New Service by Invest Sofia to Support Entrepreneurs and Investors in the City
“Green Card for Administrative Services” is the new service that Sofia Municipal Privatization and Investment Agency (Invest Sofia) will provide to investors in Sofia. The Green Card aims to provide assistance for tailored administrative services on the territory of Sofia Municipality both to noncertified but eligible investors and already certified under the Promotion Investment Act investors. Special emphasis is also placed on innovative startups, for which the legislation does not provide general incentive measures. By issuing a Green Card for startup companies Invest Sofia positions startups next to strategic investors in Sofia.
The first four Green Cards were presented by the Mayor of Sofia Yordanka Fandakova and Georgi Georgiev, Chairman of the Sofia Municipal Council. The total investment of the companies amounts to BGN 65 million.
“In these challenging years of the pandemic and many crises, Sofia continues to be a competitive investment destination and this is due to the entrepreneurial spirit of both strategic companies and startups. It is the startup innovative companies that create the ecosystems in our city, give young people reason to live and work in our city and it is very important for us to support them,” Ms. Fandakova said while presenting the “Green Card” certificates to Sofia Med AD and the startup Elka.bg.
“We highly appreciate the outstretched hand of the administration, it is important for every business to have predictable environment and support,” Sofia Med CFO Sergey Vlaykov said. The company is a manufacturer of a wide range of rolled and extruded products of copper and copper alloys with great application in a number of industries and in construction. A new investment project for 20 million euros is forthcoming for Sofia Med. Expanding the production in the field of green solutions is part of the planned investment activities.
Elka.bg is a web-based platform that compares electricity prices and allows customers to choose the best supplier and save money. According to one of the founders of the startup Kremena Stoyanova, the support at the early stage of a company’s development is of crucial importance for further growth.
“Legal certainty and predictability is what investors need most. This is what the “Green Card” stands for, Chairman of the Sofia Municipal Council Georgi Georgiev said at the certificate presentation to Key Bio Industry Bulgaria Ltd., which will build the high-tech industrial park “Hemus” in “Kremikovtzi” and to the startup company Dexicon Ltd., which offer a fully integrated digitalization solutions to help small and medium-sized businesses.
“Our team believes that this is the right way and with the help of the local government, Sofia Municipality and Invest Sofia we can make our city an attractive place for startups and an attractive place to live,” Meglena Tusheva from Kay Bio Industry Bulgaria said.
Tsvyatko Sabev from Dexicon announced that the startup’s plans are to attract another 2 million euros in capital within a year. “Dexicon is a young company, the ecosystem is currently developing quite well, we received an initial investment of 200,000 euros and we plan to attract another 2 million euros of capital within a year,” Sabev said.
“The pandemic has led to a slowdown in the country’s economy, but business in Sofia continues to invest and we are registering even slight economic growth,” Nikolay Stoynev, Chairman of the Sofia Municipal Privatization and Investment Agency Supervisory Board said. Executive Director Dr. Maria Hristova reminded that since its establishment the Agency has been working to support the business in the city, both with industry specific information and tailored administrative services and assistance in resolving specific needs.
