The 20 Most Trending Stories from the Bulgarian Startup Ecosystem in 2020
The 20 Most Trending Stories from the Bulgarian Startup Ecosystem in 2020
This year has definitely been different than expected, yet, despite the difficulties […]
Christian Berthelsen, co-founder and CTO at Fourth (on the left) and Petya Nencheva, Head of Agile Practice at Fourth (on the right) © Fourth
Sponsored Story
Engineering at Scale: How Thousands of Restaurants and Hotels Use Fourth’s Software To Recover and Grow
From lockdowns through restricting measures aimed at limiting the spread of Covid-19 […]
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🎄🎅🎄
All I Want for Christmas – The Trending Topics SEE’s Small Business Wishlist
As we are at the end of 2020, one unusual and challenging […]
© Endeavor
Sponsored Story
Endeavor’s Dare to Scale: Best Accelerator Program in Bulgaria According to CESA Awards
What do entrepreneurs want for Christmas (and after)? Some of their superpowers […]
Julian Sofroniev, CEO of Biodit © Biodit Global Technology
Biodit Officially Is The First Company Entering The BEAM Market: What Is The Action Plan?
Biodit, the Bulgarian startup, which develops and produces access control systems […]
Trending TV
Nikola Likov © Private Archive
Playing Your Cards Right To Win In Corporate Innovation
Nikola Likov is heading Expansion at FoundersLane and has helped drive the […]
©DoDo
CEE STAR OF THE WEEK
DoDo: The Czech Startup That Optimizes Delivery Time With Advanced Machine Learning
Who will save our Christmas this year? Well, as most of the […]
©Unsplash
Funding Opportunities
The Bulgarian Mezzanine Fund Dispute Is Finally Resolved, But What Is Next?
The first capital for growth fund in Bulgaria aimed at mature companies […]
© Dronamics
Milestones
Bulgarian Startup Dronamics Announces the World’s First Cargo Droneport Network and Partnerships With Five Airports in Europe
Dronamics, the Bulgarian middle-mile cargo drone developer and operator, just […]
Milestones
Bucharest To Become A Major EU Cyber Research Hub
Milestones
Bucharest To Become A Major EU Cyber Research Hub
Bucharest has officially been chosen to host the European Cybersecurity Competence […]
©Unsplash
ECOSYSTEM
What is the State of the European Tech in 2020 After Covid-19?
Exactly one year ago, at the end of 2019, it seemed like […]
Matija Zulj, CEO & Founder @AGRIVI
CEE Star of the Week
Croatian Startup Agrivi Raised €4M To Develop Its Farm Management Software
What is the cost of producing environmentally friendly agricultural products that […]
© Svetoslava Stoyanova
Are You the Only One Who Can Do the Job? Tips and Tricks on Delegation for Startup Owners
Svetoslava Stoyanova is a personal growth coach who enjoys supporting entrepreneurs […]
©Escreo
Escreo Raises €100k from Eleven Ventures and 3P1 to Expand its Portfolio of Creativity Products
Brainstorming sessions, presentations, and business meetings – creative […]
Photo from the ANIS Startup of the Year awards ceremony ©Deepstash
Deepstash, The Romanian Startup That Aims To Help People Deal With Information Overload, Announces A €3m Seed Round
The Romanian startup Deepstash announced on Thursday a €3m Seed Round led […]
© Puzl Coworking
Future of health
Halo Dx, Advanced Diagnostics Startup with a Tech Team in Sofia Receives $1.5m from Zarian Capital
Earlier in 2020, Zarian Capital started a new VC fund with the […]
🛰️SpaceTech🛰️
Bulgarian Startup EnduroSat: On a Mission to Take Space Commercialization to the Next Level
🛰️SpaceTech🛰️
Bulgarian Startup EnduroSat: On a Mission to Take Space Commercialization to the Next Level
Even though private space flight is not something new, it is still […]
©Hobo
🛴MOBILITY🛴
The E-scooters of Hobo Are Setting Foot on the Streets of Blagoevgrad
One year after its launch in Sofia, the first Bulgarian e-scooter startup […]
©Unsplash
Investors
Catalyst Romania Launches Over €40M Fund Targeting Local Tech Startups
Catalyst Romania, one of the most active venture capital investors in Romanian […]
©Salv
⭐CEE STAR OF THE WEEK⭐
The Estonian RegTech Startup, Salv, Combats Money Laundering with Fresh €1.5m Seed Investment
“CEE Star of the Week“ is our weekly series of short stories […]
©Pixabay
Three Bulgarian Tech Companies Among The 50 Fastest Growing in CEE
Three Bulgarian companies make Deloitte’s ranking of the 50 fastest growing […]
The Eziil Team, ©Eziil
🌟CEE STAR OF THE WEEK🌟
Estonian Eziil: The Company That Offers a SaaS Solution To Digitize The Manufacturing Process
“CEE Star of the Week“ is our weekly series of short stories […]
The Iris Device, ©BioPiX-T
Iris: The Greek Portable Device That May Be Able To Detect COVID-19 at Your Home
When it comes to developing the first COVID-19 vaccine, one thing is […]
Sheetly’s co-founders: Ivelina Nikolova - Co-Founder & CCO, Jan B. Andersen - Co-Founder & CEO © Nate Mueller
Rising Stars
Sheetly: The Sofia-based US Startup That Aims to Put Order in the E-commerce Backoffice Chaos
Whether we like it or not the pandemic has changed our behavior […]
© Unsplash
Market Research
The Mapping of the Bulgarian Artificial Intelligence Ecosystem Is Starting: Call for Local AI Companies
As the concept of Artificial Intelligence (AI) across Bulgaria becomes more popular, […]
Georgi Penev, Director at the Bulgarian Fintech Association © Private Archive
Market Trends
Ecosystem SWOT Analysis: The Bulgarian Fintech Industry
“Although the Bulgarian Fintech industry is considered a small contributor to the […]
©ProfiCircle
Romanian Market Network Startup, ProfiCircle, Launches Its Beta Platform with €300k Investment
What happens when you combine the strong social effects and scalability of […]
© Unspalsh
Contactless
Google Pay Is Now Available For Android Users in Bulgaria
Starting today, the Google Pay digital wallet service will be available to […]
© Marathon Venture Capital
💸OPPORTUNITIES💸
Greece’s Marathon Venture Capital with a Second, €40m Fund
The Greek tech startup ecosystem is rapidly maturing as around $1b is […]
©Giraffe360
Deal
As Property Viewings Go Virtual, Giraffe360 Raises $4.5M in a Round Led by Bulgarian VC LAUNCHub Ventures
While the concept of video and virtual 3D tours is nothing new […]
©Packhelp
⭐CEE STAR OF THE WEEK⭐
Packhelp: The Polish Startup Ranked As The Fastest-Growing Tech Company In CEE
“CEE Star of the Week“ is our weekly series of short stories […]
Maris Prii and Erik Anderson, Partners at Vitosha Venture Partners © Vitosha Venture Partners
Opportunities
Vitosha Venture Partners Launches an Accelerator to Help Bulgarian Startups Think Big and Go Global
Vitosha Venture Partners, one of the new early-stage VCs in Bulgaria, is […]
© Arrikto
💸FUNDING💸
Fresh $10m in Series A Funding for Arrikto to Help ML and DevOps Teams to Speak the Same Language
In order to improve customer experience and generate more revenue, organizations are […]
©Pexels
MAPPING
Who is Who in the Bulgarian GovTech Ecosystem?
Public services and government are not often associated with tech innovations and […]
©Pixabay
Cassa, а Romanian Accounting Startup, Has Raised 250K In an Ongoing Round Led by KPMG
The Romanian startup Cassa, which offers SaaS accounting software, has started its […]
© Pixabay
Flashback
Historian, Geologist, or Lawyer? What Did Tech Founders in Bulgaria Study Before Switching to a Different Path
When it’s time to reinvent your career? That’s one of the questions […]
©Darin Madzharov
🎤INTERVIEW🎤
Act not React vol.1: How Does the EdTech Startup Ucha.se Prepare for the Second Wave of Covid-19?
