The final pitch of the national competition "Best Youth Startup in Bulgaria 2024" was held on 31 May in the Aula of the Sofia University. This is the third edition of the competition, organized by the Fund of Funds and the Faculty of Economics of Sofia University, which was attended bygathered nearly 300 participants as teams or individual competitors. All of them were given the opportunity to go through a 10-week training program to develop their ideas under the mentorship of experts from 40 partner organizations from the investment and startup ecosystem in the country.
The event was opened by Krassimir Yakimov, Deputy Minister of Innovation and Growth, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Atanas Georgiev, Dean of the Faculty of Economics of Sofia University and Pavel Lisev, Executive Director of the Fund of Funds.
"The Ministry is committed to creating conditions for the development of young talents, to provide the necessary support and resources so that each of you can fulfill his or her potential," Yakimov addressed the young participants in the competition. He also stressed that FMFIB is already actively working on structuring a private equity fund for innovation in enterprises, within which 32 million euros will also target companies in the early stage of development."
"The competition brought together more than 40 partners this year and involved more than 300 young people, making it the most significant initiative of its kind in the country. We are happy that for the third time, we are bringing together young entrepreneurs, mentors from academia and business, as well as representatives of funding institutions to support innovative solutions to a number of societal challenges," said the Dean of the Faculty of Economics, Assoc. Prof. Atanas Georgiev, and wished the young participants would one day be able to support other academic initiatives. "I belive that among today's young entrepreneurs are also the future followers of our donors Evlogy and Hristo Georgiev."
"You have gone through an intensive training and mentoring programme for 10 weeks to gain practical knowledge in entrepreneurship. Competing against almost 160 teams from across the country, in multiple stages, until you successfully reach the final makes you all winners." With these words, Pavel Lisev addressed the students and shared with the young people in the Aula that the Education 2021-2027 Programme will provide support for student and PhD student start-ups to make a focused transition from higher education to employment. He thanked all the partners in the competition for the training they provided and the support to the participants. "Without your help, the competition would not have been so successful in its third year. I would also like to express my special gratitude to the Faculty of Economics at SU for the outstanding partnership we have in running the competition," added Pavel Lisev.
The first three places in the competition went to:
First place: BuddyGuard - a platform that connects trusted animal caretakers with pet owners. The platform makes a quick connection between the parties, on a clear schedule and with timely and secure payments for the service. The platform also received the People's Choice Award.
Second place: Truckspedia - a platform for automating and optimizing European logistics processes. The startup uses AI algorithms to match available loads with available trucks.
Third place: ReGrounded - an innovative, sustainable material that is derived from the combination of coffee waste, waste wood and other bio-based products. The material is safe for food contact, bio-based, extremely strong, durable, resilient, biodegradable, compostable and can be recycled repeatedly without losing its physical properties.
The "Best ESG" Startup award went to GreenFilters, who are 11th-grade students of the school "Ivan Apostolov" in Sofia. The project involves recycling cigarette butts, which are a significant source of pollution due to the plastic in their filters, to activated carbon for water, air purification, etc.
Fund of Funds awarded the winner, BuddyGuard, with a laptop and Sofia University awarded GreenFilters team with books.
Here are the other awards:
BuddyGuard - Laptop from the Fund of Funds
GreenFilters - diploma and books from Sofia University
Brick3D - mentorship and further development of the business idea at pitch deck level from Innovation Capital
Jobbing - mentorship and consideration for investment by Vitosha Venture Partners
BuddyGuard, Truckspedia and ReGrounded - cash prize of 500 BGN from MorningsideHill
Brick3D - mentoring meeting with Silverline Capital
Vita-In - mentoring meeting with SIS Credit
Enthela - 1000 BGN from Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BeamUp)
Enthela - Diploma for the startup with the greatest export potential from the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) - Investment Council
Truckspedia - Free access to the next cohort of the Founder Institute Eastern Europe accelerator
Vita-In - voucher for 1 startup to participate in the Beyond pre-accelerator
BuddyGuard - 6 months and 2 jobs in the co-working of Sofia Tech Park
BuddyGuard - 3 mentoring meetings from BCause Foundation
GreenFilters - "Rising Star" award and one-year membership in the Council for Innovation, Digitalization and New Technologies at BCCI
BuddyGuard and ReGrounded - one-year membership in the Council for Innovation, Digitalization and New Technologies at BCCI
Vita-In and Enthela - opportunity to present at the Spinoff Conference 2024 by the AI Cluster Bulgaria and the Biotech and Life Sciences Cluster
Truckspedia and Hive Constructor - a package of customized services for seeking international partnerships and entering new markets from the Mechatronics and Automation Cluster
Vita-In, Enthela and ReGrounded - mentoring sessions from Planet 9 Ventures
Enthela - Innovation Champion (Media Covarage) Award from Recursive
Truckspedia - Invitation to the IBM Sofia Accelerator Final Ceremony - Demo Day in June, visit to IBM Sofia Lab and mentoring by IBM experts - from IBM Sofia Accelerator
Incentive awards for all finalists were presented by the partners from UBB, BCCI - Investment Council, and CleanTech Bulgaria. Bulgarian E-Commerce Association also gave a prize for all finalists - tickets to the international conference SERP Conf. 2025 in Sofia and a podcast about the teams and their projects.
This year the jury included representatives of the Faculty of Economics of Sofia University, Innovation Capital, Vitosha Venture Partners, Morningside Hill, Silverline Capital, Planet 9 Ventures, UBB, SIS Credit, Bulgarian Stock Exchange, Sofia Tech Park, Founder Institute, BCCI (Investment Council and Innovation Council), Cleantech Bulgaria, Beyond, Bulgarian E-Commerce Association, Mechatronics and Automation Cluster, Because Foundation and Ivan Yosifov - mentor in the competition. Chairman of the jury was Assoc - Todor Yalamov from the Faculty of Economics.
Inspiration was given by the finalists of the previous two editions of the competition, who are already successfully developing their projects with investments and mentoring support from the partners of the competition. The founders of Vodoraslo, Twisted Technology, Mentor the Young, Foodobox, Young Inventor and AGRON shared their success.
In addition to the record number of projects that applied, the competition we managed to attract twice as many supporting organisations this year. More than 40 partners from the entrepreneurial ecosystem and their experts mentored the dozens of webinars, workshops, trainings, gaming, quizzes and competitions organized for the individual needs of the participants and the stage of their projects.
The third edition of "Best Youth Startup in Bulgaria" once again provided to be a platform with national coverage that develops entrepreneurial skills in young people and provides the stage for students and young people, allowing them to showcase their vision of which new technologies, key sectors and latest scientific discoveries would play a significant role in the modern world and would attract the attention of investors.
