Romania is becoming a notable hub for high-tech entrepreneurship, and Digitail’s recent $23 million Series B funding showcases how much potential lies in the region. As a serial entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience across different disciplines and countries, I couldn't resist digging deeper into what this funding round means not just for Digitail but for the tech-driven pet care industry overall.
Here’s what makes Digitail’s success so interesting to entrepreneurs: it’s proof that focusing on solving specific, underserved problems can capture attention, and funding, from top investors.
Digitail’s Expansion and What It Means for Pet Care
Founded in 2018, Digitail is tackling outdated veterinary workflows by offering a centralized, AI-powered platform for clinics. Their recent funding round, led by Five Elms Capital, also saw participation from established investors like Atomico and Gradient Ventures. The company’s goal? Transform vet practices by reducing administrative strain through features like automated recordkeeping and smart scheduling.
The numbers speak volumes. Digitail now serves over 10,000 veterinary professionals and reaches 3 million pet owners. And clinics using their platform save over 50 hours per month, valuable time that can be spent providing better care to animals.
For founders juggling multiple priorities, this is a lesson in focusing on what matters most to your audience. Digitail designed a product that directly improves efficiency for its users. No bells, no whistles, just solving real frustrations.
Lessons Female Entrepreneurs Can Take From Digitail’s Path
As someone who co-founded businesses in sectors like blockchain and education, I’ve noticed patterns among startups that go from good to great. While Digitail isn’t female-founded, the strategies they’ve employed resonate strongly with entrepreneurs looking to scale. Here’s how:
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Tackle Problems, Not Fads
Digitail’s founders identified a gap, vets working with disconnected, outdated tech. Their solution wasn’t flashy, but it met a practical need. The takeaway? Ignore trends and build for long-term impact instead. -
Build Teams That Truly Understand the Problem
Both co-founders, Sebastian Gabor and Ruxandra Pui, clearly spent time inside their customers’ world before rolling out solutions. In my own experience launching startups, deep customer research saves years correcting missteps later. -
Expand Strategically, Not Recklessly
With fresh capital, Digitail plans to grow their customer base by expanding globally and refining AI tools. Scaling smart, rather than fast, ensures sustainability and reputation don’t take a hit.
How-Tos for Bootstrap Entrepreneurs in Competitive Markets
Many women entrepreneurs don’t have the luxury of venture capital funding, especially early on. I’ve bootstrapped several startups, and here’s how founders can navigate growth when budgets are tight but ambitions are high:
- Use Free Tech Tools: From project management platforms to no-code AI integration kits, there are countless free resources online.
- Build Agile Products: Release the simplest version of a product that solves a problem, then refine based on user feedback.
- Partner Smartly: Collaborate with complementary startups to share resources, such as combining SaaS tools for mutual visibility.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Digitail’s growth didn’t happen overnight. Here’s where missteps commonly occur for startups:
- Ignoring Scalability Sooner: Getting bogged down in one market or with one audience can stifle business scaling when demand grows.
- Overengineering Early Tech: Most MVPs (minimum viable products) don’t need excessive functionality from day one.
- Undervaluing Community: Startups like Digitail survive when their communities (vets, in this case) trust and advocate for them.
The Road Ahead for the Pet Care Industry
For ventures like Digitail, scaling AI in pet care is about more than reducing daily inefficiencies. It’s about redefining the standard of medical care animals receive, which has a ripple effect on the industry and its global audiences.
To entrepreneurs exploring similar spaces: think ecosystems. Beyond their platform, Digitail integrates a pet-parent companion app, enabling engagement across the value chain. Start-ups in similar verticals can replicate this layered approach to stand out against competitive players who focus narrowly.
Conclusion
As a founder who’s spent years in male-dominated industries and learned to bootstrap with very few resources, stories like Digitail’s remind me why persistence and customer focus win. Female entrepreneurs in Europe, and globally, shouldn't wait for permission to think bigger and target larger industries.
