The office market in Sofia has grown significantly in the first quarter of 2022, according to data from Cushman & Wakefield Forton. The signed contracts are for 44,032 square meters, and the market activity is significantly above the average for the last five years, the company reports. Most deals are for higher-end office buildings and new projects, mainly due to relocations and renewals, rather than expansions. This is why, despite the large volume of leasing transactions, net office absorption is generally low – 8,600 sq.m.
The properties on the main arteries of the city continue to attract most of the deals. Unoccupied areas are 16.4%, mainly due to the lack of completed new buildings. The areas under construction amount to 199,355 sq.m.
Most tenant companies are looking for flexible solutions and shared offices continue to gain popularity. As of Q1 2022, the supply in this segment exceeds 45,000 square meters and is expected to overpass 50,000 square meters by mid-year.
Rental prices remain stable – 15 euros / sq.m in the central areas and 12-14 euros / sq.m alongside main roads. Service charges are under pressure due to the growing operating costs and currently, they are in the range of 2.75 – 4 euros / sq.m.
High activity is also registered in industrial and logistics properties with 34,204 sq.m. leased areas in the first quarter. Expansion deals with retailers, logistics and distribution companies are the main drivers of the market. Most requests are for medium-sized logistics areas in the ring road area and the emerging industrial zones on the outskirts of Sofia. For the last quarter only one site was completed – DHL logistics center near Sofia Airport with an area of 5000 sq.m.
There is a decline in vacant space due to the moderate volume of new completions, together with stable demand from tenants. Currently, the unoccupied space rate in the segment is 2% compared to 4.1% at the end of last year. More than 420,000 square meters are under construction, mainly due to owner-occupied production and storage space expansions. In the short term, the market is expected to be complemented by new supply in the areas of the Ring Road and in the industrial zones in Elin Pelin and Bozhurishte.
There is a slight increase in prices, again due to rising operating costs together with the active demand. Rental levels in Sofia reach 4.4 euros / sq.m
The Chief Executive Officer of Invest Sofia Dr. Maria Hristova is on a visit to Doha, Qatar, as part of the Bulgarian delegation at the ‘Bilateral Trade and Potential Investment Projects’ event. The participation is at the invitation of our partners from the Lebanese-Bulgarian Business Council and the newly established Association of Bulgarian-Arab Chambers of Commerce in Sofia, which organises the forum in cooperation with the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI).
The meetings are held at the Doha Chamber of Commerce and Industry and provide a platform for establishing business contacts, productive exchange of best practices, and negotiations for potential agreements. Together with Invest Sofia, part of the delegation are representatives of over 20 Bulgarian companies from the following sectors: food manufacturing and distribution, petroleum and chemicals, real estate investments, ICT, construction, and others. The meetings are also attended by academic representatives from the Faculty of Economics at Sofia University, the Ambassador of the Republic of Bulgaria to Qatar Plamen Delev, the Attaché of Bulgaria at the Commercial and Economic Section of the Bulgarian Embassy in Qatar Konstantin Nenkov, and others.
The Mission is to continue until June 17. It aims to upgrade the expertise and the network of Bulgarian and Arab entrepreneurs in the promotion of trade, economic relations, and investments.
Highlights from meetings so far
A local event partner hosted the business forum on the first day of the visit to Doha. H. E Mr. Mohamed Bin Ahmed Twar Al Kuwari, First Vice Chairman of Qatar’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry opened the meeting. He presented the state programme for the development of Qatar’s economy The programme envisages diversification of economic sectors and partners. The Qatari Chamber encourages the establishment of joint ventures and welcomes all foreign entrepreneurs wishing to invest and set up a business in Qatar. Kuvari presented benefits and incentives for foreign companies entering the country and outlined that he expects more dynamic bilateral economic relations in the coming years.
Tsvetan Simeonov, Chairman of the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, expressed his gratitude for the long-term successful cooperation with Qatar’s Chamber. The two organizations have had a cooperation agreement since 2008. The bilateral economic relations had slowed down due to the pandemic, but they are now resuming, Tsvetan Simeonov said.
The President of the Association of Bulgarian-Arab Chambers of Commerce Ahmad Alaeddine presented the activities of the Association, established
The event will end up with the StartUp World Cup Bulgaria 2022 finals and the winner announcement
The Digital4Sofia 2022 – Innovations in Online Commerce and Payments Conference has started today at Inter Expo Center, Sofia. The Digital4Foundation organizes the forum in partnership with Sofia Municipality.
