Bulgarian venture capital fund Eleven has launched the new Eleven 2.0 fund worth 6 million euros to support local heroes, the fund reported yesterday. The fund is totally private and supported by technological entrepreneurs, managers of large companies from Bulgaria and the USA, as well as from successful entrepreneurs coming from traditional industry. The names of the investors, for now, are undisclosed.
According to their press release, in the next 3 years, they will support 20 companies in a pre-seed phase with an injection from 100.000 EUR. In exchange, as economic.bg reported, they will take 10-12 % of the stakes in the company. Depending on their development and need, the fund potentially could invest up to 200.000 EUR.
“We are looking for brave entrepreneurs who are addressing significant challenges through technology. We want to see teams that have made initial progress and have already made efforts on the idea they believe in, “says Ivaylo Simov, a partner at Eleven, economic.bg reports.
Reportedly, their focus will be on startups that use technology to implement improvements across industries, especially for b2b products and services.
The idea behind Eleven 2.0 comes after five years experience and expedition on the startup scene in the region and following several investment rounds of total worth 12 million EUR. With the lessons learned along the way they are now ready to support the local heroes to achieve global success and who, according to them, will shape the future.
“The model we applied in the first fund – working with group companies is no longer adequate for the environment – entrepreneurs have different needs at different times, so in the second Eleven we will build an individual development plan for each startup, “says Daniel Tomov, a partner at Eleven, capital.bg reports.
While the mentorship and partnership will be again included in the new program, what changes now is that young companies will now develop under one roof. This will provide them with access to additional services such as marketing, sales, legal and strategic assistance. Another difference is the time-frame at which the companies can spend developing themselves under the wing of the fund. According to Vassil Terziev, one of the partners at the fund, as capital.bg reports, the time will not be limited and they can stay within the fund until they find their next investor.
Founded in 2012 with the portfolio provided by the European Investment Fund under the Joint European Resources for Micro to Medium Enterprises (JEREMIE) initiative, Eleven has invested in more than 150 companies to date. According to their official data, Eleven is among the top 5 most active early stage investors in Europe. For those who never heard of Eleven before, it is a pre-seed and seed VC based in Sofia, Bulgaria with a focus on entrepreneurs from South Eastern Europe.
Should you be interested to become part of the Eleven 2.0 family, please take a look at the following link: https://www.11.me/how-to-get-funding/. The project is open for all interested startups from Bulgaria and the region.
