Bulgarian companies won three of the 12 categories in the international competition of Central European Startup Awards, competing with 10 other countries in the region. Bulgarian start-up company Bee Smart Technologies, the LAUNCHub Ventures investment fund and the Puzl CowOrKing co-working space won awards in the fourth edition of the European start-up competition for Central and Eastern Europe. For the first time Sofia hosted the regional final. The finalists from the region gathered in the hall of “John Atanasov” building in Sofia Tech Park.
Winners from Bulgaria
Investor of the Year: LAUNCHub Ventures
Founded in 2012, the first LAUNCHub fund of EUR 9M, was actively investing until the end of 2015 and has been deployed in pre-seed tickets up to EUR 200K. The former fund backed 62 startups which have attracted more than EUR 20M in follow-up funding. They are currently investing with a ticket that normally ranges between EUR 300K and EUR 700K but they are ready to invest up to EUR 1.5 million in the right startup.
Best Co-working Space: Puzl CowOrKing
Puzl CowOrKing areas are designed around the IT community needs – a hybrid between co-working, event and chill spaces. Laced with the social buzz of a neighborhood and designed with the digital folk in mind. They opened their doors in 2015, and since then over 400 people have joined to their community. They have been expanding since and have plans to open several new offices across the CEE region.
Best IoT Startup: Bee Smart Technologies
Bee Smart is a remote diagnostic and monitoring station for any bee hive. The software is based on proprietary bio-based AI algorithms that translates the collected data into actionable statistics and notifications on an intuitive dashboard.
All winners by category:
Best Acceleration – ABC Accelerator from Slovenia
Investor of the Year – LAUNCHub Ventures from Bulgaria
Best Co-working Space – Puzl Coworking from Bulgaria
Best AI Startup – Turbine.AI from Hungary
Best Social Impact Startup – SOWAT from Romania
Best Biotech Startup – Turbine.AI from Hungary
Best FinTech Startup – Bitpanda from Austria
Best IoT Startup – Bee Smart Technologies from Bulgaria
Best Smart City Solution – Symvaro – Smart City Apps from Austria
Founder of the Year – Sara Koslinska, Limitless from Poland
Best Newcomer – EVA – Extended Visual Assistant from Hungary
People’s Choice – Billon Group from Poland
Startup of the Year – Turbine.AI from Hungary
Hungarian Turbine AI, the winner of the big prize, as well as winner in two other categories, develops services helping to treat patients with cancer more quickly and effectively. Their product allows for the best combination of human cell models with particular tumor-specific data and the use of artificial intelligence that understands how therapies change cell behavior.
All winners from the region will compete in the global finals in China in 2018.
