Daniela Maior, VERTIK Group & ARIR: “Capital is negotiated best when you have options”

Daniela Maior, Partner and Co-Founder of VERTIK Group and President and Co-Founder of ARIR, discusses capital markets, investor relations, corporate financing, entrepreneurship and financial education in Romania.

Daniela Maior, Partner and Co-Founder of VERTIK Group, President and Co-Founder of ARIR, is a specialist in capital markets, investor relations and corporate financing, with over 18 years of experience in connecting Romanian companies with investors and developing the local capital ecosystem. She contributed to building the Romanian Investor Relations Association (ARIR), an organization that today brings together companies representing over 90% of the capitalization of the Bucharest Stock Exchange, coordinated the first “Investor Relations and Liquidity” program carried out in Romania at the initiative of the EBRD, and, through VERTIK, has advised nearly 30 companies on investor relations, strategic positioning and access to capital projects. She holds a PhD in Finance from the Bucharest University of Economic Studies, and her current work focuses on expanding Romanian companies’ access to institutional capital, both through the capital market and alternative financing solutions.

C&B: What is the mission you have taken on through your work?

Daniela: My mission is to put Romanian companies with potential in a position to sit at the table as equals with investors. This means much more than finding a source of financing: it means preparing the company before the meeting that matters, from strategy and governance to financial figures, the equity story and the way management supports its growth plan.

I arrived here through several paths that naturally came together. As a broker, I learned through dialogue with clients what investors expect from a listed company. At the Bucharest Stock Exchange, I observed how investors view a market. Through the Romanian Investor Relations Association (ARIR), I contributed, together with its members, to raising standards in investor relations, transparency and governance. Today, ARIR members represent more than 90% of the capitalization of the Bucharest Stock Exchange. Through VERTIK, I have taken this experience further, working both with issuers and with entrepreneurs seeking capital for the next stage of development.

In recent years, my focus has expanded toward private markets and Romanian companies’ access to a broader base of international investors. I want a good company in Romania not to limit its growth because it does not know where capital is or how to access it.

The results confirm to me that this approach works: through VERTIK, I have worked with nearly 30 companies so far, while our listed clients have recorded an aggregate increase in market capitalization of more than €300 million during our collaborations. At the same time, ARIR has grown from an initiative built by a few professionals into a community bringing together companies representing more than 90% of the capitalization of the Bucharest Stock Exchange, now eight years after its establishment.

C&B: What is the most important problem you see today in the field you work in, and how do you think it can be solved?

Daniela: One of the biggest problems I see is that many companies start thinking about capital too late. Entrepreneurs begin looking for alternatives precisely when bank financing is no longer sufficient, when they have an urgent investment to make or when cash flow comes under pressure. Yet that is exactly the moment when they have the least negotiating power.

I have encountered very good companies that had a solid business, customers and growth prospects, but were not yet “investable”: their reporting was not clear enough, their governance depended too heavily on the founder, their strategy had not been translated into SMART objectives, and management could not explain within a few minutes why an investor should allocate capital to that particular company.

That is why I believe Romania needs two things in parallel. The first is investment readiness: preparing companies well before a transaction. The second is developing a more diverse financing infrastructure between traditional bank lending and the stock exchange: private equity, private debt, mezzanine financing, bonds and other structures adapted to different stages of development.

Capital is negotiated best when you have options. And options are built before you need the money.

I have even encountered profitable companies with very strong growth prospects that only started looking for capital when they already had an urgent financing need. At that point, time becomes an adversary: you can no longer build, within a few weeks, the reporting, governance and credibility that an institutional investor evaluates before making a decision. In my experience, what does not work is treating external capital raising as a one-off transaction. Ideally, preparation for accessing capital should begin 12–24 months in advance.

C&B: What is the most valuable lesson you have learned throughout your experience, and one that you believe is worth passing on?

