Industry: diversified power generation facilities

In Sofia since: 2013 

Employees: 100

Investment: BGN 2 million

The leading investor in the Bulgarian energy sector, AES Bulgaria, opened its expanded Regional Shared Service Center in Sofia. Currently, the Shared Service Center in Sofia employs more than 100 highly qualified employees responsible for the company’s business in the areas of Finance, IT, Supply, Human resources and Communications for 7 countries – Bulgaria, Jordan, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Ireland, India, the Philippines and Vietnam.

AES Bulgaria’s expansion in Sofia

The company launched its regional center in 2013 with 15 employees. It initially served the company’s business in the fields of Finance, IT, Supply and Delivery for Europe and the Middle East. In 2016 and 2017, the center was expanded significantly, by adding the Human resources and Communications functions. Currently, the Shared Service Center in Sofia employs more than 100 highly qualified employees and their number is expected to grow. As of 2017, the Centre, which represents an investment of over BGN 2 million, serves all businesses of the company in Europe and Asia.

Why Sofia

Olivier Marquette, President of AES Bulgaria:

In recent years Bulgaria has been one of the countries in Europe where AES invests consistently and gradually expands its portfolio of assets. With the opening and the following expansion of the Shared Service Center, the country has proved to be a regional center that will be of growing importance for AES. I am convinced that the highly qualified specialists and the strategic position of Bulgaria will have a decisive role in attracting investments in the future.

The decision to open a Shared Service Center in Bulgaria was taken by the AES Senior Executive Team based on the country’s competitive advantages: the availability of highly qualified specialists, the favorable investment environment, the geographical location, as well as the political and macroeconomic stability of Bulgaria, sais the official statement  of the company.

Industry: cargo-handling machinery for ships, ports, terminals and local distribution

In Sofia since: 2017

Employees: 130

Finnish cargo-handling machinery maker Cargotec opened its new global Cargotec Business Service (CBS) centre in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. The investment demonstrates Cargotec’s confidence in the local team of dedicated professionals and the Bulgarian talent pool to help company’s growth.

The CBS team presently consists of 130 people; however, it is expected that it would expand significantly over the coming years. The aim is to develop and deliver world-class global business support services in the fields of finance, human resources, information management, as well as indirect procurement.  

Why Sofia

After due diligence process in April 2017, Cargotec Automation Systems chooses Sofia among 8 different locations. The company’s operations in Sofia begin four months later, in August 2017, with 40 employees fluent in 10 different languages. Sofia wins over the remaining 7 possible locations with its pool of 36,000 qualified professionals in the sector, its competitive economic environment and the support received by a number of local partners during the process of establishment. The Cargotec team currently occupies two floors of the newly built Millenium Center business tower at the very heart of Sofia. Since January 2018, the Sofia office employs nearly 140 specialists in 6 divisions – Finance, Human Resources, Orders management, Logistics, Customer service, and IT. The company’s accounting department handles the documentation of 45,000 orders per month.

Maya Milanova, Head of Cargotec Business Services

Our investment in the modern office in the heart of Sofia is a long-term commitment with a focus on continuous improvement. We plan to grow and are on the lookout for people who are future-oriented and eager to develop their skills in a global company and lead the way in building smarter business services.

Cargotec (Nasdaq Helsinki: CGCBV) enables smarter cargo flow for a better everyday with its leading cargo handling solutions and services. Cargotec’s business areas Kalmar, Hiab and MacGregor are pioneers in their fields. Through their unique position in ports, at sea and on roads, they optimize global cargo flows and create sustainable customer value. Cargotec’s sales in 2016 totaled approximately EUR 3.5 billion and it employs over 11,000 people. 

Industry: multinational beverage corporation, and manufacturer, retailer, and marketer of nonalcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups

In Sofia since: 1992

Employees: 2 100

Investment: 550 million euro

since the establishment of the company in Sofia

The Bulgarian unit of Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company (HBC) announced it will invest 20 million euro by early 2019 to expand its factory operations located 15 km away from Sofia, in Kostinbrod. The new investment will increase the company’s production capacity by 30%. Coca-Cola also revealed its plans to open an IT development center in the capital. The intelligent technology development centre will develop data analysis and training solutions, mobile applications and software products for information security, marketing, financial and technical activities of the manufacturer. The products of the development hub in Sofia will be used globally, with the main focus on the markets in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. 

The investment comes shortly after the company made the decision to relocate all its Finance and HR working places from Weimar, Germany to Bulgaria.  The aim of the new investment is to make the Sofia-based manufacturing plant a regional center and to export production to other countries in the region and to more distant countries.

