Odelo Farba, the subsidiary of Odelo Group in Bulgaria opened a development centre in Sofia. The company is a key supplier to Mercedes and the team in the capital will work on the design of the taillights of automobiles, which should go into production two years after the initial design phase.
The centre starts with 10 highly-qualified engineers and plans to increase their number to 20 by the end of the year, and to employ 40 people within three years. They will work in several disciplines, including engineering, optics, electronics, and testing, Odelo Farba said.
The development centre in Sofia is part of the 40 million-еuro investment in Bulgaria announced by odelo last year. The other project of the group is the construction of a production base near Plovdiv. The company received a Class A Investor Certificate from the Ministry of Economy for its investment in the country.
About the company
Odelo Bulgaria Ltd is part of the Turkish Bayraktarlar Holding. The company is a leading supplier of automotive lights and works with major car manufacturers such as Daimler, BMW, Audi, VW, Renault, Toyota and others. The holding also includes companies in the insurance, construction and tourism sectors.
The company has factories in Germany, Slovenia, Turkey and China, as well as development centres in Stuttgart (Germany) and Bursa (Turkey). The group employs nearly 4,000 professionals.
Germany-based Varengold Bank opened a branch in Sofia at the end of 2018, following its strategy to expand its business in the fast-growing economies in Southeast Europe (SEE). The branch in Sofia will serve as a hub from which Varengold will operate across the entire SEE region. The bank’s mission is to support and finance online marketplaces, predominantly Peer-to-Peer (P2P) lending platforms, that provide consumers and companies with faster, easier and more affordable loans and financial solutions than those offered by established banks. As such, Varengold Bank’s goal is to become the preferred partner of Fintechs in the area of Marketplace Banking. Additionally, it supports foreign trade-oriented companies in niche markets by providing transaction/commercial banking services.
The team of Varengold Bank’s Sofia Branch is comprised of experts in the field of banking and technology. Its General Manager, Sergey Panteleev, has 12-year’s experience in corporate and investment banking and structured finance.
Sergey Panteleev tells us what makes Sofia a place to establish a successful SEE regional center.
Varengold opened its office in Sofia nine months ago as part of the Bank’s expansion in Southeastern Europe. Why Sofia?
I could mention more than a dozen reasons, but let me give you three: Firstly, Sofia boasts a wide range of highly-educated professionals across almost every sector of the economy, but especially in the fields of IT, ICT, Tech and Finance. Secondly, as international rankings confirm, the city is among the most business-friendly in Europe thanks to an ecosystem that is entrepreneurial, startup-friendly, innovative, and generally strong in R&D. Last, but not least, Sofia is very competitive in terms of cost effectiveness. Also, let’s not forget the advantages that almost everyone takes for granted: The EU membership and the low currency risk. At Varengold Bank, we believe that with its strategic location, Sofia is the perfect starting point for our expansion in Southeast Europe (SEE). The city will serve as a hub for our operations across the whole region, which in our view will continue to outperform the average growth rate in the EU. We are happy that we are here and we are looking forward to accelerating the development of the region further with our projects.
In June, Varengold acquired 20% of the Sofia-based peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platform Klear. What do you expect from the investment and how do you see the Fintech sector in Sofia and the region?
Klear is
ARC Academy – the first multidisciplinary creative academy of its kind – opens in Sofia Tech Park this autumn. Students of the Academy will be able to study in four areas: game development, brand building, film production and space design.
ARC Academy has attracted business partners to teach the disciplines. The training process will involve companies that are leaders in their respective industries. They will give students the opportunity to participate in joint projects, in a real business environment and with latest material base, which the standard university environment lacks, thus slowing down employee development compared to the pace of development and business needs. In this way, the Academy will realise its concept of being a practical educational platform in which businesses find and train their future staff.
ARC Academy is supported by the Bulgarian Entrepreneurship Center (BEC) and Sofia Tech Park. For the Advertising and Brand Management specialty, the Academy is in partnership with the Varna University of Management (VUM) and students will be able to graduate with a Master’s degree.
The creators of the project are Anthony Christov and Milin Dzhaliev. Anthony Christov returned to Sofia after 30 years working in Hollywood in positions including Art Director at Pixar productions like Finding Nemo, Wall-E, Incredibles 2, and others. Milin Dzhalaliev is an expert in advertising and branding and has worked in various management positions, including 10 years as manager of Saatchi & Saatchi at Publicis Groupe Bulgaria.
The Academy’s plans include standard training formats and online courses. The first classes start in October and the call for applications is already open.