Building and saving cash reserves and cutting expenses or scaling up and […]
The team behind VoxiKids,©The Speakquest SRL
Health
Romanian Startup That Aims to Digitalize Speech Therapy for Children Targets a €290K Round of Investment
The Speakquest SRL, a Romanian company that is working on the development […]
Aneliya Karadzhinova-Ferrer, ©Karoll
🧪”Science meets Entrepreneurship”👔
Aneliya Karadzhinova-Ferrer: the Physicist that Aims to Recreate the Spirit of CERN in Bulgaria
“Sci-Novator of the Week” is our brand new series of short stories […]
© Pipedrive
⭐CEE STAR OF THE WEEK⭐
Becoming a unicorn in a decade: the $1.5b story of the Estonian CRM platform Pipedrive
“CEE Star of the Week“ is our weekly series of short stories […]
Hristo Borisov CEO, left and Thomas Westerhoven, Country Manager - Germany, right ©Payhawk
🖩 Accounting Innovation 🖩
Payhawk Launches a Corporate Card to Enable Easier Management of Employee Spending
Payhawk, the expense management startup that has been an active player in […]
@BioNTech
Тhe Story of BioNTech SE, the Company with Turkish Origin that Мade a Breakthrough with a COVID-19 Vaccine
After the official press release of the pharmaceutical corporation Pfizer Inc. and […]
The team of Amplify Analytix, from left to right: Kalina Todorova, Elvan Aydemir, Plamena Petrova © Private Archive
Bulgarian-Dutch Data Science Company Receives €80K from the European Data Incubator
The Amplify Analytix women-led team has been selected as one of the […]
Photos © EnduroSat, QuarkVR, Nasekomo, and Develiot; Collage by Trending Topics SEE
💡 EXPERIENCE SHARING
How Some Of Today’s Most Trending Startups In Bulgaria Attracted Their First Customers – Part 2: Deep Tech & Hardware
When a startup is born nobody knows about its barely existing product. […]
On the left - Emi Gal from Ezra; On the top right - Ion Stoica from Anyscale; On the bottom right - Aurelian Nicolae from Whoop
DIASPORA🌎
Three Founders from the Romanian Diaspora Have Raised Over $150M This Year
What do a NY-based startup for AI cancer screening, a California-based startup […]
From left to right, Prof. Dr. Silvia Ilieva and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Desislava Petrova-Antonova © GATE
Smart Cities
Everything You Need to Know About the First City Digital Twin in Bulgaria
GATE, the Bulgarian institute for applied big data research, and Sofia Municipality […]
© Aleph Farms
Future of food
Space Meat: A Startup Prepares for Meat Production on Mars
The dream of the cultured meat industry is to offer meat without […]
The Warren team. Company co-founder and CEO Tarmo Tael second from the right.
©Warren
🌟 CEE Star of the Week 🌟
Estonian Warren: Еmpowering Local Cloud Infrastructure Providers to Compete with Google, Amazon, and Microsoft
„CEE Star of the Week“ is our weekly series of short stories […]
©BSE
Oppurtunities
The Bulgarian Stock Exchange Launches a Program to Stimulate the Business Growth of Bulgarian Startups and SMEs
The Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE) has officially launched beamUp lab – a […]
@Unsplash
Romanian Apiary Book raises €200K to Develop a Hive Monitoring System to Track Bee Health
Apiary Book is a Romanian Agritech company that has been developing a […]
©CESA Grand Finale 2019
Contest
Who are the Bulgarian Future-Shapers and Regional Finalists in the Central European Startup Awards 2020?
The selection for the most impactful actors and builders of the local […]
Daniel Roth, a Principal Program Manager at Microsoft on the ASP.NET team © Private Archive
Interview
Daniel Roth: The Thing I love Most About Blazor Is How It Empowers Every .NET Developer To Be Productive
Several weeks ago, the 2020 edition of the DevReach developer conference brought […]
©Unsplash
OPPORTUNITIES💰
More EU Funding Will Fuel the Growth of European Blockchain and AI Companies
Europe is home to many promising emerging tech companies in the fields […]
© Unsplash
Monthly Overview
What Happened in the Bulgarian Startup & Tech Ecosystem This October: The Biggest News and Stories from the Past 30 days
In October, our ecosystem started picking up the pace and gave us […]
The founding partners of Sofia Angels Ventures, from left to right: Grigori Grigorov, Milen Ivanov, George Sidjimkov © Private Archive
💸 Funding Opportunities
New Angel-Powered Bulgarian VC Launches to Co-Invest €26m in Seed-Stage Startups
After two and a half years in the making, a unique for […]
Kaloyan and Ivo Kumanovi ©NIK
Ecosystem
Into Precision Farming or How a Bulgarian Company Uses Technology to Optimize Agricultural Performance
Agriculture is traditionally important for Bulgaria’s economy. The contribution of […]
© Yieldigo
⭐CEE STAR OF THE WEEK⭐
The Czech AI Pricing Platform Yieldigo With Freshly Raised €2m in a Seed-Round Funding
“CEE Star of the Week“ is our weekly series of short stories […]
©Straubel Foundation
IMPACT
Two Bulgarian Impact Entrepreneurs Among the 2020 Straubel Leadership Award Winners
Being there for the catalysts and the next generation of leaders with […]
© Pixabay
💰 Money in the chat
Messaging Platform Viber to Grow Into the Fintech Vertical as It Announces Direct Chatbot Payments
We often talk about the future of fintech startups and banks, about […]
Marin Petrov, artist and tech entrepreneur ©private archive
Guest Article
Moving Away From The Parent-Child Relationship In Teams
Marin Petrov is a serial entrepreneur who left his dream job in […]
© PubGalaxy
interview
PubGalaxy: The Tech Company on a Mission to Help Independent Publishers Globally Monetize Better and Easier
This article contains an affiliate link to our partner hiring platform Noble Hire. […]
Krasimir Marinov, cofounder of HyperScience
Funding Round
US-Bulgarian Scaleup Hyperscience Closes a $80m Series D Round
Just five months after the originally founded in Bulgaria AI document processing […]
© Photo by Mauro Sbicego on Unsplash
The Last Horizon 2020 Call: €1B for Research & Innovation Projects that Respond to the Climate Crisis
The European Commission is launching its final and biggest investment under the […]
© Unsplash
❔🙋❔
ProductTank Sofia is Running a Survey to Evaluate the State of the Local Product Management Ecosystem
Assessing opportunities, conducting market research, defining the strategy and the […]
Marcin Misztal, Head of Stripe for CEE © Private archive
Marcin Misztal, Head of Stripe for CEE, on the Tech Giant’s Plans in the Region
The headquartered in San-Francisco international company Stripe is one of the […]
© Personal Archive
INTERVIEW🎙️
The Story of Martin Stoyanov- a Y Combinator Participant with a Mission to Disrupt the Way we Use Email
Imagine what it feels like to receive over 200 emails every day! […]
@Unsplash
Romanian Soleadify Secures $1.5M for a Sales Prospecting Platform with 40M Business Profiles
Romanian Soleadify, a machine learning (ML) startup that has been developing a […]
Ivo Totev, Chief Product and Marketing Officer at SUSE ©Private Archive
Interview
Ivo Totev: Independent Research Showed that Bulgaria Is The Best Possible Location for SUSE’s New Innovation Hub
Last week, SUSE, the world’s largest independent organization developing open-source […]
Paynetics CEO Antonina Martinova in the middle, with co-founders Valeri Valtchev and Ivo Gueorgiev on the left and the right side © Paynetics/ Collage by Trending Topics SEE
Deals
Bulgarian E-Money Provider Paynetics Acquires Wirecard UK & Ireland’s Corporate Card Portfolio
It’s been an eventful year for the headquartered in Sofia fintech group […]
© Unsplash
Future of Food
EU Supports the Development of Lab-Grown Meat for the First Time
For the first time, the EU has funded a research project for […]
© Unsplash
🤓ANALYSIS🤓
The Digital Economy of CEE is Growing Twice as Faster in Times of Covid-19
‘Digitalization is the leverage that CEE countries can use to stay on […]
© Hobo
Micromobility
Where Is the Bulgarian E-Scooter Startup Hobo After One Year on the Market
In September 2020, one year after its official launch on the Bulgarian […]
© StartUP@Blagoevgrad archive
EVENTS
StartUP Conference 2020 “Today vs Tomorrow”. University Students Explore Current Innovations with Future Impact
“I believe that the success rate of AUBGers is a result of […]
© Unsplash
FINTECH
The Digital Euro – an Alternative to Cryptos and What Else You Need to Know?
