Addit Tech, a Bulgarian online platform for renting consumer electronics raised a €560K seed investment from Sofia Angels Ventures, the €13M venture fund for angel and private co-investment. As Sofia Angels Ventures is the newest investment fund in the local ecosystem, the investment marks one of the first significant deals of the fund. The previous one was in the agrotech startup ONDO.
With the raised capital, the team of Addit Tech will focus on expanding to new markets in the SEE region, as well as on expanding its marketplace portfolio. Founded in 2020, Addit Tech is the first Bulgarian platform that works with a Device-as-a-Service (DaaS) business model.
Having a mission to change the way consumers use electronic devices and reduce the negative environmental footprint of tech, the startup applies circular economy principles. It increases the useful life of electronics through the opportunity to rent them.
Changing the way people access, use, and value electronics
The platform was co-founded by a team of four Bulgarians – Assen Assenov, Ivaylo Petkov, Ani Bachvarova, and Vladimir Kolev who combine expertise in management, financial modeling, sales, marketing, and business development. The CEO of the company is the entrepreneur and business development specialist Strahil Radovski who joined the team in the very early stages.
The idea of the platform was born in 2019 as a result of the desire of the four co-founders to build a local circular economy business. The problem that they wanted to tackle was connected to the fact that people and businesses tend to use electronics in a way that leads to overconsumption, pollution, and non-efficient allocation of resources and funds.
Addit Tech allows users to rent the latest technology and pay for it in buy-now-pay-later terms. Users create a profile in the Addit Tech online platform and then verify their e-identity via the Evrotrust app. They place their order via the website, get approved within a day, and receive their order within 3-7 days. At the end of the rent period, users can decide whether they want to extend the rental period, move to a new rental plan, or purchase the rented electronic equipment.
Besides working with individual consumers, Addit Tech has an additional B2B model which is aimed to help businesses decrease their administrative burden and reduce expenses.
Angel investors, founders, and executives turned venture capitalists
The pre-seed and seed-stage fund Sofia Angels Ventures was started in the fall of 2020 by some of the investors behind CEO Angels Club, which is the biggest angel investment network in Bulgaria. The €13M fund receives most of its capital from the EIF. Its managing partners – Milen Ivanov, George Sidjimkov, and Grigori Grigorov – are shareholders in the VC fund as well. In practice, however, the total investment capacity of the fund comes at €26M since every investment round needs to be matched by angels and co-investing partners.
Sofia Angels Ventures targets mainly tech startups that are founded in Bulgaria or by Bulgarian diaspora founders as half of the investment capital is dedicated to the development of the local ecosystem. The other 50% of the capital is intended for SEE and CEE startups.
When it comes to the size of the investments, the tickets of Sofia Angels Ventures range from €200K to €500K, which means that over the next 5 years, the fund should be able to back around 30 startups.
