"Innovation Accelerator Bulgaria" will finance 200 startups

The Fund of Funds has signed an operational agreement with the investment intermediary "Innovation Accelerator Bulgaria" for investment in startups.

The new accelerating and start-up fund has a resource of BGN 30.5 million. Of these, BGN 27.4 million is provided by the Operational Programme "Innovation and Competitiveness" 2014-2020 (OPIC) and the rest must be funded by private investors.

The resource is intended for entrepreneurs at an early stage in the development of their business. The plans are to reach about 200 companies, with accelerated investment from BGN 50,000 to BGN 100,000, and in the start-up phase they can reach up to BGN 2 million.

The fund manager plans to invest in startups that bring innovative business ideas into the areas of healthcare, education, eldercare, transport and logistics, light industry, digitization, etc.

Along with the funding, Innovation Bulgaria will provide mentoring and strategic support to companies and will also enable them to connect to business networks.

With the launch of a second start-up fund, the resource now amounts to BGN 65 million. "This resource comes in time on the market at a time when a wave of investment is exhausted and entrepreneurs are waiting for new resources to support their ideas," said Svetoslava Georgieva, Head of the Fund of Funds.

With the signing of the last contract, the Fund of Funds has already provided for investments BGN 751.2 million, which is equivalent to 60% of the funds it manages in the current programming period.

By the end of this and the beginning of the next year, procedures will be launched for another BGN 220 million.

It is expected to sign the agreement with Morningside Hill, which was elected to manage BGN 67 million for risky investments. This financial intermediary will provide up to EUR 3.5 million to companies.

By the end of the summer, the manager of the Mezzanine Fund has to be selected, which will target EUR 55 million to existing companies looking for growth.

The opening of a procedure for creating a new start-up fund is pending.

The start-up activities of the Technology Transfer Fund are also progressing, linking research institutes and businesses.

The Fund's main activity is the structuring and management of financial instruments co-financed by the European Structural and Investment Funds over the 2014-2020 programming period.

Investments target companies that could potentially begin to self-sustain. Investment support is provided through loans, guarantees or equity. In this way, business and public institutions are supported for economic development. The financial instruments make it possible to recover the funds that can be reused.

The Fund of Funds selects financial intermediaries - banks, funds, credit and other financial institutions. In turn, the elected financial managers mobilize additional private capital, increasing public resources, and then investing in private companies.