After the Covid-19 pandemic increased the use of electronic payments and accelerated […]
Vanya Lazarova ©Private Archive
Guest Article
5 Coaching Skills Every Leader Needs
As an executive coach and founder of Liveauthentic Coaching, Vanya Lazarova partners […]
© Unsplash
CEE Startups Have Received €96M in VC Funding Since July
This week, the online matching platform for connecting CEE (Central and Eastern […]
©Oncochain
A day after the Beginning of its Fundraising Campaign, Romanian Medtech Startup Oncochain has raised €195K
The Timisoara medtech startup Oncochain has been listed on SeedBlink and it […]
© Numan
MenTech
Sokratis Papafloratos and His Startup Numan Raise €11m to Help Men with Erectile Dysfunction and Hair Loss
According to the World Health Organization (WHO) and most research on the […]
©Pixabay
Romanian Educational Platform Brio Raises almost €300K in its New Investment Round
Brio, a Romanian company that has developed the first Romanian educational SaaS […]
©Airly
⭐CEE STAR OF THE WEEK⭐
Airly: The Polish Air Quality Startup, with a Fresh $2m Pre-seed Funding
„CEE Star of the Week“ is our weekly series of short stories where […]
© Pixabay
SEE
VTEX: The New E-Commerce Unicorn with Presence in Romania
Romania has its new unicorn, although, unlike UiPath it wasn’t started in […]
©Pexels
💰OPPORTUNITIES
The Fund of Funds is releasing additional €21.5m for anti-crisis support to Bulgarian SMEs
As the negative effects of Covid-19 on the global economy continue to […]
© Unsplash
👨💼CORPORATE INNOVATION
Innovation Starter Accelerator With a New Corporate Partner – the copper group, Aurubis
Sustainable tech solutions for the innovation of traditional sectors are flourishing […]
© Annie Spratt/ Unsplash
Research
Fintechs in Bulgaria Have Earned Nearly €400m in 2019
Last week, the Bulgarian Fintech Association (BFA) released one of the most […]
Propy Founders - Denitza Tyufekchieva (on the left) and Natalia Karayaneva (on the right) © Propy
Funding Round
Propy, the US-Bulgarian Blockchain Platform for Real Estate Deals, Gets an Investment from Tim Draper
It’s not every day a startup developed in Bulgaria receives an investment […]
Stephen Fluin will be soon joining the 2020 virtual edition of DevReach © Stephen Fluin
Interviews
Stephen Fluin, Angular DevRel Lead: Why Аre Developer Advocates Important and How to Build a Strong Dev Community
Stephen Fluin is a developer relations lead on the Angular team at […]
©Innovation Starter Box
EVENTS
Innovation Explorer 2021: Innovation in Times of Pandemic, Protests, and Recession
Can innovation be the answer to the challenges posed to society by […]
©American University in Bulgaria
Research
AUBG: the Entrepreneurs Factory
The story in brief: A striking number of entrepreneurs from the Bulgarian […]
©Elaphe Propulsion Technologies
CEE Star of the Week
Elaphe Propulsion Technologies: The Slovenian Company That Aims to Enable a Better Design For Electric Vehicles
„CEE Star of the Week“ is our weekly series of short stories […]
Antoaneta Stoyanova, Director Software and E2E QA at Wacom Bulgaria © Wacom
company profile
Wacom: The Japanese Giant And The Bulgarian Digital Ink & Machine Learning Contribution to the Tablet Market
This article contains an affiliate link to our partner hiring platform Noble […]
With the new investment by Microsoft, Greece is on its way to become a cloud hub © Pixabay
Investments
Microsoft Plans to Turn Greece into a Digital Hub as It Builds Its Next Data Centers in the Country
Microsoft and the Greek government have announced ambitious plans to accelerate the […]
© Peelhy
FOODTECH
Two Rising Stars in the Romanian Food Tech Ecosystem: Yummdiet and Peelhy
How does the future of food look like – precision farming techniques, […]
©Unsplash
FINTECH 💵👨💻
What Does the New EU Digital Finance Strategy Mean For the Bulgarian Fintech Ecosystem?
Cashless transactions, open banking, and remote force management – digital […]
The founders of Finqware © Finqware
Fintech
Open Banking on the Rise in Romania as Finqware’s API Gets Adopted by the Largest Bank in the Country
Romanian fintech startup Finqware has achieved a big milestone in its home […]
© Unsplash
Deals
Concord US Acquires Bulgarian HyperAspect Forming a New European Consultancy And a New AI Product Company
US consulting firm Concord has acquired the Bulgarian startup HyperAspect – an […]
DeepCode Founders, from left to right,: Veselin Raychev (CTO), Boris Paskalev (CEO) and Martin Vechev, Professor at ETH Zurich © ETH Zurich
Diaspora
AI Code Analysis Startup Founded by a Bulgarian Team Gets Acquired by a Cybersecurity Unicorn
DeepCode, an advanced AI-powered platform for code analysis spun off by ETH […]
© Unsplash
💸FUNDING💸
The Greek Bias-Free Hiring Startup Bryq Raises €1.2m to Improve Recruitment Practices Worldwide
Good interviews don’t necessarily mean good candidates. Research shows that the […]
© Via
ACQUISITIONS
Via Acquires Fleetonomy to Meet the Rising Demand for Innovative Last-mile Logistics Technologies
The future of transportation of people and goods will be shaped by […]
©Unsplash
Bulgarian Digital Grocery Shop eBag Expands its Services to Plovdiv
The biggest digital grocery shop in the Sofia metropolitan area, eBag, is […]
The core team of agtech startup Nasekomo © Nasekomo
Biotech
Bulgaria to Have a New Bioconversion R&D Center as Nasekomo Starts a Joint Venture With a French Corporation
It’s been a busy few months for Bulgarian biotech startup Nasekomo. After […]
©Assen Aero
Diaspora Special Edition
Assen Andonov: The Bulgarian Presence in Urban Aeronautics
In the 1880s, the first automobiles started popping on the industrial map, […]
©Unsplash
EVENT
Robotics Strategy Forum 2020 – the State of CEE’s Robotics Ecosystem after COVID-19
Just as it was expected, the COVID-19 pandemic has so far had […]
©Klaus
⭐CEE STAR OF THE WEEK⭐
Klaus: the Estonian Startup for Customer Service Support, with a $5.4m Fresh Funding
„CEE Star of the Week“ is our weekly series of short stories […]
© Lime
Mobility
Electric Scooters Are Coming to Plovdiv
The US e-mobility provider Lime will enter a second Bulgarian city after […]
©Unsplash
Tourism Tech Trends in Bulgaria: Will the Pandemic Make Businesses in the Travel Sector More Open to Innovation?
