Three Bulgarian payment start-ups have closed funding rounds led by VC New Vision 3. Paynetics, Phyre and Phos have raised nearly EUR 4 million.
As of Sept. 12, 2019 the New Vision 3 venture fund is open for business. The company recently announced that it will invest EUR 23 million in 45 Bulgarian companies in growth and early stages.
„Our main fields of interest are Fin-Tech, AI, Blockchain Solutions and Shared Economy. We are looking for innovative technologies and business models with global application. If you are a visionary entrepreneur with ambitions to become a global leader at the helm of industry trends in one of these areas, please approach us!”, the company said.
Last week, New Vision 3 Venture Capital Fund, Backed by the Fund of Funds in Bulgaria, announced its first three investments in Paynetics, Phyre, and Phos.
NV3 is investing a total of EUR 2.5m in the three companies out of which EUR 2.2m are public funds provided by the Fund of Funds. Additionally, NV3 attracted approximately EUR 2.5m from private strategic and financial investors.
New Vision 3, a venture capital fund focusing on early-stage technology companies, announced its first three investments in Paynetics, Phyre, and Phos. The three start-ups are developing different technological solutions for the financial sector related to payments, and are present on both the local and international markets.
„The fund will invest EUR 1m in Paynetics as part of an investment round amounting to EUR 2.45m, with co-investors such as the public Bulgarian American Credit Bank and other international investors with strategic interest in the sector. New Vision 3 Fund is also lead investor in the other two companies, Phos Bulgaria and Phyre, with investments amounting to EUR 1m and EUR 0.5m, respectively.”, according to the press release.
Konstantin Petrov, the managing partner at the fund, shared that financial technologies are considered a strategic sector in the investment strategy of NV3, and that payments and digital wallets are verticals with some of the fastest growth rates in the financial technologies sector.
“The success of each FinTech company depends on the quality of its product, the use of a modern technology stack, and the motivation and professionalism of its team. I believe that with these investments, our new fund, New Vision 3, supports the best companies in the fintech sector”, added Konstantin Petrov.
Paynetics provides a complete payments solution, including a payments infrastructure for issuance, processing and payments acceptance by traditional cards and alternative methods. Paynetics is a regulated electronic money institution and member of the international networks VISA and MasterCard.
Phyre is focused on the development of innovative technological solutions and holds the intellectual property over the Phyre app – a digital wallet enabling payments on all types of POS terminals, and facilitating instant and free of charge sending and acceptance of money between users of the app.
Phos Bulgaria operates in the field of payment services and develops a technological solution enabling contactless payment acceptance without a traditional hardware POS terminal, designed specifically for small and medium merchants.
New Vision 3 Fund is a venture capital fund investing in start-up companies and successor of NEVEQ I and NEVEQ II, veterans within the venture capital industry in Bulgaria and the region. NV3 operates from Sofia, Bulgaria, and invests in fast-growing tech companies, which aspire for the leading position in their domains on the local and/or global markets. The leading co-investor in the fund is Fund of Funds in Bulgaria with a commitment of EUR 19.1 million provided by the operational program Innovation and Competitiveness 2014 – 2020, co-financed by the European Structural and Investment Funds.
The main activity of the Fund of Funds involves structuring and managing financial instruments, co-financed by the European Structural and Investment Funds, during the 2014-2020 program period. The company manages public resources exceeding EUR 660 million and offers a wide range of products for the financial sector of the Bulgarian market, including guarantees, private equity funds and a number of others.
Banking 4.0 – „how was the experience for you”
„So many people are coming here to Bucharest, people that I see and interact on linkedin and now I get the change to meet them in person. It was like being to the Football World Cup but this was the World Cup on linkedin in payments and open banking.”
Many more interesting quotes in the video below:
