Despite the challenges of the global pandemic, 2020 opened many new opportunities for the companies and professionals within our coworking community who kept making a major impact in their fields.
And the start of 2021 was no different. From major financing rounds to big acquisitions and lightning-fast revenue growths, there’re plenty of inspiring achievements that happened in just a few months. Let’s dive right in.
1. Gtmhub raises $30M Series B after growing 3x in 2020
The success of Gtmhub comes after the company grew three times in 2020. In 2019, they raised a $9 million Series A and achieved over 400% year-over-year growth. Commenting on their latest success, the company’s Co-Founder and CTO, shared for Trending Topics SEE:
“The year ahead will be challenging but also very exciting for us. We’re grateful for the opportunity to continue improving and scaling our product as we’re dreaming bigger than ever before.
The office in Sofia, Bulgaria remains key to Gtmhub’s success. We will keep growing the Bulgarian team – our plan is to triple the R&D headcount in the next 12 months and add new team members across all other areas of the business. Needless to say, we’re looking for the right talent to join us and help us achieve our ambitious goals.” shared Radoslav Georgiev, Co-Founder and CTO at Gtmhub.
Take a look at our flexible and ready-to-move-in private office spaces and reap off the benefits of Campus X's end-to-end solutions.
2. Econic One receives a new €700k investment
January kept bringing us good news. Econic One, formerly known as Eljoy, announced a new €700k investment from Vitosha Venture Partners. The new funding is part of a €1.6m round led by Vitosha Venture Partners and including the participation of three other VCs, incl. Campus X-based Eleven Ventures. The financing is allocated for building and expanding the startup’s brand credibility across Western European markets.
“The investment from Vitosha Ventures comes at a decisive moment for Econic One. As the world is getting more connected than ever – at Econic One we will focus on R&D to deliver the functionalities that empower the urban souls and nature explorers to take the most Econic rides,” comments the founder and CEO of Econic One, Galin Bonev.
3. Eleven expands the Visa Innovation Program in Southeast Europe
The third season of the Visa Innovation Program has welcomed fintech companies from all across Southeast Europe.
Our members Eleven Ventures have joined powers with the innovation hub Crowdpolicy in Greece and the startup accelerator Hackquarters in Turkey to power innovations in the region. Eleven coordinates the regional collaboration to provide participating startups with wider access to opportunities and a bigger market.
“We are expanding the Visa Innovation Program in Southeast Europe. This step forward will massively increase the value which fintechs receive through the Program. There will be more opportunities for cross-border collaboration with financial institutions allowing for deeper proof of concept activities. The network is further expanding additionally allowing for direct market access,"comments Nikola Yanev, Marketing Manager at Eleven Ventures.
Visa Innovation is designed to help fintech startups scale, supercharge their value proposition and engage with some of the leading financial institutions in the three countries.The program is starting on May 20.
4. Dronomics launches the first drone-based cargo airline
Our member company Dronamics, a pioneer in the large cargo UAV development and operations, has recently announced the official launch of the Dronamics Airline with companies in market-leading countries - Ireland, Canada, Australia, and Germany.
In these regions, which are seen as leaders in drone regulations, Dronamics will have its first customer cases that will be serviced in e-commerce, pharma, and spare parts logistics. Dronamics’ flagship unmanned drone the Black Swan can carry 350 kg of cargo up to 2,500 km at an 80% lower cost than other aircrafts.
Meanwhile, the company announced the appointment of an experienced Chief Operating Officer (COO) – Sérgio Oliviera e Silva, who brings over 25 years of experience in executive-level positions with some of the industry’s largest companies. Silva will oversee the set-up and operations of the airline business and the deployment of the drone port network.
“This is an important milestone for us, and we are thrilled by the talent we are attracting to our organization that is embracing our vision to democratize airfreight. We will continue enhancing our experienced management team who will provide additional expertise to deliver our first commercial flight in a near future,” says Svilen Rangelov, Co-Founder and CEO at Dronamics.