Imperia Online JSC is one of the biggest game developer and publisher companies in Southeastern Europe with 25 released games. The company’s flagship titles are medieval MMO strategy games, available on mobile, browsers, social networks and Steam. For almost a year, the company is part of Stillfront Group. The Sweden-based group of independent game creators has acquired the Bulgarian games studio for €10 million ($11.8 million), enabling it to expand its portfolio of online games.
Imperia Online – the game
The idea for the eponymous game – the real-time strategy Imperia Online – was born back in 2005, when Dobroslav Dimitrov – the designer of the gameplay – and Moni Dochev – freelance programmer (at the time) – crossed paths. Back then Dobroslav, in his role as the then owner of one of the largest chains of Internet cafes ‘Xaoc’, bought license for time tracking software, developed by Moni. Hopping from one business meeting to another, it became clear that they both are fans of Age of Empires. Soon after that the detailed survey and the extensive groundwork laid for the gameplay mechanics took shape in a prominent way – Dobroslav’s business plan. Moni and Dobroslav launch the project with the clear aim in mind to create the number one browser title of all MMO games on the market.
Today, Imperia Online has over 45 million users worldwide who appreciate the efforts to offer only superior products and reward Imperia Online JSC with loyalty, high ratings and flattering comments on all platforms. For almost a year, the company is part of Stillfront Group. Over 70 professionals work in the team in Sofia, almost half of them are women.
Best Achievements
- Imperia Online Ltd. was proclaimed ‘A Rising Star’ in Deloitte’s Fastest Growing IT companies ranking for 2014 with a growth of 498%.
- In 2015 Imperia Online Ltd. was awarded by Deloitte as the 14th fastest growing IT company in Central Europe, having 592% revenue growth from 2011 to 2014. Imperia Online Ltd. employee, Ilian Iliev, was awarded 2nd place as Employee of the Year, by Forbes Bulgaria Magazine.
- Imperia Online’s game Viber Emperors was nominated at the 13th International Mobile Game Awards.
- Viber Emperors won the prize in “Best Gaming App” Category at the Webit Awards 2017 held in Sofia, Bulgaria.
- Company’s CEO, Dobroslav Dimitrov was а finalist at the 10th edition of “Manager of the Year” contest for Bulgaria
356labs is a boutique presentation agency that helps their clients write, design and deliver truly effective presentations. They do that by either building those presentations for their customers or by training them how they can do all of the above three by themselves.
The company is just 4 years old but has already worked on some of the most critical presentations on the market – ones that closed multimillion-dollar deals, got startup investment from people like Bill Clinton and even the 2018 IPO of the Bulgarian company Gradus that raised more than 40 Million Euro.
They have trained companies like Uber, KPMG, Roche, Unicredit Bulbank, Kaufland, BIODERMA and many more in topics ranging from presentation skills and storytelling to slide design and data visualization and are the only presentation agency in the world to speak twice at the biggest yearly conference of Microsoft with more than 25 000 visitors – Ignite.
Boris Hristov, founder at 356labs, tells us what makes Sofia a place to launch and develop a successful business.
Please tell us briefly about your investments in Sofia? What does your company do in Bulgaria and outside?
The whole team of 356labs is based in Sofia. We are currently 6 people on the team and looking to grow to 10 in the next 6 – 8 months. The whole company is focused on one thing and one thing only – truly effective presentations. We do not do anything else – we do not do corporate identity projects, web design, social media, etc. None. Our expertise is in one field only and that is what differentiates us on the market. That being said, the services we provide both in Bulgaria and outside of it are related to it – we build presentations for our clients and we also train them how they can build and deliver them by themselves.
What motivated you to invest in Sofia?
Well, even though I personally have delivered presentations and trainings in more than 30 countries now, Sofia is our home city. And home is home. Now, from the business side – it’s way easier and cheaper to start a business here than, let’s say in Germany. What’s more, Bulgaria could also be a great market for new companies to verify their idea and products or at least that is the case for us.
Are there other local and foreign companies here doing
Klear is a unique combination of Peer-to-Peer lending platform and a whole range of financial educational tools. It provides users with the opportunity to lend money and generate a return on investment or to borrow quickly and easily at reasonable interest rates.
Klear was founded in Sofia in 2015 by Loic Le Pichoux, Lukasz Lukaszewski and Nikolay Stanev, Since then, Klear has been named The Best FinTech Startup in Bulgaria at the Central European Startup Awards for two consecutive years – in 2017 and 2018. Few months ago the p2p lending platform hit the milestone of 1000 credits given.
Loic Le Pichoux, Co-founder and Chief Engagement Officer tells us what makes Sofia a place to launch and develop a successful FinTech company.
Klear was founded 4 years ago by a team with solid experience in consumer finance. Why Sofia?