If Digitail can lead with veterinary software out of Romania, imagine where other regional startups can succeed. For women especially, there are shifting tides, with more capital flowing into niche markets and underrepresented voices getting louder. Let’s make it unmissable.
For more insights into creating scalable, high-impact startups, explore Digitail’s website and observe how their journey aligns with your goals.
FAQ
1. What is Digitail?
Digitail is a Romanian-founded company that provides AI-driven practice management software for veterinary clinics. It aims to improve efficiency and care quality through its all-in-one platform. Learn more about Digitail
2. How much did Digitail raise in its Series B funding round?
Digitail raised $23 million (€20 million) in its Series B funding round, led by Five Elms Capital with contributions from investors like Atomico and Gradient Ventures. Explore Digitail’s Series B funding
3. What problems does Digitail solve for veterinary clinics?
Digitail addresses administrative inefficiencies in veterinary clinics with features like AI-powered scheduling, recordkeeping, invoicing, and client communication, saving clinics over 50 hours per month. Learn about Digitail's solutions
4. Who are the founders of Digitail?
Digitail was founded in 2018 by Sebastian Gabor and Ruxandra Pui, who aimed to modernize veterinary workflows with connected and efficient tools. Learn more about the founders
5. How many veterinary professionals use Digitail's platform?
As of 2025, Digitail serves over 10,000 veterinary professionals and 3 million pet owners globally. Find out more about Digitail’s reach
6. What features does Digitail’s platform provide?
Digitail’s platform includes scheduling, electronic health records, billing, inventory management, and a pet-parent companion app. It also offers 15+ AI workflows to enhance clinic efficiency. Discover Digitail’s features
7. What are Digitail's expansion plans following the Series B funding?
Digitail plans to accelerate product development, expand its AI capabilities, and scale operations globally with its Series B funding. Learn about Digitail’s future plans
8. How is Digitail transforming pet care with AI?
Digitail leverages AI to streamline veterinary operations, enabling clinics to focus on personalized animal care rather than administrative tasks. Explore AI in Digitail
9. Who led Digitail’s Series B funding round?
The Series B funding round was led by Five Elms Capital, with participation from Atomico, Gradient Ventures, and others. Read more about Digitail’s investors
10. Why is Digitail's success notable in the startup ecosystem?
Digitail demonstrates that startups can succeed by solving industry-specific, underserved problems with innovative solutions. Its growth also highlights Romania’s rising presence in the global high-tech space. Learn about Digitail’s impact
About the Author
Violetta Bonenkamp, also known as MeanCEO, is an experienced startup founder with an impressive educational background including an MBA and four other higher education degrees. She has over 20 years of work experience across multiple countries, including 5 years as a solopreneur and serial entrepreneur. Throughout her startup experience she has applied for multiple startup grants at the EU level, in the Netherlands and Malta, and her startups received quite a few of those. She’s been living, studying and working in many countries around the globe and her extensive multicultural experience has influenced her immensely.
Violetta Bonenkamp's expertise in CAD sector, IP protection and blockchain
Violetta Bonenkamp is recognized as a multidisciplinary expert with significant achievements in the CAD sector, intellectual property (IP) protection, and blockchain technology.
CAD Sector:
- Violetta is the CEO and co-founder of CADChain, a deep tech startup focused on developing IP management software specifically for CAD (Computer-Aided Design) data. CADChain addresses the lack of industry standards for CAD data protection and sharing, using innovative technology to secure and manage design data.
- She has led the company since its inception in 2018, overseeing R&D, PR, and business development, and driving the creation of products for platforms such as Autodesk Inventor, Blender, and SolidWorks.
- Her leadership has been instrumental in scaling CADChain from a small team to a significant player in the deeptech space, with a diverse, international team.
IP Protection:
- Violetta has built deep expertise in intellectual property, combining academic training with practical startup experience. She has taken specialized courses in IP from institutions like WIPO and the EU IPO.
- She is known for sharing actionable strategies for startup IP protection, leveraging both legal and technological approaches, and has published guides and content on this topic for the entrepreneurial community.
