Moldovan Startup Factory
Deep Dives
Explore related topics with these Wikipedia articles, rewritten for enjoyable reading:
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Bone conduction
14 min read
The Sonr headset uses bone-conduction technology to transmit sound through the skull, bypassing the eardrums. Understanding the physics and physiology of bone conduction would help readers appreciate how this underwater communication system works and why it's effective for swimmers.
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Freediving
12 min read
The article centers on Simpals' freediving equipment (Lobster) and mentions world records, the Netflix documentary, and founder Dmitri Voloshin's involvement in the sport. A deeper understanding of freediving disciplines, techniques, and the physiological challenges would provide valuable context.
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Economy of Moldova
12 min read
The article highlights Simpals as a rare Moldovan tech success story exporting to 60+ countries. Understanding Moldova's economic context—as one of Europe's poorest nations with limited tech infrastructure—makes this startup's achievements more remarkable and helps readers grasp the broader significance.
This story was written by Iurie Gandrabura of the Journo Birds, a media team that works withnonprofits to tell human-centered stories. This story was supported by UMAEF.
How a tech company from Chișinău made it to Netflix, in the freediving edition.
Simpals isn’t your typical startup. It’s a 200-person lab that builds everything from underwater headsets to viral animations. In twenty years, they’ve launched over a hundred products. Most failed. A few made history. One got landlocked Moldova into a Netflix documentary about diving. “Follow free diver Johanna Nordblad in this movie as she attempts to break the world record for distance traveled under ice with one breath,” said Simpals founder Dmitri Voloshin.
There’s a punching bag shaped like a man near the kitchen. A masseuse makes regular rounds. Monkeys bounce inside a glass box, watching office life unfold. But it’s not the toys or the perks that define Simpals and its Chisinau office. It’s how the company is run.
“We’re more like a startup of startups,” says CEO Roman Știrbu. “Each team works autonomously.”
They move fast, test constantly, and scrap what doesn’t work. “Speed matters more than certainty,” Știrbu says. And if logic doesn’t settle a debate? “Sometimes the best argument wins. Sometimes the market does.”
Simpals is more than a tech company. It’s a hub of media, animation, software, hardware and sport under one roof. It runs over 30 platforms, including Moldova’s largest classifieds site (999.md) and big news portals. In its office, one person might oversee the work of half a dozen websites or record a podcast, and the other can pet a real monkey or play PlayStation during a break.
All that is constructed as an ecosystem that breathes and lives. Its animation studio produces viral VR shorts; its Garage project team builds hardware like Lobster and Sonr. Then, its sports arm, Sporter.md, organizes everything from triathlons to freediving meets. In the same office, developers, animators, and editors work side by side.
At the same time, Simpals remains closely connected to Moldova’s startup ecosystem, allowing it to monitor market shifts in real time. As a Startup Moldova board member, Știrbu shares lessons from Simpals’ tech projects with the next wave of startups.
Lobster: The
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