In 2019, the Bulgarian tourism industry accounted for 13% of the country’s […]
© Pexels
ECOSYSTEM🤓🏦
Analysis: Are Bulgarian Cities Getting Smarter?
In short: Bulgaria’s capital Sofia is assessed to have a mid- to […]
Andrei Negraru and Lisa Popovici, the co-founders of Cartloop © Cartloop
Funding Round
Gapminder and the Co-founder of TypingDNA Invest in a Romanian SMS Marketing Startup
SMS marketing tech seems to continue to be on the rise in […]
© Pixabay
Funding Opportunities
€500k for Practical Science, Online Learning, and Good Local Governance Projects in Bulgaria
America for Bulgaria Foundation (ABF) will provide financial support of 1M BGN […]
Alex Karp, CEO of Palantir. © Palantir
Palantir, the Big Data Company Behind Ferrari and the CIA, Makes a Strong Stock Market Debut
The US company Palantir Technologies, headed by co-founder Peter Thiel and CEO […]
©Unsplash
ECOSYSTEM
Who is Who in the Bulgarian Smart City Ecosystem
The transition to smart cities requires the coordinated involvement of plenty of […]
© Unsplash
Monthly Overview
Investments, Acquisitions, and Board Games Systems: What Was the Most Impactful News in the Bulgarian Innovation Ecosystem This September?
Following the summer holidays, September started bringing a new portion of exciting […]
©Pixabay
The New Rules of the Electric Power Industry: an Opportunity for Innovation
Liberalization of the electric power industry in Bulgaria is slowly becoming a […]
Srdjan Kupresanin, founder of 0bsnetwork. © S. Kupresanin
cee star of the week
0bsnetwork: „The Time For a Zero Bullshit Blockchain is Definitely Here“
“CEE Star of the Week“ is our weekly series of short stories where we present […]
©Pixabay
Events
h.i summit 2020: Building Sustainable Businesses in the Future
Are we heading toward a new frontier in human intelligence? How are […]
©Unspalsh
EVENT
Тhe Biggest Agriculture Retailer in Romania to Invest €50k in Innovative Agritech Solutions
From vertical farming and AI detection of diseases in crops to blockchain […]
event
Talent Talks Vol. 2: “It is not the size of a company that matters but rather the company culture”
At a certain point, every working person wonders whether to opt for […]
The team of Vedamo © Vedamo
EdTech
Bulgarian Virtual Classroom Platform Vedamo Raises Funding from BrightCap Ventures
“Until recently, it was very difficult for edtech startups to create some […]
Simona Harizanova, co-founder of Career Show © Career Show
interview
The New Rules of Post-Pandemic Employer Branding: “It Will Expand and Acquire Hybrid Characteristics”
Changed office environment, different hiring priorities, a shift in the traditional […]
©How To Web
EVENTS
How To Web’s Startup Spotlight: Тhe Online Pitching for CEE Startups and a €225k Award
When it comes to events, online will never be the same as […]
Hans van Houwelingen, Founder & Managing Partner of Urban Impact Ventures © Hans van Houwelingen
Venture Capital
Urban Impact Ventures: The New Bulgarian-Dutch Impact Investing Fund That Will Support Smart City Entrepreneurs Across Europe
The global urban tech market has been growing at a remarkable pace […]
©Pixabay
CROWDFUNDING
Equity crowdfunding success for two Romanian techsecurity startups
The time seems right for more investments into the cybersecurity market: by […]
© Markus Winkler/ Unsplash
Idea validation
The First AI-focused Pre-Accelerator in Romania Is Accepting Applications from Idea-Stage Entrepreneurs Across CEE
“The AI ecosystem in Romania is still in its early stage as […]
© Photo by Morning Brew on Unsplash
guest analysis
Artificial Intelligence in Decentralized Finance
In short: Using buzzwords to maximize the efficiency of fundraising was a […]
Vess Bakalov, CEO at Pliant © Vess Bakalov
Diaspora
New Funding for Pliant, the US Low-Code Process Automation Company Led by Bulgarian Founders
Pliant, a US-based IT process automation startup with Bulgarian founders for CEO […]
©Pexels
🏙️ECOSYSTEM
Burgas: The Next European Smart City?
Burgas has the potential to become the first 5G city in Bulgaria. […]
© Spotawheel
Growth
Spotawheel, the Greek Marketplace for Pre-Inspected Second-Hand Cars, to Expand Across Europe after Raising €10m
As people are back to buying cars after some deceleration caused by […]
©Usplash
⭐CEE Star of the Week ⭐
The Lithuanian Startup Trafi Launches the World’s First Country-Wide Mobility-as-a-Service Platform in Switzerland
“CEE Star of the Week“ is our weekly series of short stories […]
©Pexels
MARKET EXPANSION 📦
Industry 4.0, Soft Skills and E-commerce: Export Hub Bulgaria will Help Local Companies Grow on Foreign Markets
Nearly €1.3B less is the revenue coming from export so far this […]
© Ralev.com
Play to learn
Gemji: The Tesla of Board Games Created by a Bulgarian Designer
“When I started working on Gemji in 2016, as a parent I […]
© Darin Madzharov
👩🎓 👨🎓First day of school
Darin Madzharov: On Entrepreneurship in School and the Importance of a Problem-Solving Mindset
Ucha.se is an interesting case in the Bulgarian startup ecosystem. It’s a […]
© Pixabay
Mobility
Who Is Who in the Bulgarian Electric Vehicle Ecosystem
September 9th, 2020 comes with a campaign dedicated to the celebration of […]
© 3Lateral
guide
Serbia: A Game Development Hub on the Balkans To Watch
“When we started the Digital Serbia Initiative we realized that one of […]
© Open Banking Hackathon CEE
innovation | event
Hackathon: Fintech Startups from CEE Gather for Four Days to Explore New Open Banking Solutions
Imagine purchasing an insurance policy from Finland through a mobile wallet in […]
The graduate founders of FI's fifth cohort in Sofia © Founder Institute
Season 6
FI Sofia Goes Online and Will Accelerate Pre-Seed Startups from all over the Balkans
“Back in March, we realized that all of our over 200 programs […]
Four panelists will join the 'Impact & Mess vs. Structure & No Stress' discussion this Wednesday - from left to right - Ivelina Petkova, IT Project Manager at Documaster; Thomas Metz, Managing Director at Bosch Engineering Center Sofia; Severina Mitsova, HR Specialist at AtScale; and Victor Danchev, Mission Manager & Physicist at EnduroSat
Events
What Makes Top Talents Choose a Startup Over a Corporate Career or the Other Way Around? Talent Talks Vol.2 Is Almost Here.
