to early-stage healthtech ventures in the region.

Bridging Ecosystems

Diana and Sergiu discussed how collaboration between markets is increasingly necessary. CEE markets are fragmented, but share similar characteristics: constrained public budgets, a mix of public and private healthcare delivery, and a growing openness to digital tools.

One key conclusion that becomes clear from the discussion is that there is strong healthcare talent in the region. Sergiu perceives that there’s emerging investor interest. What’s missing is the infrastructure and mindset for cross-border collaboration.

Events like this - bringing together operators, funders, and experts - are small but necessary steps toward stronger cross-border infrastructure

A Realistic Takeaway

The conversation ended with a practical call to action: keep talking, but also keep building.

Startups need to have a realistic understanding of what it takes to grow in healthtech. This includes knowing their market, forming the right partnerships, and planning for international expansion from the start. Sergiu concluded that there is also a need for investors to adapt. He highlighted that this sector won’t fit the standard early-stage venture pattern. The best outcomes will come from those who understand its complexity and are willing to work through it. 

At Endeavor, we see conversations like these as critical moments to connect operators and ecosystem enablers - building shared understanding and long-term trust across borders.