Coca-Cola in Bulgaria

The conglomerate celebrates its 25th Anniversary on the Bulgarian market, but the soft drink has been manufactured in Bulgaria since 1965, being the first communist country to produce Coca-Cola. The 750 ml glass bottle is fully designed by the Bulgarian team of the company and the production of Cyrillic bottles range of the soft drink is a complete precedent. The HBC investment for the years of presence on the local market is close to 550 million euro. Currently, the company employs some 2 100 people. Annually, Coca-Cola HBC produces over 320 million liters in its factory near Sofia.

Industry: Global supplier of micro-electronic semiconductor solutions in the automotive sector

In Sofia since: 2000

Employees: 425 /aiming to grow to 735 by 2022/

Investment: 75 million euros

The Belgium-based electronic components producer Melexis plans to double its production capacity in Sofia, where the largest manufacturing facility of the company is currently located. Over the next five years, Melexis will invest 75 million euro to significantly extend its R&D activities, as well as its warehousing facilities, adding additional 15.000 sqm to its existing 7.500 sqm facilities in Sofia. Melexis’ Sofia-based workforce is expected to reach nearly 575 employees by the end of 2018, and the total will grow by another 160 people till 2022.

The investment in Sofia is part of the expansion of Melexis in strategic European locations to help the company meet growth plans in logistics, manufacturing and R&D activities that will bring additional capacity to meet the growing demand for the services and solutions that the company designs, manufactures and renders in the automotive microelectronic sector.

We’ve managed to reach an important milestone in our project, reaffirming the intentions we have been pursuing together over the last 3 years. We have faced difficult moments that we managed to successfully overcome, thanks to the support we received from you. Thank you for this!, says Sylvain Collot, Manager of Melexis Bulgaria, in his letter to Sofia Municipality and Sofia Investment Agency.

The Institute for Medical Research was set up in 2006 as a private scientific medical company. It started its active operation in 2015 when a physician and a financier became the Institute’s driving force and for the fourth straight year have been developing the IMR as the first fully private research institute in the field of medicine in Bulgaria. The managing partners Dr. Dimitar Georgiev and Zhivko Ivanov have managed to attract to the cause a wonderful and enthusiastic team of young scientists ready to pursue their scientific dreams and contribute to the development of modern science in Bulgaria. An investment of nearly BGN 100 000 gives the Institute the opportunity to complement its team with more young and intelligent people with a bold look at science, working in a modern way. Currently, the IMR keeps up with modern trends – it does not build its own laboratories, but rents available laboratories in Sofia after winning a scientific grant for its own research.

Though slowly, the team’s efforts begin to pay off and at the end of 2017 the IMR also won the Innovative Enterprise of the Year in the field of medicine.

Dr. Dimitar Georgiev and Zhivko Ivanov share their critical insights into the environment for successful realization in Sofia in the field of scientific research, biotechnology and medicine.

Tell us about your investment in Sofia? What kind of business does your company do here and in foreign markets?

Zhivko Ivanov: Our company is a research institute in the field of medicine. Our business model is to work on interesting scientific projects after receiving a specific assignment. Currently, we are working on projects of several international organizations and the activity is entirely conducted in Sofia.

Dr. Georgiev: We have created a private scientific medical company in order to seek funding and work on interesting scientific projects in the field of medicine and the so called Life Sciences

What was your motivation to start a business in Sofia?

Zhivko Ivanov: I believe Sofia is a good place to do business. It offers a very good ecosystem of young and knowledgeable people, as well as good transport links. The fact is that it still sounds exotic as a science destination for our partners from Western Europe, but that is the challenge we take up.

What are the advantages of the city?

Dr. Georgiev: Quality and still

The founders of Escreo, Yassen Rusev, Elena Nikolova and Iskren Mitev, meet during an entrepreneurial program in the US in 2013. In the space where the training takes place, the walls are painted with marker as if they are whiteboards. Impressed by the idea, the young entrepreneurs decide to create their own product – a wall and furniture paint that allows multiple writing and drawing with a marker. The Eleven Fund foresees the potential of the idea and helps the team with financing and networking, by introducing them to specialists in the chemical sector. Thus the newcomer in the team – Manol Novakov, a long-time technologist, develops Escreo’s own formula for water-based coating, which allows tinting in different colors and endless writing, drawing and sharing of ideas on any surface.

The total investment in the project amounts to EUR 121 000, of which 85 000 are Eleven’s investment from the European Investment Bank. In a short time, Escreo gains popularity, doubles the sales, equips its own factory in Rousse, strengthens its positions on the Bulgarian market and starts its expansion to foreign markets.