First, we were working together in Sofia for a leading consumer credit company in Bulgaria. So, it was logical to assemble a team with the best professionals and to start operating on the Bulgarian market, our domestic market indeed.
The second reason is that Sofia offers a very good option for startups who want to bootstrap. You have a good quality of life for a very reasonable cost of living.
The FinTech revolution is rapidly transforming the financial industry. What is the future of P2P lending?
Yes, traditional financial players are challenged by innovative FinTech companies on all their products: bank account, payments, investments and loans. P2P lending is a fantastic model. Everyone loves the idea. It takes however some time to reach a large audience, to convince people to switch. Trust is key. I believe that time will come when P2P lending will not only tickle existing banks but will take significant market share from them. Simply because it’s fair.
Judging from your business experience in the sector, how does the local FinTech startup ecosystem perform in the different FinTech domains?
I’ve witnessed a drastic change in the last 5 years. When we started working on Klear project, FinTech was not a very popular word (OK, now it’s the opposite and the hype is probably too much…) and I could count Sofia FinTech companies on the fingers of one hand. Today, I can’t know all of them as there are at least more than 50!
With a few other key players, we’ve created the Bulgarian FinTech Association. It’s
Nine months ago, the US IT company AtScale formed its own team in Sofia. AtScale is focused on big data management solutions that help companies convert big datasets into business intelligence and intelligent analytics tool. The company’s flexible platform combines access to data from different locations where they are stored, as well as offers visualization and management of datasets.
The team in Sofia is the first for the company outside the USA. Matthew Baird, Co-Founder and CTO at AtScale tells us what makes Sofia a place to further develop a successful business in Big Data.
Please tell us briefly about your investments in Sofia? What does your company do in Bulgaria and outside?
AtScale is expanding its team internationally and is planning to invest over $25M USD in Sofia, Bulgaria. AtScale’s software virtualizes data that allows Global 2000 enterprises to scale enterprise analytics.
What motivated you to invest in Sofia?
There were a couple of key reasons. Our Vice President of Worldwide Engineering and R&D, General Manager Europe, Momchil Michailov grew up in Sofia and has access to a highly skilled professional network in Bulgaria. Secondly, Bulgaria is known for computer software engineering top talent.
What are the advantages of investing in Sofia?
Loyal, smart and genuinely excited software engineers! We looked to Sofia as not an extension of our engineering team, but a completely viable software development unit that can spearhead new product initiatives from inception through to delivery and support. It takes a special kind of person and team to be able to keep innovating and pushing to deliver and we’ve found that the Bulgarian people are fighters! They have a strong pride in craftsmanship and a desire to win. The culture is actually similar in many respects to Silicon Valley.
What sort of challenges have you faced so far?
The challenges are expected and completely typical to expanding engineering teams in other continents and time zones. All can be easily overcome and the benefits far outweigh the challenges.
How do you estimate the overall business climate in Sofia today?
There is a growing realization within Bulgaria that global high tech industry leadership is within their grasp and a key to improving the lives of Bulgarian citizens. As such, Sofia is a very vibrant and friendly place to do business. As a result, AtScale could move quickly—from idea inception to an operating office took on the order
Тhe second edition of the Starfleet accelerator aims to provide $100К venture funding for each of the four selected projects: the event ticketing provider by Abend from Germany, the blockchain game Cryptic Legends (Malta/Serbia), the Croatian decentralized freelancing platform Cryptotask, and the Bulgarian satellite data marketplace Homeport.
æternity Ventures, the investment arm of the æternity Blockchain, has officially announced the funding in the 4 seed-stage startups from the second edition of the Starfleet accelerator program.
Each of the 4 teams will receive a funding of $100 000, the maximum amount offered, a certain sign for the excellent quality of the selected projects and the level of their experience. Every seed investment is connected to a set of milestones that are discussed and agreed with the teams. On top that each team will receive legal and marketing aid, as well as heads-on business development guidance through all stages of their growth.
“Since its foundation, the mission of æternity Ventures is to enrich the blockchain space constantly and ensure that the ideas worth hearing will be heard”, said Nikola Stojanow, CBO of æternity Blockchain and CEO of æternity Ventures. “It is exciting to follow the growth of these four high-quality projects with the potential to disrupt industries on a global scale! They would have a meaningful impact on the entire æternity ecosystem – the ultimate reward for me and the whole æternity Ventures team.”
The second edition of Starfleet accelerator started in March 2019 with 14 blockchain startups from all over the world, from which only 8 were invited to pitch on the final Demo day in April. In the end, 4 teams were selected for an investment offer. Тhe 4 startups receiving investment from æternity Ventures include event ticketing provider, satellite data marketplace, blockchain game, and decentralized freelancing platform.
