The winners are Sofia Electric Brewing, Appolica, C4 Nexus and Swipe.bg
14 December 2022
Sofia Electric Brewing is the big winner of Demo Day – the final event of Endeavor’s growth program – Dare to Scale, which took place on 13 December 2022. Simeon Parvanov, the company’s founder, was awarded by the jury, who evaluated the participants’ performance on three criteria – what the company’s global growth potential is, how clearly defined the company’s strategic goals are, and how strong are the founder’s presentation skills are. The jury members include business leaders from various fields and industries: Asen Yagodin (Postbank), Kalin Radev (Software Group), Boyko Takov (BSMEPA), Miroslav Stoyanov (EBRD), Alexandra Mircheva (VM Finance Group).
Based on their overall performance in the program, the awarded companies include also:
- Appolica with the Straight-A Participant Award – for being the most active company at the workshops, events and sessions.
- C4 Nexus with Dare to Scale Ambassador – for the company that most actively reflects its participation in the program, shares its progress across channels and inspires the next cohort of entrepreneurs.
- bg with Collaboration Champion – for a company that successfully used the opportunities of the program to scale its business
Dare to Scale is a four-month growth program of the international entrepreneurial network Endeavor, which supports advanced-stage startups. It took place for the fourth consecutive year and ran from September to December, with 20 entrepreneurs from 11 companies selected for this year’s cohort. They went through six workshops and individual mentoring sessions led by successful business leaders from the Endeavor network and consultants from PwC. The trainings covered topics where companies most often face challenges – organizational management, marketing, sales, business planning and capital raising. Admissions for the fifth edition of Dare to Scale are expected to open in the spring of 2023.
The program is implemented with the main partner Postbank and is supported by Software Group and the Bulgarian Small and Medium Enterprises Promotion Agency (BSMEPA). This year, Endeavor partnered with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), with whose financial support the consultancy company PwC provided experts to assist the entrepreneurs. Partners and directors from PwC Bulgaria worked individually with all participants to help them with their experience and expertise in overcoming challenges and developing opportunities in their businesses. The program was also joined by an equity partner, Seedblink, which provided an additional opportunity for the participants to access funding. Partners of the Demo Day event are Enira Estate Winery, Sofia Electric Brewing, who are also a participant, and Trastena wines, whose founder – Olya Malinova – was a presenter at the event and was a finalist in a previous edition of the program.
Momchil Vassilev, CEO of Endeavor Bulgaria:
“The entrepreneurial ecosystem in the country is developing very successfully and we are seeing more and more companies ready to go international despite the pandemic in recent years. We are particularly pleased to see that their success is increasingly supported by the systematic work of the players in this ecosystem. We are fortunate that in this year’s cohort at Dare to Scale, we also had the opportunity to work with many inspiring companies with great growth potential from a variety of industries. As part of our commitment to actively support the development of the environment, as of this year we have also opened up the program to other key players such as BESCO and The Recursive. With the help of Endeavor mentors and PwC consultants, we have the opportunity to build on their knowledge and equip them to reach the heights they are capable of.”
Asen Yagodin, Executive Director and Member of the Board of Postbank:
“In four years, Dare to Scale has grown from an ambitious program into a sustainable platform that creates real added value for the entrepreneurial environment in our country. We at Postbank believe that investing in the ecosystem makes the Bulgarian economy more competitive and profitable. That is why we are putting a lot of effort and expectations into this project and it is very important for us to support good ideas, encourage and support young entrepreneurs in their quest to reach new scales. We are happy that the companies that took part in this year’s program demonstrated their great ambition and desire not only to develop their own businesses, but also to participate fully in the development of the environment. We believe this is the right strategy when it comes to creating new opportunities and building our common future.”
About Endeavor:
Endeavor is an international non-profit organization with offices in 43 markets, which helps entrepreneurs with big ideas and businesses to grow quickly internationally. Endeavor’s entrepreneurs have the potential to change their countries and the world – they can be the key to long-term economic growth, job creation and innovation. Endeavor provides the selected entrepreneurs with access to markets, capital and talent in its network of over 4,000 mentors and world-class investors. Endeavor launched in Bulgaria in July 2015 with the aim of expanding the organization’s presence in Europe. To date, the Bulgarian office has supported 100+ entrepreneurs from 50+ companies in three programs – Endeavor Global Program, Regional Support Program and Dare to Scale. These entrepreneurs have created over 2,300 jobs and generated revenues of BGN 350 million in the past year. www.endeavor.bg, www.endeavor.org.
