14.09.2020

A Fund of Funds established a fourth alternative investment fund

Fund of Funds (FF) and the financial intermediary Vitosha Venture Partners registered a joint fund for acceleration and initial financing - Vitosha Venture Partners - Fund I KD. The new company was established for a period of 10 years and has a capital of BGN 38 million.

Of these, BGN 35.6 million are public resources provided by the Fund of Funds. These funds are provided by the Operational Program "Innovation and Competitiveness" 2014-2020, co-financed by the EU Regional Development Fund. The remaining BGN 2.4 million are private financing.

By the end of 2023, Vitosha Venture Partners - Fund I will invest in 116 start-up companies at an early stage of their development. Small and medium-sized enterprises at the acceleration stage can count on financing between BGN 30,000 and 100,000. The more advanced in the development of their product or the creation of a prototype will receive between BGN 30,000 and 2 million.

The fund will work for the development of the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Bulgaria, supporting projects with a technological focus and high potential for sustainable growth. It will provide businesses with access to start-up financing, business consulting, mentoring, operational and strategic support. About half of the supported companies will participate in an accelerator program organized by the fund manager Vitosha Venture Partners.

The fund is already accepting applications for funding on its website.

Vitosha Venture Partners - Fund I is an alternative investment fund - a collective investment company that raises capital from many sources. The fund will be managed by the financial intermediary Vitosha Venture Partners, selected through a public procurement. The operational agreement between it and the Fund of Funds was signed on June 5, 2020.

In accordance with the investment strategy to the financial agreement between the Fund of Funds and the Managing Authority of OPIC 2014-2020, five instruments for unit and quasi-unit investments are implemented through alternative investment funds. Together with the new fund, four such funds are already active. The fifth is in the process of being awarded.

The total public resource set aside for this purpose is BGN 294 million. The funds also add private funds to it.

Financial intermediaries Vitosha Venture Partners and Innovation Capital manage BGN 38 million and BGN 30.5 million, respectively, for investments in early-stage companies, while New Vision 3 and Morningside Hill have BGN 42.5 million, respectively. BGN and BGN 55.9 million risk capital.