Sofia, 03 November 2020 - Today was given the official start of the program for the promotion of the growth and development of startups and small & medium-sized companies - beamuplab.
It is an initiative of Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE) under the auspices of the Ministry of Finance (MOF) implemented in partnership with the Fund of Funds (FOF), the Bulgarian Development Bank (BDB), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the Bulgarian Association of Licensed Investment Intermediaries (BALII) and the Bulgarian Startup Association (BESCO).
The goal of the program is to distinguish promising and innovative Bulgarian companies with sustainable business models, to make them visible for potential investors as well as to strengthen their knowledge of the financing opportunities.
In the focus of the program are four strategic meetings, during which the companies will get acquainted with all financing opportunities so that they can finance flexibly and successfully their business ideas. During the meetings, the companies will exchange experience and best business practices, mentored by highly qualified experts of the partnering organisations and institutions and will interact professionally with them in an informal environment.
The first strategic meeting will take place on 26 November.
The program is for the duration of one year and 20 companies will go through it. These companies are selected according to a special methodology developed by Bulgarian Stock Exchange.

The first 20 companies included in the beamuplab were selected after an in-depth study of about 1,500 Bulgarian companies. Various public sources of information, as well as national and regional rankings, were used for their selection. Based on this study, a wide base of startups and SMEs was identified that meet the criteria of the beamuplab program and have the potential for growth and support for their further development.
- For SMEs, there is a variety of subsectors represented, with one participant selected from each subsector.
Based on the summarised financial data of the companies for the last three years the following conclusions can be made:
- For SMEs, the average value (calculated as an average median value) of sales revenues and total assets is about BGN 10 million; the average growth of sales revenues for the last three years is about 43%, and in five of the companies this growth is impressive, exceeding 80%. Eight of the ten companies are profitable in 2019, and half of the selected companies have venture capital funds.
- For startups, the median sales revenue is BGN 1.7 million and the average assets are about BGN 2.7 million. The average revenue growth for the last three years is 93%, with three companies having an increase of over 500% for this period. Eight of the selected ten companies are profitable for 2019, with an average profit of BGN 160,000, i.e. companies that have passed the break-even stage. In addition, 60% of the companies have received at least one round of funding from venture capital funds, and some received several rounds.
The beamuplab program was presented by Assoc. Prof. Manyu Moravenov - Executive Director of BSE, Hristina Pendicheva - State Expert at the MOF, Alexander Georgiev - Executive Director of FOF, Radoslava Maslarska - Chairman of BALII and Nedyalko Dervenkov - Executive Director of BESCO.

You can see the whole event at YouTube