Twenty-Four Applications Received for the First Announced Procedure for Equity Instrument of the Fund of Funds for 2021-2027

A record number of twenty-four applications have been received for the management of 100 million euros in support of Bulgarian startups under the "Entrepreneurship Fund" – the first announced procedure for an equity instrument of the Fund of Funds for the programming period 2021-2027. This became evident today after the evaluation committee opened the submitted applications in the public procurement procedure with the subject "Implementation of the financial instrument Entrepreneurship Fund, financed with funds from the 'Competitiveness and Innovation in Enterprises' Programme 2021-2027".

The public procurement procedure is divided into 3 separate lots as follows: lot I "Implementation of an Early Stage Entrepreneurship Fund with a public financial resource of 30 million euros";  lot II "Implementation of a Venture Capital Entrepreneurship Fund with a public financial resource of 30 million euros";  lot III "Implementation of a Growth Entrepreneurship Fund with a public financial resource of 40 million euros".

Below is a list of the candidates who submitted applications within the deadline:

For lot I "Implementation of an Early Stage Entrepreneurship Fund with a public financial resource of 30 million euros":

1. Flow Mindset Capital KDA Consortium

1. "Innovation - Accelerate" Consortium
2. "Planet 9 Ventures" Consortium
3. "Vitosha Venture Partners II" Consortium

For lot II  "Implementation of a Venture Capital Entrepreneurship Fund with a public financial resource of 30 million euros":

1. Flow Mindset Capital KDA Consortium

1. Morningside Hill II Consortium
2. Bayena Ventures
3. "New Vision 5" Consortium
4. "IC 2" Consortium
5. "Planet 9 Ventures" Consortium
6. NeoOpulence Consortium
7. "Vitosha Venture Partners II" Consortium
8. Plamen Simeonov Rusev
9. Capital Point Bulgaria Consortium

For lot III "Implementation of a Growth Entrepreneurship Fund with a public financial resource of 40 million euros":

1. Morningside Hill II Consortium

1. Bayena Ventures
2. "New Vision 5" Consortium
3. "Planet 9 Ventures" Consortium
4. "IC 23" Consortium
5. Neo Opulence II Consortium
6. "Vitosha Venture Partners II" Consortium
7. "Krest Capital" Consortium
8. Plamen Simeonov Rusev
9. Capital Point Bulgaria Consortium

The "Entrepreneurship Fund" is structured as three investment funds – "Early Stage," "Venture Capital" and "Growth," through which equity and quasi-equity investments will be provided for enterprises at all stages of development -covering from idea and concept level to mature and established business models. The provided public resource amounts to a total of 100 million euros, and it is expected that through additional co-financing from private investors, the total amount will be nearly 126 million euros. The goal is that these resources will be on the market in the beginning of 2025, thus ensuring an investment period of 5 years. The instrument will be a strong catalyst for the Bulgarian startup and innovation ecosystem, ensuring continuity with the already existing fund managers from the previous programming period under the Operational Program for Innovation and Competitiveness 2014-2020. The focus of the new instrument will be to support the creation of new startup businesses as well as the subsequent development of the already supported underlying portfolio companies.

After the opening of the applications, the candidates will be checked for compliance with the established selection criteria. Candidates admitted to the next stage of the selection process will receive an invitation to submit initial offers. The award criteria are based on an impartial and comprehensive evaluation of the candidates`offers, comprised of three main components: previous experience with investments and exits, management plan, and financial offer.

More information is available on the FMFIB profile at the CAIS EOP electronic address at the following link: https://app.eop.bg/today/343719.