- Her work at CADChain directly addresses the need for robust IP protection in the engineering and design industries, integrating cybersecurity and compliance measures to safeguard digital assets.
Blockchain:
- Violetta’s entry into the blockchain sector began with the founding of CADChain, which uses blockchain as a core technology for securing and managing CAD data.
- She holds several certifications in blockchain and has participated in major hackathons and policy forums, such as the OECD Global Blockchain Policy Forum.
- Her expertise extends to applying blockchain for IP management, ensuring data integrity, traceability, and secure sharing in the CAD industry.
Violetta is a true multiple specialist who has built expertise in Linguistics, Education, Business Management, Blockchain, Entrepreneurship, Intellectual Property, Game Design, AI, SEO, Digital Marketing, cyber security and zero code automations. Her extensive educational journey includes a Master of Arts in Linguistics and Education, an Advanced Master in Linguistics from Belgium (2006-2007), an MBA from Blekinge Institute of Technology in Sweden (2006-2008), and an Erasmus Mundus joint program European Master of Higher Education from universities in Norway, Finland, and Portugal (2009).
She is the founder of Fe/male Switch, a startup game that encourages women to enter STEM fields, and also leads CADChain, and multiple other projects like the Directory of 1,000 Startup Cities with a proprietary MeanCEO Index that ranks cities for female entrepreneurs. Violetta created the "gamepreneurship" methodology, which forms the scientific basis of her startup game. She also builds a lot of SEO tools for startups. Her achievements include being named one of the top 100 women in Europe by EU Startups in 2022 and being nominated for Impact Person of the year at the Dutch Blockchain Week. She is an author with Sifted and a speaker at different Universities. Recently she published a book on Startup Idea Validation the right way: from zero to first customers and beyond, launched a Directory of 1,500+ websites for startups to list themselves in order to gain traction and build backlinks and is building MELA AI to help local restaurants in Malta get more visibility online.
For the past several years Violetta has been living between the Netherlands and Malta, while also regularly traveling to different destinations around the globe, usually due to her entrepreneurial activities. This has led her to start writing about different locations and amenities from the POV of an entrepreneur. Here’s her recent article about the best hotels in Italy to work from.
About the Publication
Fe/male Switch is an innovative startup platform designed to empower women entrepreneurs through an immersive, game-like experience. Founded in 2020 during the pandemic "without any funding and without any code," this non-profit initiative has evolved into a comprehensive educational tool for aspiring female entrepreneurs.The platform was co-founded by Violetta Shishkina-Bonenkamp, who serves as CEO and one of the lead authors of the Startup News branch.
Mission and Purpose
Fe/male Switch Foundation was created to address the gender gap in the tech and entrepreneurship space. The platform aims to skill-up future female tech leaders and empower them to create resilient and innovative tech startups through what they call "gamepreneurship". By putting players in a virtual startup village where they must survive and thrive, the startup game allows women to test their entrepreneurial abilities without financial risk.
Key Features
The platform offers a unique blend of news, resources,learning, networking, and practical application within a supportive, female-focused environment:
- Skill Lab: Micro-modules covering essential startup skills
- Virtual Startup Building: Create or join startups and tackle real-world challenges
- AI Co-founder (PlayPal): Guides users through the startup process
- SANDBOX: A testing environment for idea validation before launch
- Wellness Integration: Virtual activities to balance work and self-care
- Marketplace: Buy or sell expert sessions and tutorials
Impact and Growth
Since its inception, Fe/male Switch has shown impressive growth:
- 5,000+ female entrepreneurs in the community
- 100+ startup tools built
- 5,000+ pieces of articles and news written
- 1,000 unique business ideas for women created
Partnerships
Fe/male Switch has formed strategic partnerships to enhance its offerings. In January 2022, it teamed up with global website builder Tilda to provide free access to website building tools and mentorship services for Fe/male Switch participants.
Recognition
Fe/male Switch has received media attention for its innovative approach to closing the gender gap in tech entrepreneurship. The platform has been featured in various publications highlighting its unique "play to learn and earn" model.