What makes top talents choose a startup over a corporate career or […]
Silvio Kutic, co-founder and CEO of Infobip ©Infobip
cee 🌟 star of the week
Infobip: A Bootstrapped Unicorn and Aspiring Leader of The Communication Platforms as a Service
„CEE Star of the Week“ is our weekly series of short stories […]
The Dawn Capital team © Dawn Capital
💸💸💸 VC
Dawn Capital with Bulgarian Investor Mina Mutafchieva Raises a $400m Fund for European B2B Startups
Dawn Capital, one of the most active European venture capital firms specializing […]
InstaShop founders Ioanna Angelidaki (on the right side) and John Tsioris (on the left) © InstaShop
Ecosystem milestones
A Greek Team Completes a €300m Exit to Foodpanda’s Owner, the Largest for the Ecosystem to Date
Founded by two Greek entrepreneurs back in 2015, InstaShop, one of the […]
Back in 2019, during DevReach Chris DeMars had a cool session on accessibility © DevReach
Events
DevReach 2020: One of the Largest Developer Conferences in CEE Returns Online with the Latest Trends in App Development & Lots of Learning Opportunities
Progress, a multinational tech company with a strong presence in Bulgaria, announced […]
© Nikolai Doichinov
Impact
Humans in the Loop Wins Two Awards and $50k at MIT’s Social Impact Competition
UPDATE: Humans in the Loop has become the first Eastern European company […]
Belgrade is the heart of the Serbian startup ecosystem, but Novi Sad and Nis are also home to interesting companies © Pixabay
guide
Startup Ecosystem Serbia: Who is Who and What Are the Trends
“I believe that our experience in bootstrapping successful startups will prove very […]
© Unsplash
💡💡💡
Global Innovation Index: Bulgaria in Top 3 of Its Class with China and Malaysia
Now that global economic growth will fall deeply in 2020, a vital […]
© Boleron
Corporate Innovation
Insurance with Cashback: What’s the Partnership between Boleron and Visa All About
The Bulgarian early-stage startup for digital insurances Boleron has figured out an […]
The team of Cardinal Bites, participants in the first cohort of Innovation Starter Accelerator, together with their mentor Violeta Yoveva © Innovation Starter Accelerator
🚀🚀🚀
Four Companies Join the Second Cohort of Innovation Starter Accelerator: EdTech,MedTech, EVs
After a careful selection process among 167 startups and young businesses, […]
©Biotech Atelier
Event
Biotech Atelier 2020: Bringing Together the Creators of the Healthcare of Tomorrow
+++Apply here for the Startups Hall of Fame pitching competition or scroll […]
© Unsplash
$👨💻👨💻 $
The Highest Paid Programming Languages for Freelance VS Employed Developers in 2020
In 2020 we witnessed a boom in the freelance industry with an […]
© Accedia
Of Intrapreneurship, Blood Donation and Using a Crisis as an Opportunity
The COVID-19 crisis caused drastic changes in how business is done. As […]
© Unsplash
CEE Star of the Week
altFINS: The New Slovak Startup on the Fintech Map
„CEE Star of the Week“ is our weekly series of short stories […]
© SHEleader@digital
event
SHEleader @ Digital: The Conference That Gathers Female Leaders From Various Sectors To Discuss The Role Of Women In The Digital World
What is the future of women at work in the age of […]
Neuralink's breakthrough experiment
© Neuralink
Braintech
Neuralink: Futuristic on the Outside, Chaotic on the Inside
A hole in the top of the skull through which a chip […]
Gameloft Bulgaria team © Gameloft Bulgaria
company profile
Gameloft Bulgaria: How To Deserve Your Independence Within One of the Biggest Gaming Companies in the World
This article contains an affiliate link to our partner hiring platform Noble […]
© Markus Winkler on Unsplash
Education
DeepMind To Provide Scholarships For Low-Income Students Who Want To Study Artificial Intelligence in Sofia University
DeepMind, the UK company working on breakthrough artificial intelligence research, […]
From left to right: Michał Olszewski, Ramon Jimenez and Artur Banach; © Movens Capital
💸💸💸
Movens Capital Launches €12.7 Million Fund in Support of CEE Startups Specializing in Automation
Movens Capital has launched a €12.7 m fund for companies that aim […]
Phos' team © Phos
Market Expansion
Merchants in Eight New Countries to Accept Payments through Their Phones as Phos and Mastercard Extend Their Partnership
Back in March, Bulgarian fintech startup Phos and Mastercard announced a pilot […]
Martin Kadinov, founder of eports agency TDB Play © Private Archive
interview
Martin Kadinov About the Entrepreneurial Spirit in Esports and Gaming in Southeastern Europe
Video games are not only the richest and fastest growing entertainment industry […]
© Lime
Mobility
Lime Is Back on the Streets of Sofia. Are The Lower Prices Going to Attract More People to Use Electric Scooters?
After a five-month break caused by the coronavirus outbreak and the related […]
Startups in Bulgaria and their first customers: SMSBump, Leanplum, Payhawk, CloudCart
💡 Experience sharing
How Some Of Today’s Most Trending Startups In Bulgaria Attracted Their First Customers – Part 1: B2B Software
When a startup is born nobody knows about its barely existing product. […]
©Unsplash
Partnerships
Veolia Partners with Accelerator Innovation Starter To Support Circular Economy Startups
The Bulgarian accelerator and seed fund Innovation Starter and the French […]
© Infermedica, Tomek Tuz
CEE star of the week
Polish Infermedica’s AI-driven Alternative to Googling Symptoms and Self-Diagnosis, and a €10M Series A
„CEE Star of the Week“ is our weekly series of short stories where […]
Angel Kelchev, partner at Zarian Capital © private archive
💸💸💸
Zarian Capital: The New US Early Stage Fund with Focus on Bulgaria
A new early-stage fund is entering the Bulgarian market with the goal […]
© liacastelli from Unsplash
Events
Robo Days 2020: Exploring the Potential of Educational Robotics in Bulgaria
In the past year, the Bulgarian tech scene enjoyed some quite impressive […]
Hristo Boyadzhiev, founder Tuk-Tam © Tuk-Tam
diaspora
Tuk-Tam Launches a New Platform for Everyone Considering to Move to Bulgaria or Wants to Stay Connected
Tuk-Tam, an organization dedicated to helping well-educated young professionals find […]
Georgi Petrov (l) and Mihail Stoychev, co-founders of SMSBump ©SMSBump
deal
The New Owner Of Bulgarian SMSBump Raises $75M Series E To Help More Brands Boost Online Revenue
Yotpo, the US-Israeli ecommerce marketing company that acquired Bulgarian startup […]
The EveGreen Team. © EveGreen
cee star of the week
EveGreen: The Slovenian Startup That Has Made Flowerpots Biodegradable
„CEE Star of the Week“ is our weekly series of short stories where […]
SmartDremers was recognized as the best automation scaleup during the first edition of the UiPath Automation Awards CEE © Trending Topics Bulgaria
Opportunities
UiPath And Microsoft On The Lookout For Automation Startups From Southeastern Europe
Startups and scaleups from Bulgaria, Romania, Greece, Serbia, and other countries […]
© mcmurryjulie from Pixabay
Early-stage
WHISP: The Platform that Gives Expats Access to Healthcare in Different Countries Receives Recognition from Microsoft
“I’ve lived in several countries in Europe in the past ten years […]
© Epic Games
Epic Lawsuits
Apple & Google vs. Fortnite Maker Epic Games – Well, That Escalated Quickly
Apple and Epic Games, makers of the hit game Fortnite, are currently […]
Adelina Nedkkova, Head of Business Development at Bianor Services © Bianor
company profile
Bianor: 22 Years Between NATO, The Library of Congress, and Video Streaming
This article contains an affiliate link to our partner hiring platform Noble […]
