agora.md

Logo of agora.md

The Agora.md portal was launched on February 18, 2014, by Interact Media LLC, a company founded by four individuals - Tudor Darie, Dumitru Ciorici, and brothers Sergiu and Vasile Galușca. Over the years, Interact Media has undergone several organizational restructurings. In November 2021, the company's shareholding changed when Vasile and Sergiu Galușca acquired the shares held by Tudor Darie and Dumitru Ciorici, becoming majority shareholders. Additionally, key management figures - editor-in-chief Victoria Dumbravă (Amarandei) and company director Irina Ghelbur - became associates, each acquiring a 10% stake in the company's share capital. In 2023, Interact Media LLC established an operational board comprising associates Vasile Galușca, Irina Ghelbur, Victoria Amarandei, editor-in-chief Anastasia Antoceanu, and a community member.

At its launch, Agora.md set out to become Moldova's leading business website. Since then, the portal has diversified its content offerings. Today, the site features news, analysis, opinion pieces, and podcasts. Agora.md has developed a membership platform, becoming the first media institution in Moldova to create such a community.

The Agora.md portal and its journalists have received innovation awards at the Journalists of the Year Gala organized by the Independent Journalism Centre in 2016, 2019, 2020, 2022, and 2023.

Key Facts

Audience ShareMissing Data
Ownership TypePrivate
Geographic CoverageTransnational
Content TypeFree
Active Transparency
company/channel informs proactively and comprehensively about its ownership, data is constantly updated and easily verifiable
Media Companies / GroupsInteract Media

Ownership

Ownership Structure

Interact Media LLC currently has four shareholders: Victoria Amarandei, who also serves as administrator (holding 10% of share capital), Sergiu Galușca (20%), Vasile Galușca (60%), and Irina Ghelbur (10%).

Individual Owner
Group / Individual Owner
  • Sergiu Galușca

    Sergiu Galușca is a wine entrepreneur, he was behind the founding of several large wine projects in the country, built his business, Unicorn Winery, and currently manages several wine projects in the country.
    20
  • Victoria Amarandei (Dumbravă)

    Victoria Amarandei (Dumbravă) graduated in Journalism in 2007. According to her LinkedIn profile, in the same year, she was hired as an editor at the Unimedia portal, also founded by Interact Media LLC, where she worked until 2010. From 2010 to 2013 she was an editor at Publika.md, after which she returned to Unimedia as senior editor. In 2014, together with Dumitru Ciorici and Tudor Darie, she started working at Agora.md as editor-in-chief, a position in which she built the editorial team and editorial policies. From December 2023 until today she has been the administrator of Interact Media LLC.
    10
  • Irina Ghelbur

    Irina Ghelbur holds a degree in Journalism, International Relations, and Political and Administrative Sciences. She has two master's degrees, one in business and administration and another in communication. According to her LinkedIn profile, from 2005 to 2008 she was a marketing specialist at Moldova Agroindbank. Later she did PR for Shopping MallDova and Starnet company. From 2012 to 2015 she was a manager on communications at Stone House Marketing & Advertising Agency, then for three years, she was a communications expert and project manager at Action Global Communications Moldova. She joined Agora.md in 2017, taking over the position of administrator of Interact Media LLC and Agora.md portal. After more than seven years of executive management, Irina Ghelbur handed over the leading position to Victoria Dumbrava, but remained in the team to ensure the management of grant projects and attracting the necessary resources to develop Agora.md.
    10

Media Companies / Groups

Facts

Founding Year2014
FounderTudor Darie

Tudor Darie is an entrepreneur with diverse business interests. He began his career in 2002 as president of the Young Journalist Center. In 2007, he co-founded New Media Grup, which he managed for three years. From 2010 to 2012, he worked  as Prime Minister Vlad Filat's consultant on information technologies. He was also one of  the founders of the news portal Unimedia.info. From 2013 to 2017, he worked  as director of Interact Media LLC, which he co-founded. From 2016 to 2022, he was director of New Media Grup. In 2018, he relocated to Bucharest, where he founded Fagura - the first crowdfunding lending marketplace in Romania and Moldova, a FinTech startup for alternative investments and consumer loans. His business portfolio also includes ventures in IT services (Sensmedia), digital marketing (Adcenter), and e-commerce (ZAP).



Dumitru Ciorici

Dumitru Ciorici is a journalist and media entrepreneur. In 2005, he and Tudor Darie launched uni.md, which later evolved into unimedia.info. He managed the portal's editorial operations from 2010 to 2014, before stepping away from the business. Between 2005-2007, he served as financial manager at Lunatic Productions and from 2006 to 2008 as president of Moldova's Young Journalist Center. From 2010 to 2015, he was a director at New Media Grup, which he co-founded. He served as editorial director at Agora.md in 2014-2015 and as a senior consultant at Thomson Reuters Foundation in 2020-2022. Since 2008, he has maintained his blog at dumitruciorici.com and runs a Telegram channel that aggregates news. From 2018 to present, he has been the development director at Fagura, the venture founded by Tudor Darie.



Vasile Galușca

Vasile Galușca currently serves as the director of strategic development at the Agora.md portal and is the majority owner of Interact Media LLC, which launched the portal. He is an entrepreneur and former director of Lunatic Productions, and from 2007 to 2012 served as development director at New Media Group. According to his LinkedIn profile, he managed Memo Express from 2013 to 2019, followed by a three-year tenure as administrator of the logistics and courier company Muvi Express. Since 2024, he has also managed Laziar Dev LLC, a trading company.



Sergiu Galușca

Vasile Galușca's brother, Sergiu Galușca, is a wine entrepreneur who has been instrumental in establishing several major wine projects in the country. He built his own business, Unicorn Winery, and currently manages multiple wine projects throughout the country.

CEOVictoria Amarandei (Dumbravă)

Victoria Amarandei (Dumbravă) graduated in journalism in 2007. According to her LinkedIn profile, in the same year she joined the Unimedia portal, also founded by Interact Media LLC, as an editor, where she worked until 2010. From 2010 to 2013, she was an editor at Publika.md, after which she returned to Unimedia as a senior editor. In 2014, she joined Agora.md as editor-in-chief, alongside Dumitru Ciorici and Tudor Darie, where she developed the editorial team and defined the editorial policy. Since December 2023, she has been the administrator of Interact Media LLC.

Editor-In-ChiefAnastasia Antoceanu

Anastasia Antoceanu holds a degree from the Faculty of Journalism. She worked as a reporter at Vocea Basarabiei TV, Realitatea TV, and TV8, before joining Agora.md as a reporter in April 2018. In December 2023, she was appointed editor-in-chief of Agora.md.

Contactstr. Calea Ieșilor, 10B
et. 4
MD-2025 mun. Chișinău
Moldova, Republic of
info@agora.md
+373 22 999 330
https://agora.md/
RevenueMissing Data
Operating ProfitMissing Data
Advertising (in % of total funding)Missing Data
Market ShareMissing Data
Headlines
Meta Data

In July, agora.md ranked 13th most popular website according to Gemius, with 102,708 unique visitors. Advertising data and market share information are not publicly available. Information about the editor-in-chief was obtained from their CV, which the MOM team requested. The editor-in-chief also detailed the most significant transformations that Agora.md has undergone since its establishment.

Sources
Documents (PDF)