3VC strengthens its team. Marius Istrate becomes a Partner.

3VC is taking a significant step in strengthening its team by welcoming Marius Istrate as a Partner, effective June 2nd, 2026. This appointment underscores the firm’s commitment to backing exceptional European tech founders with deep operational expertise and guidance. Marius brings a wealth of experience from both sides of the table, combining an impressive track record as an angel investor (with investments in 28 start-ups across Romania, Hungary, Croatia, and Estonia over the past 6 years) with firsthand knowledge of scaling global technology companies.

Marius is no stranger to the 3VC family or its portfolio. Since 2020, he has served as a Scout and Venture Partner, specializing in people, talent, and leadership alignment. Over the last six years, his insights have helped founders navigate the complex organizational challenges that arise during rapid growth phases. Stepping into the Partner role is a natural evolution of this relationship, allowing him to deepen his involvement in deal evaluation, investment strategy, and portfolio scaling.

As an operator, Marius brings a rare and highly sought-after perspective to venture capital. During his tenure as Chief People Officer at UiPath, he was instrumental in building the teams and culture that drove one of the most successful enterprise software trajectories in recent history, having built the People function from scratch and scaling it through to the company's pre-IPO phase. This firsthand experience managing hyper-growth translates directly into actionable, battle-tested insights for the ambitious founders in the 3VC portfolio.

The decision to join forces at the partner level is rooted in a strong alignment of core values. Marius and the 3VC team share a fundamental belief in balancing boldness and ambition with rigorous discipline and operational depth.

“Working with 3VC over the past 6 years while also building my angel portfolio and leading the largest angel group in the region, TechAngels Romania, has allowed me to continue my involvement with scale-up companies, while at the same time understanding the difficulties and pain of very early-stage founders. It’s been fun, but I have decided to sharpen my focus. In this day and age, when competition is becoming fierce for VC firms, I believe it is important to contribute where we are strongest in order to give ourselves the best chance to achieve our vision for a strong, dynamic, and flourishing tech ecosystem in Europe. I will continue my work out of Bucharest, Romania, while traveling Europe, as I have since I started investing. 3VC’s track record so far aligns with my belief that the technical excellence we encounter in this part of the world can produce outsized results when coupled with operational acumen and precision.”

Commenting on Istrate’s joining the team, Eva Arh, 3VC’s Managing Partner adds: “Having worked closely with Marius for the past six years, welcoming him to the partnership feels incredibly organic and is a natural next step for 3VC. His investment philosophy, scaling experience, and deep engagement across our region are a perfect match for our mission. What truly sets Marius apart is how he partners with entrepreneurs; I have seen firsthand how much founders value sparring with him. He provides deeply thoughtful, actionable advice while always respecting that they are the ones in the driver's seat. Having him fully on board is a massive win for both our founders and our investors.”

3VC is a European venture capital fund that invests in carefully selected tech startups with outrageous ambition and signs of product-market fit. We focus on quality over quantity and partner with only a handful of exceptional companies per year. We are a team composed of former founders and operators who are driven by curiosity but grounded in discipline.