Daniela: I learned my most valuable lesson at a time when I had to choose between the security of a job and entrepreneurship, the direction I felt I needed to pursue but which was unfamiliar to me. A mentor told me something I have carried with me ever since: the strongest weapon against fear is courage.

In my case, one of these decisions was leaving a stable career to build VERTIK and ARIR, at a time when I was a single mother of twin daughters. I had no guarantee that it would work. A few years later, ARIR had come to represent, through its members, more than 90% of the stock market’s capitalization, while VERTIK was working with some of the most important listed and entrepreneurial companies in Romania. For me, this was the clearest example that sometimes the most important risk is not making the wrong decision, but staying too long in a place simply because it is safe.

Over time, however, I understood that it is not about having the courage to throw yourself into the unknown. Good courage comes together with preparation. You do your homework, understand the risks, build alternatives and then make the decision. Looking back, I would have chosen entrepreneurship earlier, but since everything happens as it should, I accept my journey without regrets.

I see the same thing among the entrepreneurs I work with. Sometimes they avoid external capital because they fear losing control, being evaluated by an investor or simply facing the unknown. My role is not to tell them that fear does not exist, but to help them arrive at the table so well prepared that the decision is made from a position of choice, not fear.

C&B: If you had the opportunity to change one thing in Romania, what would it be and why?

Daniela: I would change the way we learn to build prosperity.

I belong to a generation that moved very quickly from a system in which economic decisions were made for us by others to a system that asked us, almost overnight, to know how to save, invest, take risks, build companies and plan our own financial future. However, we did not also receive the education necessary for this freedom.

I believe some of the behaviors we see today stem from this: the preference for property over productive investments, companies’ dependence on bank financing, entrepreneurs’ reluctance to open up their shareholder structures and the still limited interest in building long-term wealth through investments.

I would like us to learn much earlier what capital, risk, compound interest, ownership in a company and investing really mean. Not just for future entrepreneurs or finance professionals, but for every young person. Because Romania needs not only higher incomes, but more people who know how to turn income into capital and capital into prosperity that can be passed on to future generations.

I have seen firsthand how quickly a market’s behavior can change when there are standards and good examples. A few years ago, investor relations was, for many listed companies, more of a communication obligation; in the meantime, I have seen top management teams engage constantly with investors, monitor how they are perceived by the market and treat governance and transparency as tools for creating value. This change shows me that our relationship with capital can also evolve if we start educating people early enough and build the right institutions.

C&B: How can we work together to help people, companies and communities develop better?

Daniela: I believe development begins when access circulates. Access to people, information, capital and, sometimes, simply to someone who tells you openly and directly what you could do better.

I myself have benefited from people who opened a door for me, offered advice at an important moment or believed in me before I had all the answers. Over time, I understood that we also have a responsibility to do the same for those who come after us.

That is why I strongly believe in mentorship, but in a very practical form. If you have built a company, help an entrepreneur avoid a mistake you have made yourself. If you have access to a network, introduce a good person to it. If you understand financing, explain to someone how to prepare before meeting an investor. And if you have reached a position where you can create opportunities, do not keep access only for those who are already part of the circle.

I have tried to apply this principle beyond my professional mandates as well. Through ARIR, I created contexts in which companies, investors and professionals who previously had very few opportunities to meet began working together to build standards for the market. Personally, I invest time in mentorship, financial education and supporting women who want to reach leadership positions, because I know how much access to the right person at the right decision-making moment can matter.

For me, this is what giving back means: not only passing on what you know, but using what you have built to shorten someone else’s journey.

The interview with Daniela Maior, Partner and Co-Founder of VERTIK Group and President and Co-Founder of ARIR, offers valuable insights into how Romanian companies can become better prepared to access capital and build stronger relationships with investors. From capital markets, investor relations and corporate governance to private equity, private debt and alternative financing solutions, Daniela Maior’s experience highlights the importance of strategic preparation before seeking external capital.