Abend
Abend from Germany is a cashless, user-friendly, on-site payment platform whose prototype is already running on æternity blockchain.
The team behind the project engages to create “own little economy” for the music events segment internationally.
Cryptotask
The Croatian Cryptotask is urging the long-awaited freelancing revolution by creating a task-oriented, easy to use, decentralized freelancing task market with advanced dispute resolution system built in (something like Upwork but much better and on æternity blockchain).
Cryptic Legend
Cryptic Legends (Malta/Serbia) is blockchain-based hero management, battle simulation game set in an ancient fantasy world.
Aside from selling legends/heroes directly to the players, Cryptic
Kaufland Service IT HUB announced the opening of its second IT office in Sofia. The company expands its team to 110 employees who will develop software products and technologies for customers of more than 11 500 markets and over 400 000 employees of the Schwarz Group around the world.
Kaufland Service IT HUB started its activity in Sofia in 2017 after evaluating the IT sector and business environment of several European locations. The centre had opened with nine software specialists, but just a year later expanded to a team of 55 people, delivering IT solutions in the areas of SAP Basis, Java, SharePoint, BI, CA. With its second office, the engineering team has grown to 110 people and the company plans to double its workforce by the end of 2020.
According to Michail Petrov, CEO of Kaufland Service IT HUB Bulgaria, Sofia maintains the business of a global player with a turnover of 100 billion euro for 2018 offering innovative value added IT products and solutions to facilitate the development of the Schwarz Group’s overall activity – the retail.
Schwarz Group is the world’s fourth-biggest revenue retailer, with Kaufland, Lidl, and Handelshof retail chains.
With an investment of BGN 1.2 million, the Singapore-based Acronis expands the operations of its European research and development centre in Sofia. The Bulgarian office will also open 130 new positions for engineers.
The centre in the Bulgarian capital opened in August 2018 and has been working in areas such as Cybersecurity, AI and Blockchain projects. The expansion of the R&D centre is related to the development of a new product – Acronis Total Protection (ATP) for proactive defensive technologies, controlled by an AI.
For the investment, Acronis Bulgaria received an A-class investment certificate from Emil Karanikolov, Minister of Economy. As a result, the company may take advantage of the privileges and relieves, envisaged in the Investment Promotion Act (IPA).
Acronis entered the Bulgarian market with the acquisition of the Sofia-based T-Soft and started its business with a team of 30 people. Almost a year later, 120 people work for the team of the company in Sofia. The international leader in cybersecurity and hybrid cloud solutions has more than 1000 workers around the world and provides its solutions in more than 150 countries. The products of the company are adapted in 20 languages and provide security for more than 500 000 companies and 5 million customers.
Financial Times (FT) moved to Sofia one more of its key teams in the field of development of technologies and products. The new department FT Specialist will develop in Sofia digital products for well-known brands of FT as Investor Chronicle, fDi Intelligence and The Banker. By the end of the year, there will be 30 new positions for software engineers, product managers, business analyzers and designers opened.
The team will be accommodated in the office of FT in the Bulgarian capital that officially opened at the beginning of 2019 with the department FT Core. FT Core supports the platforms and systems of FT.com. Among them are the subscription software, data domains, content publishing and distribution, etc.
The Financial Times is one of the world’s leading business news and information organisations with more than 900 thousand subscribers across print and digital products. It provides a broad range of services, including news, comments, data, and analyses.
Sofia was selected due to its location and fast access to Financial Times’s head office in London, as well as for its technology talent pool.
Sofia has been chosen as one of eight sites across the EU that will host the first European supercomputers. The new high-performing computing machine will be located at Sofia Tech Park.
The project is the largest EU investment in Bulgaria related to scientific infrastructure. It would cost 18 million euro, 12 million euro of which will be paid by Bulgaria and the European Commission will pay six million euro.
The supercomputer in Sofia will be capable of executing at least 4 million billion operations per second. The other 7 supercomputing machines will be located in Ostrava (Czechia), Kajaani (Finland), Bologna (Italy), Bissen (Luxembourg), Minho (Portugal), Maribor (Slovenia), and Barcelona (Spain).
The EU project is part of a pioneering continent-wide plan to compete with the USA, China, and Japan as major international players in supercomputing. The deployment of world-class supercomputing and data infrastructure should be completed by the end of 2020.
The eight sites that will host the world-class supercomputers will support Europe’s researchers, industry and businesses in developing new applications in a wide range of areas, such as designing medicines, fighting climate change, testing and simulations in the aviation and automotive industries, data analytics, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and blockchain.