Startups in the field of logistics, ecology and animal care are winners of the national competition "Best Youth Startup in Bulgaria 2024"

The final of the national competition "Best Youth Startup in Bulgaria 2024" was held on May 31 in the Auditorium of the Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski". This is the third edition of the competition, organized by the Fund of Funds and the Faculty of Economics of SU, in which nearly 300 participants took part as teams or individual competitors. All of them were given the opportunity to go through a 10-week training program, in which they could develop their ideas under the mentorship of experts from 40 organizations participating in the competition from the investment and startup ecosystem in our country.

The event was opened by Krasimir Yakimov, Deputy Minister of Innovation and Growth, Associate Professor Dr. Atanas Georgiev, Dean of the Faculty of Economics of SU 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 realize your potential," Yakimov addressed the young participants in the competition. He also emphasized that FnF is already actively working on the structuring of an equity fund for innovation in enterprises, within which 32 million euros will also be for companies in an early stage of development.

"This year, the competition unites more than 40 partners and more than 300 young people participated in it, which made it the most significant such initiative 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 in order to support innovative solutions for a number of societal challenges," said the Dean of the Faculty of Economics Assoc. Dr. Atanas Georgiev and wished the young participants to one day be able to support other educational initiatives as well. "I hope that among today's young entrepreneurs are the future followers of our donors Evlogi and Hristo Georgievi."

"It's been 10 weeks in which you went through an intensive training and mentoring program to gain practical knowledge in the field of entrepreneurship. Competing with almost 160 teams from all over the country, in several 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 hall that under the "Education" Program 2021-2027, support is provided for startups of students and doctoral students with the aim of a focused transition from higher education to employment. He thanked all the partners in the competition for the trainings they conducted and the support to the participants in the competition. "Without your help, the contest would not have been so successful for the third year already. I also express special gratitude to the Faculty of Economics at SU for the exceptional partnership we have in holding the competition", added Pavel Lisev.

The first three places in the competition went to:

First place: BuddyGuard - a platform that connects trusted animal sitters 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 Audience Award.

Second place: Truckspedia - a platform for automating and optimizing logistics processes in Europe. The startup uses AI algorithms to connect free loads with free trucks.

Third place: ReGrounded - an innovative, sustainable material that is obtained from the combination of coffee waste, waste wood material and other organic products. The material is safe for contact with food, bio-based, extremely strong, durable, sustainable, biodegradable, compostable and can be recycled many times without losing its physical properties.

The award for "Best ESG" startup was won by the GreenFilters team, who are students in the 11th grade at the CHE "prof. Ivan Apostolov" in Sofia. The project envisages the recycling of cigarette butts, which are a significant source of pollution due to the plastic in their filters, to activated carbon for purifying water, air, etc.

Fund of Funds awarded the winner - BuddyGuard with a laptop, and Sofia University awarded the GreenFilters team with books.

This year, the jury included representatives of the Faculty of Economics of SU, Innovation Capital, Vitosha Venture Partners, Morningside Hill, Silverline Capital, Planet 9 Ventures, UBB, Sys Credit, the Bulgarian Stock Exchange, Sofia Tech Park, Founder Institute, BTPP (Investment Council and Innovation Council), Cliytech Bulgaria, Beyond, Bulgarian e-commerce association, "Mechatronics and Automation" Cluster, Because Foundation and Ivan Yosifov - mentor in the competition. The chairman of the jury was Assoc. Prof. Todor Yalemov from the Faculty of Economics.

The young people were inspired by the finalists from the previous two editions of the "Best Youth Startup" competition, which are already developing successfully with attracted investments and mentoring support from the competition's partners. The founders of Vodoraslo, Twisted Technology, Mentor the Young, Foodobox, Young Inventor and AGRON shared their success.

In addition to the record number of applied projects, this year's competition also managed to attract twice as many supporting organizations. More than 40 partners from the entrepreneurial ecosystem and their experts were mentors in dozens of webinars, workshops, trainings, gaming, tests and competitions, organized according to the individual needs of the participants and the stage of realization of their projects.

The third edition of "Best Youth Startup in Bulgaria" once again provided a platform with national coverage for the development of entrepreneurial skills among young people and provided the stage to students and young people up to 29 years of age, giving them the opportunity to show their vision of what new technologies, key sectors and latest scientific discoveries will play an essential role in the modern world and would attract the attention of investors.