The Sofia-based incubator program for pre-seed startups in industry 4.0, health, fintech, automotive, logistics, hospitality Sirma Venture Lab provided €200,000 for Whisp and AskTheCP to continue their development. The investment was supported by Innovation Capital, the company’s representative told AIN.Capital.

  • Founded in 1992 Sirma Group is one of the largest privately-owned Bulgarian IT groups, specializes in software development, ‌implementation and system integration. The company creates and develops semantic software, cognitive business solutions, industrial applications, mobile platforms, ERP software, solutions and services for the financial industry, payment services, e-government platform, etc. 
  • In May 2022 Sirma Group launched Sirma Venture Lab. The main goal of the program is to discover great startups and support their growth in reaching the next level of their development.

“Through the incubation program, we gave an opportunity to entrepreneurs with inspirational ideas to develop their product. To me, the most interesting part was the long way that the two companies have walked before joining the program. Both companies started their development in beyond pre-accelerator where they had received initial advice. In the next stage of their development, they have come to us in order to help them create their products”,

Angel Angelov, managing partner in Innovation Capital, commented.
  • AskTheCP develops a software solution that helps healthcare practitioners improve the outcome of antibiotic prescription in hospitals while helping fight antibiotic resistance on a global scale. The company is currently working on creating the MVP version of its product in collaboration with a specially organized team from Sirma.
  • The second startup which was selected for the program is WHISP. The company has focused its efforts on creating a tech solution that allows for much more easy and effective management of employees’ medical insurances of obtaining residency and access to public healthcare abroad.
  • The companies received their investment of €100,000 each – €50,000 from one of the most Bulgarian active VC funds due to AIN.Capital. Innovation Capital and €50,000 from the tech company. The startups can also receive additional funding from Sirma of €300,000 per project. They have competed with more than 30 other companies from Bulgaria.