Bright Labs 2025: Building Europe’s future, one founder at a time (Sponsored)

As Europe finds itself at a point where innovation momentum needs ignition more than ever, Bright Labs 2025 emerges with a bold mission: to reignite the optimism, ambition, and ingenuity of a new generation of European founders.

At a time when conversations around European Accelerationism, the belief that Europe must accelerate innovation, ambition, and technological advancement, are gaining momentum, Bright Labs steps in as a living, breathing commitment to that vision. It’s a call to action for young builders, dreamers, and pragmatic idealists across the continent.

Bright Labs 2025 is not just another accelerator. It is a 100-day immersive founder experience crafted to help the next generation of early-stage founders discover hard problems, build great products, and launch bold startups.

In recent years, Oradea has quietly become one of the fastest-rising startup ecosystems in Eastern Europe and is now unofficially claiming the highest startup-per-capita ratio in the region. What began as a small local initiative has evolved into a concentrated hub of entrepreneurial activity, fuelled by hands-on support, public investment, and founder-led acceleration. The results are starting to show that the small, aesthetic city in Western Transylvania is booming:

• Creatopy, a design automation platform built in Oradea, recently raised $10 million to scale globally.
• TypingDNA, co-founded by two local entrepreneurs, has raised over $7 million and is pioneering biometric authentication worldwide.
• Siena.cx, with roots in the region, secured a $4.7 million seed round led by global VCS to redefine AI-powered customer support.

The programme is supported through a unique public-private partnership, reflecting a rare alignment between seasoned entrepreneurs and visionary local governance. The initiative is led by multi-exited founders with real-world experience in building and scaling companies, working closely with the Oradea Municipality. This municipality has attracted over €1 billion in public infrastructure investments and catalysed more than €500 million in private investments in recent years. Oradea has become one of Eastern Europe’s standout examples of strategic urban development, blending modernisation with entrepreneurial energy.

Building Europe’s future, one founder at a time

What truly sets Bright Labs apart is the experience itself. For 100 days, selected founders step into full-focus, in-person founder mode – with complete mental space and zero distractions – to train their mindset, overcome adversity, and build ambitious products with the full backing of an experienced team. The entire programme unfolds inside a Medieval Fortress, aptly nicknamed “Europe’s Startup Fortress” – a setting unlike anything in the startup world. Founders don’t just work here – they live, create, and grow together, immersed in a high-energy environment where creativity thrives.

“Bright Labs is our commitment to reigniting the optimism and innovative spirit of the next generation of founders. It’s built around them – designed to inspire them to dream bigger and create solutions for seemingly impossible problems,” says David Achim, Programme Director, Bright Labs.

Mentors, investors, and multi-exited founders join them throughout the journey, not for superficial office hours, but as embedded “residents” in the build process. It’s a rare kind of startup experience – intimate, intense, and deeply transformational – designed not just to launch products, but to forge resilient, high-agency founders ready to tackle real-world problems.

Selected founders will relocate for 100 days to the “Startup Fortress of Europe”: a vibrant ecosystem where build-test-learn cycles happen daily, not yearly. Participants receive free accommodation, coworking space, meals, and operational support – freeing them to focus purely on building.

More than local impact: A Pan-European ambition

The programme builds on the previous Bright Labs exploratory editions, which have already attracted founders from France, the UK, Italy, Poland, Bulgaria, Ukraine, and Estonia. Previous participants now call it a “transformational experience” that reshaped their startups through shifting perspectives, hands-on mentorship, and operational acceleration.

Yet the ambition of Bright Labs 2025 goes beyond Oradea. Backed by Oradea Municipality, the programme aims to make a meaningful contribution to a broader European renaissance, where cities and regions outside traditional tech hubs can become launchpads for global innovation.

“Investing in startup ecosystems isn’t just an economic decision – it’s an investment in the future infrastructure of Europe: in talent, in innovation, in ambition,” says Mihai Jurca, former City Manager of Oradea.

Who’s it for? 

This is not a programme for endless pitch decks and demo days. This is for the next generation of European founders who want to move fast, break things, and build something that matters.

Bright Labs seeks high-agency founders, the rare individuals who aren’t waiting for permission, who believe in learning by building, and who are eager to turn bold ideas into real, validated products!

Think Europe should dream bigger, move faster, and build bolder? Bright Labs 2025 could be your next step. Applications are open until 16 May 2025 – register here today!

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