Invest Sofia is part of the programme of this event dedicated to the latest trends in the digital industry. At the invitation of the organisers, our CEO Dr. Maria Hristova joined the conference as a keynote speaker. On behalf of Mayor Yordanka Fandakova and Deputy Mayor for Digitalization Gencho Kerezov, she welcomed the attendees and participants in Digital4Sofia 2022. ‘E-commerce businesses need integrated solutions – from product presentation, through building an online presence, to overall marketing funnel, customer traffic, and positioning on the market. I am glad to see among the participants in today’s conference experts from all these fields “, Maria Hristova said at the opening of the event.
This year, Digital4Sofia 2022 will present current trends in Bulgaria’s e-commerce and fintech industry. All attendees will have the chance to meet with some of the fastest-growing companies in these sectors and learn successful strategies for digital positioning.
Co-organizers of the event are also Innovative Sofia – the digitalization, innovation and economic development department of Sofia Municipality, and Inter Expo Center. Partners of the conference are the Bulgarian E-Commerce Association, Bulgarian Fintech Association, European Digital Experts Association – Eurodea, Enterprise Europe Network, the Bulgarian Startup Association BESCO, Fund of Funds, Bulgarian Small and Medium Enterprise Promotion Agency (BSMEPA), Bulgarian Investment Agency, Bulgarian Development Bank and many more organisations, private companies and media.
Part of Digital4Sofia 2022 is are regional finals of the Startup World Cup Bulgaria – part of the global Startup World Cup series with a prize of USD 1 million. Ten Bulgarian startups will pitch today. The winner of the StartUp World Cup Bulgaria 2022 will hit the stage of the Grand Finale in San Francisco. Stay tuned for flash news from today’s conference and highlights from the startup competition on the organisers’ page here.
The Sofia Municipal Privatization and Investment Agency (Invest Sofia) signed a Memorandum of Cooperation with HumanConsulting – a consulting company for developing and managing programmes and projects funded by the EU and other donor programmes. Under the Agreement, Invest Sofia and HumanConsulting will join their efforts in providing support to individuals and legal entities and municipal administrations looking for funding solutions to develop projects or businesses.
The Memorandum was signed at an official meeting between Dr. Maria Hristova, CEO of Invest Sofia and Galia Menova, CEO of Human Consulting. Using the professional networks established in their previous activities, the two parties will be able to exchange economic information, statistics, data, and expertise in investment policies. With the agreed partnership, the consulting company is now part of the partner network of the Sofia IS initiative launched by Invest Sofia for partnership between the city administration and local companies operating in Sofia to provide full-scope services to new investors in the city. HumanConsulting’s extensive expertise in the implementation of various financing instruments will contribute to the provision of expert consultations to companies, organizations, and municipal units that turn to Invest Sofia for guidance on appropriate funding instruments and resources for business growth and new projects development.
HumanConsulting is mainly engaged in the preparation and management of projects under various funding programs. The company provides marketing services and consultations for corporate strategies for business development. Its team demonstrates expertise in many fields and has an extensive portfolio of successfully implemented cases in the development, implementation, and reporting of projects under European and other donor programs and funds. The company supports individuals, legal entities, and city administrations, and has successfully implemented projects for leading Bulgarian companies and municipalities.
The conference Digital4Sofia 2022 is to be held on June 13 in Sofia. Invest Sofia is part of the program of this event dedicated to the latest trends in the digital industry. At the invitation of the organizers, our CEO Dr. Maria Hristova will join the conference as a keynote speaker.
This year, Digital4Sofia 2022 will present current trends in the e-commerce and fintech industry in Bulgaria. All attendees will have the chance to meet with some of the fastest-growing companies in these sectors and learn successful strategies for digital positioning.
The conference is organized by Digital4Foundation in partnership with the Sofia Municipality, Innovative Sofia, and Inter Expo Center.
Digital4Sofia 2022 aims to bring together professionals with proven expertise in the digital world, marketers, advertisers, sales managers, business consultants, regulatory specialists, logistics companies, business managers, and entrepreneurs. The conference program will also offer opportunities for business networking and new partnerships. The full Agenda and registration link for the event are available on the event website: https://digital4sofia.com/.
A meeting on the integration of refugees from Ukraine was held today in the National Palace of Culture, initiated by the UN Refugee Agency in Bulgaria, The Bulgarian Council on Refugees and Migrants, and the Sofia Development Association. At the invitation of the organisers, our Senior Expert Olena Filina, who is the project manager of the www.jobs.investsofia.com platform, joined the event. She took part in the discussion on the opportunities for supporting refugees in Sofia Municipality in accommodation, education, employment and access to the labor market, health care, social assistance and others.