Kalimizing - chocholate sweets with rose jam is the first product of Kaliopa © Kaliopa
student company
Innovation In School Ep. 4: Kaliopa, The Rose Candies And Four Young Female Entrepreneurs
In Karlovo, a small town with around 30K residents and no direct […]
© Career Show
Event
The 2020 Edition of Career Show Is Expected to Gather over 5000 Tech Specialists from Bulgaria
This November, for the second year in a row, Career Show will […]
© Diego Velázquez from Pixabay
Guest Article
PageSpeed Insights: The Component That Most Website Owners Miss and Wonder Why They Rank Low in Google
Ivan Popov is a WordPress Developer since 2009 and has led numerous […]
Mitko Vassilev, community manager of DEV.BG © DEV.BG
event
All in One: The Biggest Developers’ Conference For Non-Tech Topics Comes Back Free and Will Last Two Days
Physical, online, or hybrid – it has been months of wondering what […]
© Christo Anestev, Pixabay
youth empowerment
The First Youth StartUp Fest in Burgas: a Much Needed Boost for the Local Ecosystem
There’s the shared belief that the capital city of Bulgaria, Sofia, is […]
Denis Tudor, CEO and Co-founder at Swisspod Technologies on the right side and the concept for Swisspod's hyperloop capsule on the left side © Swisspod Technologies
Future of transportation
The Romanian Founder Building Energy-Autonomous Hyperloop Capsules
Hyperloop is one of those hyper-hyped technologies that are expected to completely […]
© Infobip
🦄🦄🦄
Infobip: Croatia’s Newborn Unicorn
Founded in 2006 in Croatia and with no external capital invested up […]
Stoyan Lozanov, co-founder and CEO at Omnio © Stoyan Lozanov
Regtech
Compliance Automation Startup Omnio: The Only Bulgarian Finalist In EIT Digital’s Pre-Acceleration Program
Sofia-based regtech startup Omnio is the only Bulgarian finalist in EIT Digital’s […]
list
Top 10 Decentralized Finance Projects in Europe [Part 2]
The growth of Decentralized Finance (DeFi) switched to a higher gear in […]
Starting in the upper left corner and moving clockwise, the teams of Plum, BotsAndUS, Prosperty, and Neurolabs © Plum, BotsAndUS, Prosperty, and Neurolabs
Funding News
This Week’s Deals: Four Startups From The Southeast Europe Ecosystem Raise €16m
After last week’s €13.2m Series A round of Greek-American TileDB and the […]
Boyan Ivanov, founder and CEO of StorPool © StorPool
scaling up
StorPool: How The Bulgarian Storage Scaleup Reached Profitability And Is Preparing To Outrun The World’s Biggest Players
“We want to be the leading storage vendor in the world,” shares […]
Boris Hristov, Founder of 356labs ©Jordan Mihajlov, TrendingTopics.bg
Virtual Presentations
The DOs and DONTs Of Selling Your Idea In A Conf Call: Highlights From Our Fireside Chat With Boris Hristov
The remote-first mode in the past few months has put communication and […]
© jambulboy on Pixabay
The Future Of Education
A Fintech Course Joined By The Industry To Be Part Of A Master’s Degree Program At Sofia University This Fall
The Faculty of Economics and Business Administration at Sofia University and the […]
Some of the founders part of the first cohort of XLRadar© Innovation Capital
acceleration
Innovation Capital Selects Its First Cohort of 10 Companies and Backs them With €300K
After an intense roadshow in five cities in Bulgaria, two boot camps […]
Liam Martin © private archive
All-Remote Founder Liam Martin Thinks Wages Of Software Developers Will Go Down Due To New Remote Working Mode
What used to be a prerogative for developers, content creators and consultants […]
© Yuri_B/ Pixabay
Opportunity
Flashpoint VC Launches An Online Pitching Competition For SaaS Startups From Central And Eastern Europe
Flashpoint, an international investment group headquartered in London that supports […]
From left to right, Velizar Shulev, Tatyana Mitkova and, Alexander Sumin, the founders of ClaimCompass ©ClaimCompass
Deals
ClaimCompass Acquires A Travel App Based Out Of Los Angeles To Expand Coverage Beyond The EU
The Bulgarian startup ClaimCompass, a company which has helped over 200k travelers […]
The prototype of EduBots robotic car model © EduBots
First steps
EduBots: The Teenage Entrepreneurs Working On Making It Easier For Kids To Learn Robotics
The Teenovator program aims to help tenth- and eleventh-graders cultivate the skills […]
© Fabio on Unsplash
Deals
Greek-American TileDB Closes A €13.2m Series A Round For The Further Development Of Its Complex Data Management Engine
The founded by Greek entrepreneur and research scientist Stavros Papadopoulos TileDB […]
Daniel Dines, Founder and CEO, UiPath © UiPath
Romanian Unicorns
With An IPO On The Horizon, UiPath Closes Another Round And Has Already Fundraised Over €1B
UiPath was founded in Bucharest, Romania back in 2005 as an outsourcing […]
Innovation Capital team © Innovation Capital
interview
Innovation Capital: We Are Not On a Hunt For Unicorns. We Look For Companies From All Sectors and Can Make Them Bankable Earlier On.
After the turbulent several months at the beginning of 2020 related to […]
Elislav Atanasov, founder of Business Adviser and Legal Tech ©Trending Topics
Transition
Business Adviser > Legal Tech: From Business Services To A Software Product In One Year
The transition from services to products is one of the emerging trends […]
© Markus Winkler on Unsplash
Venture Funding
Over €21m Invested In Bulgarian Startups Since The Beginning Of 2020
We are halfway through a year that’s been quite turbulent for both […]
Dare to Scale, the growth program of Endeavor Bulgaria comes back for another season © Endeavor
dare to scale
Robotics, Steel Engineering, IT and Wine: This is the New Cohort of Disrupters Selected for Endeavor’s Growth Accelerator
Endeavor Bulgaria has selected the next 12 companies that will go through […]
© Pixabay
COVID-19 Measures in Bulgaria: Additional €29M For Four Governmentally Backed VCs. Who Does This Help?
The governmentally backed Fund of Funds (FoF) has just announced it’s redirecting […]
Difold's two co-founders, Radina Popova and Petar Zaharinov © Difold
Green Tech
Bulgarian Zero Waste Startup Difold Reaches €100k With Its Crowdfunding Campaign And Is About To Bring Reusable Origami Bottles Into Mass Production
Earlier in 2020, Coca-Cola’s head of sustainability stated that for the time […]
© Daniel Cheung on Unsplash
Guest Article
Play To Learn: Soft Skills For IT People
Hari Haralambiev is a guy passionate about helping people work better together […]
© Fintech Atlas, Raiffeisenbank International
Fintech in CEE: Startups, Focus, Market Comparison, Funding Trends
More than two-thirds of the people in Central and Eastern Europe will […]
© Ecosia
Green Tech
Using Advertising Profits To Fight Deforestation: Ecosia, The European Green Search Engine, Just Planted Its 100 Millionth Tree
As pretty much any other search engine Ecosia makes money out of […]
© Pixabay
deal
BizPortal: Corporate Data and Public Tenders Intelligence Startup Raises €1.7M
BizPortal, founded in 2013 in Sofia open data mining and analytics solutions […]
The core team of agtech startup Nasekomo © Nasekomo
deal
Bulgarian Startup Nasekomo Raises €4M To Turn More Organic Waste Into Protein and Scale Environmental Impact
Nasekomo, the Bulgarian startup that upscales organic waste streams from the […]
© Hari Nandakumar/ Unsplash
TravelTech
Romanian Gamified Tourism Platform Questo Raises €300K And Aims To Grow To 100 Cities By The End Of The Year
Questo, a Romanian startup that gives tourists a mobile platform to explore […]
Metodi Drenovski and Lubomir Rusanov, co-founders of SuperHosting © SuperHosting
online business
SuperHosting: Could This Exit Strengthen Bulgaria’s Position As A SEE Hub For Online Business?
