Ziarul Finaciar will publish in the coming days the 20th edition of the yearbook TOP 100 most valuable companies in Romania – 2025 edition, a project carried out in partnership with BT Capital Partners and Veridio.
♦ The actors in this ranking are rated higher than a year ago, proof that domestic businesses are becoming more mature and more valuable in the eyes of investors ♦ Only one new player makes its way to the top – the UMB group, owned by the entrepreneur Dorinel Umbrărescu, nicknamed the «King of Asphalt».
Romania has ten entrepreneurial companies valued at 1 billion euros or close to this threshold, so it has ten unicorns or «almost unicorns» coming from various fields, from technology to the banking sector and from health to retail. Together, these companies are valued at 30 billion euros. The ranking is based on the value of the companies, not on the turnover. How is the value calculated? The evaluation is carried out on the basis of the financial data related to the year 2024 in the case of unlisted companies. For those that are on the stock market, the capitalization as of October 31, 2025 was taken into account. This is why the Medlife group in the private health sector is valued at 884 million euros in the ranking. Yesterday, however, the company announced that for the first time the company's capitalization reached the threshold of 1 billion euros, nine years after the listing. So, it's officially a unicorn. Among the 10 most valuable Romanian entrepreneurial businesses, four are listed on the stock exchange, namely UiPath, Banca Transilvania, Digi Communications and MedLife. However, the number is expected to increase as there is increased interest from local firms to access the capital markets. In fact, in the ranking made by ZF there is at least one company that has announced its intention in this regard, only that the listing would take place in New York, on the strongest capital market in the world. It is about Bitdefender, one of the strongest IT companies started in Romania and which has become a world leader in the cyber security market. A few months ago, ZF wrote that this step could be taken in the summer of 2026. If it were to list in the US, Bitdefender would become the second IT company founded by Romanian mathematicians to take this step, after the UiPath unicorn founded by Daniel Dines. In fact, UiPath is the most valuable local entrepreneurial business, with a valuation at the end of October of 7.2 billion euros. In the meantime, the value of the company increased strongly following the announcement of some results above expectations. Last year at this time, the Romanian company was facing pronounced falls on the stock market. The year 2025, despite the difficult economic climate and geopolitical uncertainty, brought increasing valuations for most entrepreneurial businesses in the ZF ranking. The rate varies from 3% in the case of UiPath or the Fildas-Catena Group (pharma) to 42% – Digi Communications (telecom). There is also a new name – the UMB group, owned by the entrepreneur Dorinel Umbrărescu, nicknamed the «King of Asphalt». The UMB group includes Umbrărescu's three large companies, namely Sa & Pe, UMB and Tehnostrade, which gather business of almost 3 billion euros and a net profit of 145.7 million euros last year. Thus, the entrepreneur, a very discreet presence in the domestic business environment, finds his place through the business created directly at the «big table». The evolution of the values made the top look different from last year. At the top, however, on the podium, there are no changes, the leaders being UiPath, Banca Transilvania – the largest local bank by assets – and Pavăl Holding – the investment vehicle owned by the founders of DIY retailer Dedeman, the brothers Dragoş and Adrian Pavăl. Through this legal entity, entrepreneurs have initialed multiple local and international transactions in areas such as real estate, tourism and DIY. Each of the three companies is valued at over 30 billion lei (5.9 billion euros), a level difficult to reach by other players. For example, the fourth place holder – Bitdefender – is valued at 11.6 billion lei (2.287 billion euros).
Why is value important?
For Romanian entrepreneurs who are considering the sale of the company – total or partial – there are several options, namely a deal with a strategic investor, an investment fund or a listing. In any of these cases, the valuation of a company is crucial. That is precisely why this ZF ranking made together with BT Capital Partners and Veridio is all the more valuable. In most sectors, the value of a company is given by the multiple of EBITDA. Few companies – especially those in retail (and only in certain situations) – are evaluated based on a multiple (subunit, as a rule) of turnover. And in technology, especially in the early stages of the development cycle, the rules are different, taking into account especially the potential and the idea, given that not infrequently the profit does not exist. However, as technology businesses reach maturity, the discussions are carried out on other bases.
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