The meeting brought together representatives of the city government, regional administrations in Sofia, state institutions and NGOs involved in Ukrainian refugee integration. Integration-related policies for persons granted temporary protection, national and local funding opportunities, as well as best practices from other countries, were presented. The participants also discussed the challenges at the municipal level and potential solutions, and the role of the non-governmental sector in the institutional efforts to integrate Ukrainian refugees residing in our country.
We remind you that within Invest Sofia initiative to support Ukrainian citizens in our country, our team has already held several working meetings with the community in Sofia and supporting organizations. Among our partners during these meetings were Caritas Bulgaria, the European project RIDE – an initiative that aims to include migrant and refugee women in the digital labor market, the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Open Sofia Foundation, Networking Premium Coworking. With these meetings, we aimed at being a practical supporter to Ukrainians living in the city and providing guidance on the labor market, legislation, improving skills, finding a job, and more.
The platform https://jobs.investsofia.com/, which we created days after the invasion of Ukraine, is also available. The website is accessible in Ukrainian, Russian, English, and Bulgarian. The platform is open both to companies that want to list their open positions and job seekers. Users can easily create a personal profile and professional resume and contact potential employers. Currently, the website contains nearly 50 vacancies announced by companies in various fields of the economy.
For the first time in 9 years, a team of students won the competition
Winner of the ninth edition of the Innovation Academy 2022 is leARn. The team is from First English Language School and the American College in Sofia. Thus, for the first time, the annual competition of the innovation agency Innovation Starter is won by high-school students, not university undergraduates.
leARn won the competition with their idea for virtual learning content. Viktor Nedelchev, Dimitar Kostadinov, and Ognyan Trayanov impressed the jury with a brilliant demonstration of their project and their enthusiasm, motivation, and ambition to further develop the product. leARn won BGN 10,000, provided by the European Investment Bank for the further development of the project, a visit to the European institutions in Brussels, provided by the European Commission, and prizes from Invest Sofia.
In second place is the team Vodoraslo – Denis Ivanov and Vanessa Stefanova who demonstrated their prototype of a bioreactor with algae, which purifies the air. They are students at the University of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Geodesy (UACEG) in Sofia, which is also a precedent for the competition. The team received BGN 10,000, provided by the Bulgarian Development Bank, a visit to the European institutions in Brussels and awards from Invest Sofia.
There is a third precedent in the competition this year – yet another high-school student team hit the Top3 ideas – Alexander Paliyski, Georgi Kolev and Martin Stilyanov from the High School of Mathematics “Acad. Kiril Popov” in Plovdiv. They presented their idea of a virtual currency for the European Central Bank. The team will visit the European institutions in Brussels and also received awards from Invest Sofia.
The competition started with an official opening event on June 3rd and continued with a 24-hour hackathon for prototyping and validating the ideas. Again, Invest Sofia was an institutional partner of the competition, and at the invitation of the organizers, our CEO Dr. Maria Hristova participated as a mentor in the hackathon and a member of the jury.
“At events such as this, young people’s energy and entrepreneurial spirit meet the experience of the experts from Innovation Starter and the business community in our country. We at Invest Sofia know how important this support is and that is why we position startup companies and large international investors and entrepreneurs side by side, as equally important,” Dr. Maria Hristova said during her welcome
The event brought together business leaders from leading technology companies and startups in Bulgaria and Southeast Europe. During the forum, new trends and forecasts for the development of the business services industry and the technology sector were discussed. The transformations that need to take place in the region for the knowledge economy in Southeast Europe to grow at an even faster pace and to be a competitive player on the world map were also set.
The business representatives united unanimously that Sofia deserves the 2022 Smart City Award. The Deputy Mayor for Digitalization, Innovation and Economic Development Gencho Kerezov accepted the award on behalf of Sofia Municipality. “It is a great honor for Sofia to receive this award, especially when it comes from business. This gives us a clear idea that our daily work with our partners at the international level is fruitful and resultful and it gives businesses even more reasons to continue to choose Sofia as a preferred place for innovations and further development. The hard work continues: now is the time to fully realize the opportunities before us and not to stop creating better conditions together.”
The award for Sofia Municipality comes after a series of international recognitions for the city since the beginning of the year. Sofia was chosen among the four cities together with Brussels, Dublin and Tirana to develop the EU Digital Rights Management Legal Framework. Sofia also ranked as a city leader in the European Mission for 100 climate-neutral and smart cities by 2030. The initiative provides new opportunities for Bulgaria and unlocks additional mechanisms for EU funding. Only a month ago, our capital was selected as a finalist in two categories of the Future of Emerging Europe Awards 2022 – a prestigious international competition for sustainable, social, economic and democratic development in Europe.