Please tell us briefly about your investments in Sofia? What does your company do in Bulgaria and outside?

We are a technology company that produces innovative dry-erase paint that can transform any flat surface into a whiteboard of a new generation. Our product allows any wall or furniture in the office or home space to become a collaborative area for writing, drawing and sharing ideas. Although it’s based in Sofia, our business quickly sets its foot on foreign markets such as Romania, Germany and the Netherlands, with future development lying just around the corner.

What motivated you to invest in Sofia?

As a capital city Sofia has some advantages – good inner country connections, rich market, natural innovation leadership status and attracting foreign businesses when they decide to initiate a local development. Of course, we are surrounded by our families and friends and it helps a lot.

On the other side, Bulgaria offers great conditions for business development in terms of low taxes and access to talent in general.

Are there other local and foreign companies here doing business in your sector?

One of our competitors had a distributor who now is working with us. There is another player in the market who is more into retail. We strive to differentiate our product by offering

Please tell us briefly about your investments in Sofia? What does your company do in Bulgaria and outside?

“Birlibam” is a new, fresh and unique way to introduce yourself. It is the modern face of the old, well-known paper business card. Created in the form of an application, it is an innovative and easy-to-use solution that helps creating, exchanging and finding your contacts quickly and efficiently. The information in “Birlibam” is live and always up to date. “Birlibam” is trusted by more than 10,000 users and more than 50 corporate accounts from around the world.

Thanks to the daily feedback we receive from our users, we have greatly improved the application for creating, exchanging and managing contacts so that it is as convenient and effective as possible for everyone! “Birlibam” is now with completely new design and functionality! In addition, “Birlibam” now offers a live feature that allows the user to see all other users who have made their profile public. Even if you have not yet created your own digital business card with the app, you can still check who’s there at birlibam.live. Thus we can quickly and conveniently add specific contacts in our database.

What motivated you to invest in Sofia?

The idea was born in the course of my everyday business life. My education gave me the foundation to become one of the youngest Chartered Certified Accountants – Registered Auditors in Bulgaria. At the same time, I am also a registered farmer. “Birlibam” is a solution to problems that we all try to solve in some way – you don’t need to think about running out of business cards anymore. You can forget about the business cards you need right now, but you’ve forgotten somewhere or the annoying spelling of an email over the phone. The application is free and can be downloaded from the Apple store and the Google store. “Birlibam” is also available at the ocean.birlibam.com web portal. To have your eternal business card, you only need to concentrate on your contact information, which can be shared unlimited times in five different and innovative ways, even offline. And when something in your information details changes, you only need to edit it and so you will notify all your contacts.

What are the advantages for developing a start-up idea or a team in Sofia?

Sofia is a city that is developing really fast and is

Nikolay Mutafov is co-founder and CEO of Accedia – a successful Bulgarian company and one of the fastest growing in the technology sector. Five years after the establishment of the company in Sofia, Nikolay still believes that “…if put into the right business field, your investments could turn to be more cost effective than those made in other regions.”

Please tell us briefly about your investments in Sofia? What does your company do in Bulgaria and outside?

My biggest investments within the borders of Sofia and beyond are all the resources that my business partners and I have put into founding and developing Accedia. It all started in 2012 when 4 software developers decided to come together and set the beginning of a successful collaboration. Today, 5 years later, Accedia is a well-established Bulgarian company specializing in IT consulting, software development outsourcing and complex end-to-end solutions. We develop software innovations for both SMEs and large enterprises and we are driven by being a leading IT solutions company where technology experts are inspired to create.

What motivated you to invest in Sofia?

I was lucky to be born and raised in the capital of Bulgaria – the city offering the biggest opportunities for both self and business development in the country.  So, I never really thought about investing somewhere else or fleeing the country. I had always had the ambition to set up my own business locally and it was my dream of running an IT company that motivated me to pursue that goal. I must admit, though, that I couldn’t do it alone and finding the people who shared my dream and interest prompted me to make that first step.

What are the advantages of investing in Sofia?

What’s best about investing in Sofia, I believe, are its employees –  qualified, friendly and open-minded people who are hardworking and dedicated to their jobs. Despite the great competition in the IT sector, the IT academies and educational institutions in Sofia create some of the best software developers and there is a profusion of talent. It’s no coincidence that Bulgaria goes up in global innovation and ICT rankings each year and that well-known companies like VMWare, IBM, HP, etc. operate great part of their business in Sofia. Moreover, the social life in the city enables you to make connections effortlessly which has a major impact on building long-lasting partnerships. Other things