In a deal of unannounced size, the leading Bulgarian hosting provider SuperHosting […]
Ivan Alexandrov, founder and CEO of eBag. ©Jordan Mihajlov, TrendingTopics.bg
eCommerce
Reaching A Valuation Of Over €10m, eBag Receives An Investment From The Biggest Czech Online Grocery Retailer
Online grocery shopping was definitely one of the industries that exploded during […]
The betahaus Sofia team© betahaus
Coworking
betahaus Sofia Launches A New Plan To Double Down On The Trend That Work Is No Longer A Place
“I truly believe that the value behind the coworking model will become […]
©Wassilis Gaitanos on Unsplash
Funding Round
A Ferry Booking Startup Raises €2.6M Series A In Bulgarian-Greek VC Co-Investment Led By LAUNCHub Ventures
In times when the travel industry is experiencing significant struggles, […]
Dimitar Dimitrov, CEO of Allterco Robtics ©Allterco
Bulgarian Allterco Enters The Medical IoT Vertical After Turning Into the Favorite Home Automation Startup in Germany and Italy
“Every 20 seconds someone around the world turns on one of our […]
Alexandra Mechkova, CEO Telerik Academy © Telerik Academy
Telerik Academy Surveys IT Companies On Their Strategy To Stay Relevant For Talent in The Post-Pandemic Situation
“We should never forget that everything we all do in the IT […]
© David Darmanin and Irina Obushtarova
Remote Work
Distributed Teams Are Not Just About Working Remotely: Highlights From David Darmanin’s Session At RemoteCon
RemoteCon, the first European online tech conference dedicated to remote work, began […]
© Unsplash
💰
The EIC Fund: For The First Time The European Commission Makes Direct Equity Investments
The European Innovation Council (EIC) Fund now has its official entity and […]
© Myrto Papathanou
VC Interviews
Myrto Papathanou: The Ability To Productify Technology Was Missing From Greece But The Ecosystem Is Finally Starting To Mature
At the beginning of May, Applied Materials, one of the world’s largest […]
© HeleCloud
Deals
AWS Consultancy HeleCloud Acquires Software Development Company DataStork For Additional Cloud-Native & Machine Learning Capabilities
HeleCloud, a multinational Amazon Web Services (AWS) consultancy with offices in […]
© Lyubomir Minchev
Ecosystem Building | Urban Tech
The Dawn Of Corporate Venture Capital In Bulgaria: From Angel Investments Through Startup R&D Incubation To An International Smart City Fund
“New urban tech ventures have been developed within Telelink for several years […]
© Unsplash
Media Innovation
The Content Intelligence Team In Sofia That Is Trying To Keep Humans At The Core Of Global Marketing Automation
In the past few years, Publicis, one of the largest communications groups […]
© Pixabay
The European Commission Backs 6 Blockchain Projects With Societal Impact With €5M
The European Innovation Council (EIC) has awarded €5m to six companies that […]
© Norma Mortenson, Pexels
Wirecard: Is The Fintech Party Over And What Could Be The Effects In SEE
In 2014 Facebook’s founder Mark Zuckerberg changed his motto “Move Fast and […]
Peter Toudjarski, founder of Botron Software © Botron Software
Deals
Botron Software, A Bulgarian Provider Of Jira Configuration Tools, Has Been Acquired By Appfire
US-based Appfire has made the strategic acquisition of Botron Software, a Bulgarian […]
©Shafin_Protic on Pixabay
Industry transformation
As Events Are Moving Online, Virtual Venue Platform Hopin Closes A $40m Series A Round
It was not that long ago when Trending Topics hosted The Big […]
© Ivan Dimov and Krasse Gueorguiev
👟💡🚀
#RUNovator: The Two Social Entrepreneurs Who Run To Fundraise For Youth Entrepreneurial Clubs
The athlete and entrepreneur Krasse Gueorguiev and the CEO of Single Step […]
© Jakob Braun/ Unsplash
DeFi
Top 10 Decentralized Finance Projects in Europe (Part 1)
Into blockchain technology since 2013, Vladislav Dramaliev is one of the founders […]
© Pixabay
ranking
Sofia and Bucharest are Among The Top 25 Cities of The Future According To FT’s Intelligence Division
The Romanian and Bulgarian capital cities make it to the top 25 […]
© Geogri Kadrev, CEO at Kelvin Health
Telemedicine
Kelvin Health: The AI Thermal Imaging Startup On A Journey To Make Remote Disease Screening As Easy As Taking A Selfie
Telemedicine was a quickly growing market even before the COVID-19 pandemic but […]
© Unsplash
Deal
Romanian Avocado Raises €500K to Connect People With Business & Life Coaches, Lawyers, and Therapists Online
With the recent pandemic events, the amount of online services and platforms […]
© Pixabay
Funding Round
CloudCart Scores A Second Investment In Three Weeks, This Time From Sportal Media Group
Earlier in June, the Bulgarian eCommerce startup CloudCart received a €640k […]
© Unsplash
Promoto & How The Lockdown Accelerated the Digital Transformation of Neighbourhood Grocery Stores
At the beginning of the pandemic and the lockdown, we started sharing […]
© Pixabay
Governments vs. Innovation
Serbia’s Innovation Fund Grants €5 Million To 35 Startups And Science-Business Joint Ventures
The Serbian Innovation Fund announced that it had allocated five million euros […]
© Unsplash
The €15M Pre-Seed Fund Innovation Capital: Back On Track After The False Start And Going On A Tour In 5 Cities in Bulgaria
After the turbulent several months at the beginning of 2020 related to […]
© ETH Zurich
Diaspora | Academia-Driven Innovation
A Bulgarian Computer Scientist And Researchers At ETH Zurich Have Developed The First High-Level Quantum Programming Language
Quantum computers have been growing in popularity in recent years as they […]
Ecosystem Development
If We Want Bulgaria To Be A Real Innovation Destination Doers Are Needed
When it comes to the next steps in the development of the […]
© Unsplash
🛰️✈️💸
VC BrightCap Launches New Funding Program for Aviation Startups
BrightCap Ventures partners with AirNav Systems, a global flight tracking and […]
Hristo Borisov CEO, left and Thomas Westerhoven, Country Manager - Germany, right ©Payhawk
strategic partnership
Expense Management Startup Payhawk Partners with Visa to Issue Business Cards in 13 European Countries
“The problems SMEs face across Europe are pretty much the same: slow […]
© Pixabay
Funding Round
Romanian Game Design Platform Machinations Closes A €580k Seed Round
Machinations, a company that has developed a browser-based platform for the design, […]
Live Talk with Sasha Bezuhanova: The Green Restart Initiative and Why Entrepreneurs are important for the economic recovery
Sasha Bezuhanova: The Green Restart Initiative And Why Digital and Sustainability Innovations are Important for the Economic Recovery
Sasha Bezuhanova, the founder of think-tank MOVE.BG explains why innovation […]
© Pixabay
deal
Romanian Proactive Cybersecurity Startup CODA Intelligence Raises €800K To Expand in the US
CODA Intelligence, the founded in 2015 in Romania “proactive […]
Krasimir Marinov, cofounder of HyperScience
US-Bulgarian Hyperscience Raises $60M Series C In Attempt To Become A Global Leader In Enterprise Automation
A bit over a year after it raised its previous $30M round, […]
© Unsplash
event
RemoteCon: The First European Online Tech Conference Dedicated To Remote Work
Shopify, Twitter, Coinbase, Facebook will do it, many other companies will follow. […]
The team of BIH: Vassil Terziev, Ivan Dimov, Pavlina Yanakieva and Bogomil Balkansky © BIH
These Are The 16 Startups Selected By Bulgaria Innovation Hub For An (Online) Acceleration To The US Market
Bulgaria Innovation Hub (BIH), the Silicon Valley-based organization, which aims to […]
© Fund of Funds
Vitosha Venture Partners Is Now Officially The New Early Stage VC In Bulgaria And Is Open For Business: Details
The governmental Fund of Funds has officially signed its contract with Vitosha […]
© Frank Thelen
Interview
Frank Thelen: EnduroSat Can Enable Access To Space The Same Way AWS & Azure Enable Cloud Computing For Everyone
German investor Frank Thelen and his deep tech fund Freigeist Capital recently […]
Sponsored Story
Dimitar Ouzounov, CTO At Documaster: A Strong Engineering Team Requires People Who Find Meaning In What They Do
Our guest today is Dimitar Ouzounov, the CTO of the fast-growing document […]
© Unsplash
mCommerce
Bulgarian Small Businesses Can Now Sell Entirely Through Their Phones After A Partnership Between Viber, Mastercard, And myPOS
Bulgarian small retailers will now be able to sell their products or […]
© Puzl
Post-crisis opportunities
Coworking For Corporates: Puzl To Go After New Market Segments
During the COVID-19 state of emergency in Bulgaria, we interviewed the founders […]
Georgi Kamov © private archive
The Big Reset with Georgi Kamov: The Path to Real and Sustainable Social Innovation
Seven years ago, Georgi Kamov wrote a book called Destination Number One, […]
Elina Halatcheva, managing partner at BrightCap Ventures © BrightCap Ventures
deal
Bulgarian VC BrightCap Leads the $12M Investment Round of Silicon Valley 3D Geospatial Startup Enview
Deals in which a VC fund from a small and rather young […]
Among the developments of the Bosch Engineering Center in Sofia is an AI-based system for analysis of the actions of the driver and passengers. This analysis can be used in the prevention of road accidents. © Bosch
Ecosystem
Bosch Group Announces Strong Growth In 2019: Is Bulgaria On The Path To Becoming A Hub For Autonomous Driving?