The forum became a platform for the exchange of expertise in the field of innovation and technology transfer in the region. It was inaugurated with the special participation of Ms. Roberta Coco, Chief Adviser to the Minister of Innovation and Digital Transition of Italy and former Deputy Mayor for Digitalisation of Milan. The Deputy Mayor for Digitalization of Sofia Gencho Kerezov commented on the important role of municipalities in digitalization and providing opportunities for innovation. “It is good to note that there is a difference between the roles of governments and municipalities in the process of stimulating and integrating
The Swedish MedTech manufacturer SHL Healthcare AB has chosen Sofia as the place to build its first production facility in Europe. The company currently has a manufacturing base in China.
The new base in Sofia will cover an area of 5,000 square meters and aims to provide the company’s customers with further flexibilities for lead times, logistics and production. SHL Healthcare AB’s investment in Sofia is part of the company’s goals to increase its offerings in MedTech manufacturing on a global scale. By investing in expanded operations to tactical regions, we not only increase our manufacturing capacities but also demonstrate to customers our commitment in providing alternative production solutions for premium MedTech products and manufacturing services,” says Erik Bolmgren, CEO of SHL Healthcare AB, in the official announcement of the company. The activities of the Swedish MedTech company in Bulgaria will be managed by its subsidiary SHL Healthcare Bulgaria EAD.
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The New York-based blockchain and fintech company R3 opens an office in Sofia – the first for the company in a country in Continental Europe. The company’s establishment in Bulgaria follows a long-term partnership and work on joint projects with the Sofia-based software company INDUSTRIA. R3 will start with a team of 50 people by the end of this year and with a plan to expand to 100 people by the end of 2023. For now, the management of the office in Sofia will be carried out by the management of the Bulgarian INDUSTRIA, reports a publication by Capital. Sofia-based INDUSTRIA is a global technology consulting, development, and ventures company with expertise in the field of enterprise blockchain, confidential computing, process automation, and digital experience. As one of R3’s official partners, the company is developing cutting-edge blockchain and fintech technologies. You can read more about the partnership between the American and the Sofia-based company from the INDUSTRIA blog post here.
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Backed up by local angel investors, the Sofia-based startup Circle Mobility Ltd. has launched a new bicycle sharing service in Sofia. A total of 50 vehicles can be rented through the Cyrcl app from zones in the city center and southern neighborhoods. The company’s ambition is to increase the number of bicycles and launch the service in other Bulgarian cities.
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Five startups entered the fifth Bulgarian Innovation Hub’s (BIH) accelerator programme for international growth. Four of them are Sofia-based. These are the AI and machine
Only a few days left until the ninth edition of the Innovation Academy – the biggest competition for student entrepreneurs in Bulgaria, which this year will be held on June 3 and 4 in Sofia Tech Park. The competition is organized by our partner Innovation Starter, and Invest Sofia is an institutional partner together with the Representation of the European Commission in Bulgaria, the European Investment Bank, and the Bulgarian Development Bank.
We support the initiative for another year. At the invitation of the organisers, again we’ll be part of the Academy programme and the jury of the hackathon with the participation of our CEO Dr. Maria Hristova as a lecturer and a member of the jury.
Lecturers and members of the jury this year are experts from many Bulgarian universities, the Representation of the European Commission in Bulgaria, the European Investment Fund (EIF) in Bulgaria, the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works (MRRB), managers of large private companies, entrepreneurs and investors, media representatives, experts from non-governmental and branch organizations such as the Bulgarian Association for People Management, the Bulgarian Association of Information Technologies (BAIT) and others.
The academy will be held in 3 main modules: mentoring, training sessions and prototyping. The first and the second winning teams will receive financial funding for their business idea, provided by the European Investment Bank and the Bulgarian Development Bank, and a visit to the European institutions in Brussels provided by the Representation of the European Commission in Bulgaria for the teams on first, second and third place. Students who do not rank in the top positions can also count on incentives and prizes.
The Innovation Academy is the largest public-private partnership in the country between organizations from the private, academic, public, and NGO sectors. The project aims to develop students’ entrepreneurial skills and support their early business ideas. The event is held nationwide and in partnership with 14 Bulgarian universities and training centers. So far, more than 4,300 participants and more than 720 teams have been trained.
We are looking forward to very interesting hackathon days full of innovative, sustainable and impactful ideas created by talented Bulgarian students. Follow our website and social media profiles for flashnews from the Academy.