5. FITE gets acquired in one of the biggest exits for the local ecosystem
Another major milestone, announced in April this year. FITE’s sports streaming platform has been acquired by TrillerNet, the parent company of the American social video app Triller. This is a well-deserved success for FITE after they streamed 5000 events, acquired 10 million users and became the top-grossing app in the world across all categories just a few months ago. FITE has previously attracted funding from Campus X-based LAUNCHub Ventures, along with BrightCap Ventures and international investors like Tim Draper and Earlybird Digital East.
This is the seventh exit and the largest one to date for Campus X members and a major investor LAUNCHub Ventures.
“We never had any doubts about Kosta’s strong and focused leadership and his ability to build a world-class team. Being a partner in their journey, we witnessed their passion for becoming the worldwide leader in sports delivery and were impressed with their resilience to pursue their goals. We could not be happier for the great outcome, which is one of the largest exits in the local ecosystem,” shares Lyuben Belov, Partner at LAUNCHub Ventures.
Learn more about FITE’s launch, earlier years and journey to success in the interview we did with its CEO and Co-Founder Kosta Jordanov back in 2019.
6. Payhawk raises a record-breaking Series A round
Recently we've also celebrated the big success of yet another Campus X member – Payhawk. The spend ad expense management platform grew 10x in 2020 and doubled its revenue in the first quarter of 2021.
Following these achievements, Payhawk raised a record-breaking Series A financing round, the largest such round raised by a Bulgarian tech company to date. The round is led by QED Investors, while existing investor Earlybird Digital East is also participating. Furthermore, it’s worthwhile to note that the company is part of the portfolio of our members and leading Bulgarian early-stage investors Eleven Ventures.
The new financing will be used to expand Payhawk’s product offering and triple its marketing and sales team.
“We have huge ambitions for the year ahead. Over the next year, we are keen to provide great support to finance teams across 30+ countries to manage company cards, invoices, and payments in a unified and efficient way,” shares Payhawk CEO and founder Hristo Borisov, adding:
“We plan to significantly expand our integrations to existing ERP systems, and also easily connect on top of every business bank account across Europe and beyond. To do this, we need to invest in building the right setup and team to scale further, and the new funding round will enable us to do this.”
7. Unblu announces record-breaking year of revenue and team growth
The start of 2021 brought another groundbreaking milestone achieved within our community. The global Swiss company, a leading conversational platform for financial services, and a Campus X member Unblu announced a record-breaking fiscal 2020 financial results and a 50% growth of its headcount across all geographies and functional areas of the business.
“2020 certainly was a challenging year for all of us. Unblu was able to react effectively to the crisis and everyone in the company helped to make last year the best year in the company’s history. We were able to grow the team, maintain the right spirit, and embrace both change and opportunity.
I am incredibly proud of what we have achieved as a team under the difficult circumstances that affected our daily lives,” Luc Haldimann, CEO of Unblu Inc. commented in the announcement.
More than an end-to-end office. A powerful coworking ecosystem
We’re proud of the numerous achievements of the Campus X community of carefully curated companies who make a difference in their sectors.
Having them at the Campus, seeing their major successes and the powerful synergies between them is yet another testament and reinforcement of our mission to continue delivering everything needed for success under one roof, accelerating our members’ achievements and empowering the whole ecosystem in Bulgaria.
“Joining the vibrant community of Campus X opened a door to many new opportunities and successful collaborations for Gtmhub.
It's no secret that some of the most inspiring and promising companies are building their products and services at Campus X. We just knew that we should join too,” shares Radoslav Georgiev, Co-Founder and CTO of Gtmhub.
When asked why FITE joined Campus X, the company's CEO and Co-Founder Kosta Jordanov replies:
"I have known the amazing team behind Campus X for a very long time, and joining the Campus was a no-brainer for us.
The most important value is the opportunity to be a part of the startup ecosystem and exchange ideas with some of the other entrepreneurs and teams located on the Campus. And we enjoy the great office facilities of course."
Also, Eleven Ventures joined the Campus because they value the powerful community of leading businesses who come together under one roof. Nikola Yanev, the Marketing Manager of the VC company explains:
"Campus X is about gathering companies and people with similar values, ideas, and goals. It is a gravitational point for innovation and technology. It is a place where high-value-added products are being created. This is the place where we want to be as a VC fund - at the forefront of the innovation ecosystem."
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