“We have achieved strong growth in 2019 due to increased demand for […]
© Pixabay
Innovation Education
Open Applications: Online Workshop For The Generation Of Exponential Solutions About The Future Of Work In Bulgaria
During The Big Reset Days, we started the conversation about the Future […]
Stanimira Grigorova, CEO of iUVeda trying out the new VR meditation experience developed by the company © iUVeda
iUVeda: How Stanimira Grigorova Combined The Ancient Wisdom Of Ayurveda and AI to Create A Mobile Burnout Antidote
“Some six years ago I realized I was supposed to be happy, […]
In the first edition, in 2018, year e-identification startup Evrotrust made it to the national finals of Elevator Lab Challenge and is now preparing PoCs in Romania and Albania. ©Raiffeisenbank
opportunity
Raiffeisenbank’s Elevator Lab Opens Applications For Startups With Database Analysis and Loyalty Solutions
Fintech companies from all over the world that develop solutions in the […]
Healee officially launched operations in April 2018. Its team of five has recently grown as the startup acquired another digital healthcare player on the local market ©Healee
healthtech
Telehealth Startup Healee Raises A Seed Round Led By Eleven Ventures To Use The Momentum and Accelerate Growth
COVID-19 has caused a massive acceleration in the use of telehealth, in […]
© Boleron
InsurTech
Conservative Industries Going Digital: Boleron And The Role Of Image Recognition, AI Assistants, & Blockchain In Insurance
“Back when we started, many of the insurance providers in Bulgaria were […]
© Pixabay
Funding Round
Bulgarian E-Commerce Startup CloudCart To Expand Abroad After Closing An Investment Round Led By New Vision 3
CloudCart, a Bulgarian e-Commerce platform that has been designed to help merchants […]
From left to right: Kiko Dontchev, Margarita Marinova, and Orlin Velev
People
Who Are The Three Bulgarian Engineers & Researchers With Contributions To SpaceX’s Successful Crew Dragon Launch
Last Saturday, SpaceX and NASA launched a historical flight test of the […]
Ivo Vasilev (l) and Miroslav Bekyarov, co-founders of Reloyalty © Reloyalty
founders’ stories
Startups In Times Of Crisis Vol.9: Retail Loyalty Startup Reloyalty Launches New Crowdfunding Platform
Which startups won’t make it and which will go out of the […]
Diana Stefanova, Vice President of Global Site Strategy at VMware © VMware
Sponsored Story
Career Events Moving Online: VMware’s Talent Jar Presents Opportunities For Engineers
Despite the need to quickly move its hiring process entirely online, the […]
BrightCap and WOOM © Brightcap Ventures
femtech
WOOM: The Leading Fertility App Of The Spanish Speaking World Opens Up Office In Bulgaria After An Investment From Brightcap Ventures
Opposite to what girls are told in their teenage years, conceiving might […]
© Unsplash
Early-Stage Tech
TokWise: The Bulgarian AI Startup That Wants To Help Energy Companies Optimize Their Green Portfolios
According to a PwC report from 2019, most electric utilities are at […]
Peak's Art Team © Peak
Gaming M&A
Turkey Achieves First Billion-Dollar Exit In Zynga’s Biggest Acquisition Ever
Zynga expects to grow mobile daily active users by 60% after buying […]
© Unsplash
Overview
The Greek Innovation Ecosystem In May: Two Deep Tech Exits And A New Robotic Process Automation R&D Hub
While the coronavirus outbreak may have hit the Greek travel industry, the […]
© Unsplash
Learning
The North Star Metric And The Value Proposition Of The First Complete Product Management Training Program In Bulgaria
Product managers have one of the most interesting and at the same […]
© Isaac Smith/ Unsplash
Reports
Global Startup Ecosystem Rankings: Bulgaria is closing in on Top 30, Further Progress Reliant On Developing The Environment In Cities Other Than Sofia?
Bulgaria is moving three positions up to number 32 in the latest […]
The team of BIH: Vassil Terziev, Ivan Dimov, Pavlina Yanakieva and Bogomil Balkansky © BIH
opportunitiy
Open Applications: The Bulgarian Innovation Hub In Silicon Valley Continues To Help Startups Set A Foot In The US Market
The coronacrisis may have changed and turned upside down most of the […]
Diana Aladzhova (l) and Polina Berg (r), co-foudners of Box to Remember © Box To Remember
founders’ stories
Startups In Times of Crisis Vol.12: The Gifting Industry, Social Enterprise A Box To Remember And Its Pivot Towards Monthly Subscriptions
Which startups won’t make it and which will go out of the […]
© Unsplash
open letter
Bulgarian Startup Association And The VAT Discussion: Tax Changes Would Put Startups At Risk And Push Them To Leave Bulgaria
Editorial note: In an official statement and open letter sent to the […]
Krasimir Marinov, co-founder of Hyperscience © Hyperscience
founders’ stories
Startups in Times of Crisis Vol. 11: Document Processing Scaleup Hyperscience Growing Thanks To The Increasing Back Office Automation
Which startups won’t make it and which will go out of the […]
© pexels
guest analysis
The 7 Biggest Threats to Decentralized Finance [Part 2]
Into blockchain technology since 2013, Vladislav Dramaliev is one of the founders […]
video interview
The Big Reset with Petar Staykov: “You Can Be Part Of Creating Technology Instead Of Complaining From The Existing One”
The Big Reset is a series of video interviews where we explore […]
Borina Andrieu ©Internet_100 KO_BORDURE
Interview SHEleader@digital
Borina Andrieu About Female Leadership, Innovation In Architecture And Turning A Historical Building In The Biggest Startup Incubator In The World
Currently, Managing Director of Wilmotte & Associés, Borina Andrieu has […]
© Escreo
Act not React vol.2 with Escreo: Pivoting and Growth During a Pandemic
Building and saving cash reserves and cutting expenses or scaling up and […]
© Karin Hackl/ Vienna Business Agency
Sponsored Story
Trending Entrepreneurs & Investors to Gather at ViennaUP’21 – The Largest Startup Event in CEE
The event is designed to take place no matter of the unpredictable […]
Future of Work
Talent Talks Vol. 3: “As Long as You are Breathing, It is Never Too Late to Change Your Career.”
Are you training to gain a new perspective on your career development? […]
Documaster co-founder and CTO Dimitar Ouzounov © Documaster
Sponsored Story
Documaster: How to Build an Infrastructure Tech Stack That Scales Well as the Business Grows
Startups launch with one big bag of unknowns and yet these companies […]
Plamen Atanasov, head of engineering at PubGalaxy © PubGalaxy
Sponsored Story
Building an Engineering Team to Compete on a Global Scale: What It’s Like To Be a Developer at PubGalaxy
Plamen Atanasov is Head of Engineering at PubGalaxy, the Bulgarian technology […]
