Sofia Tech Park’s Shared Workspace: Groworking Space

Our partners at Sofia Tech Park are offering special conditions at Groworking Space – a modern coworking space located on the ground floor of the Incubator building, bringing together entrepreneurs, innovators, and technology companies under one roof. 

This summer’s offers at Groworking Space: 

• 50% discount for startups; 
• “12 for 10” annual Dedicated Desk membership for established companies. 

For companies looking for individual offices, we have a solution that brings together all the functionalities they need to choose a new home for their business: space.sofiatech.bg — our new digital platform for office and commercial spaces at Sofia Tech Park. 

• Interactive floor plans – Explore available spaces across the Incubator, Experimentarium and Laboratory Complex buildings. With just one click, check the status, size and layout of each space. 
• Real-time availability – Get up-to-date information on currently available spaces.
• Search by requirements – Quickly filter spaces based on your required floor area. 
• Accurate rent calculator – Get a transparent calculation of your monthly rent with no hidden costs, with the option to select up to three spaces simultaneously. 
• Compare your options – Easily compare the spaces you are interested in and make an informed decision. 
• Fully mobile-optimized – Conveniently browse and explore available spaces from both your computer and smartphone, and more. 

Beyond a modern workspace, members gain access to networking events, industry experts, a strong partner network, and opportunities to grow within one of Bulgaria’s leading innovation ecosystems. 

Learn more at: https://groworking.space or visit the Sofia Tech Park website: https://sofiatech.bg/news/spodelenoto-rabotno-prostranstvo-na-sofiya-teh-park-groworking-spac e-podkrepya-razvitieto-na-inovativni-kompanii-s-preferentsialni-usloviya/ 

Tsvetelina Aleksandrova is the CEO of Axiom Insurance and one of the Forbes Women at the Top, a special project dedicated to women who challenge the status quo, change business and inspire the next generation of leaders.

Read her full interview here.

Behind the rankings sits a year of building: EUR 12 million into the Bulgarian fibre backbone, a fourth independent route to Frankfurt, and connectivity that now reaches a site within seven working days.

Digitalk 101’s annual “Largest IT Companies” edition ranks NetIX Communications, a Neterra subsidiary, as the third most efficient company in the sector’s Top 50. At EUR 1.09 million in revenue per employee, the platform outperforms every telecom operator in the ranking and trails only Polycomp and Also Bulgaria.

Neterra, for its part, climbs to third place among suppliers of communications equipment. Its revenue in that segment grew 604.84% over the year – the biggest move anywhere in the table.

Two Articles About the Internet That Never Stops

The edition also features two Neterra articles on business connectivity.

“The Arithmetic of Uptime” picks apart a number every business signs off on without reading it: the provider’s commitment to service availability.

Availability of 99.9% sounds reassuring, but it permits almost nine hours without internet a year, a full working day. At 99.99%, the outage falls below an hour. At 99.999%, below six minutes for the entire year.

Each additional nine cuts downtime by roughly 90%. The article draws on data from ITIC, Splunk/Oxford Economics and the Uptime Institute. More than 90% of large companies lose over USD 100,000 for every hour offline, and in payments and healthcare, the figure passes USD 5 million an hour. Around 70% of outages trace back to human error and network faults, which makes them preventable with better architecture.

“Business Without Geographic Limits” takes a different angle. For decades, the map of fibre routes decided where a company could open a warehouse or break ground on a site. Neterra’s hybrid internet removes that constraint. It brings fibre, 5G, Starlink satellite internet and other technologies together into a single service, a single device and a single contract. Connectivity arrives within seven working days, or within 24 hours in urgent cases. A construction company can start building on an empty field the day it arrives. A mining site or a solar park with no physical address still receives IP addresses.

Neterra and NetIX in the Rankings

NetIX and Neterra consistently hold strong positions in the Bulgarian IT rankings:

• NetIX ranks 3rd in the Top 50 Most Efficient Companies
• Neterra ranks 3rd in the Top 5 Suppliers of Communications Equipment
• NetIX ranks 16th among the Top 100 companies with the highest projected growth for 2026 (22.05%)
• Neterra ranks 6th and NetIX 9th in the Top 10 Telecom Service Providers
• NetIX ranks 31st in the Top 50 Fastest-Growing Companies (20.35%) and 41st in the Top 50 Most Dynamic Companies, while Neterra ranks 45th in the Top 50 ICT Exporters

The Year Behind the Numbers

In a commentary for the edition, Neterra founder and managing director Neven Dilkov sets out the company’s three most significant projects of 2025.

Neterra became the official distributor of Starlink from SpaceX, doubled its satellite internet revenue and launched two new services for business customers: hybrid internet, which combines Starlink, fibre and 5G, and backup internet, which switches over the moment the primary link fails.

The company invested EUR 12 million in modernising its national fibre backbone with DWDM technology from Infinera, lifting capacity on key routes to 800 Gbps per channel.

Revenue from business internet grew 32%, while NetIX had its best year yet, with subscription revenue up 43%.

The Editors Quote Neven Dilkov in Four Further Analyses

In the 2026 IT market review, he addresses the fragility of international infrastructure: “That is why we invested in a fourth independent route to Frankfurt — security and full redundancy at both physical and software level are now a basic requirement from our largest clients.” In the survey of AI strategies across the sector, Dilkov describes how Neterra automated the processing of unstructured data. And in the analysis of the labour market he sums up: “Bulgaria stopped being a cheap country a long time ago, especially when it comes to expert and professional talent.”

The feature on data centres describes Neterra as one of the first Bulgarian operators to specialise in colocation and line leasing in Central and Eastern Europe. The company owns and operates four data centres with a combined capacity of 5.13 MW, and Digitalk 101 adds, has a presence in more than 220 locations across over 75 countries.

After more than 53 months since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in February 2022, the conflict has settled into a protracted war of attrition along an approximately 1,200-kilometre frontline concentrated in eastern and southern Ukraine. Read more in Urus Advisory’s analytical article on the Ukraine war and its wider regional implications.

Lora Dicheva is the Marketing Director of EasyPay and ePay.bg, as well as one of the participants in the Forbes Women at the Top special project, dedicated to women who challenge the status quo, change business and inspire the next generation of leaders.

Find out what she has to say about success beyond professional achievements, the power of honesty and the future of digital payments.

VIA VINO invites you to another wine experience from the series “Close But Unknown”. In October (15-18), the tour will head northwest to reveal some well-kept wine and culinary secrets, spending 4 days in 3 Balkan countries – Bulgaria, Serbia and Romania. What awaits you? 

• Visit and tasting (and somewhere lunch/dinner) in 6 wineries plus a selection of Bulgarian wines from the Northwest;
• Traditional local dishes and specialties, incl. and from the Torlak cuisine;
• Boat trip on the Danube – in the area of the picturesque gorge Iron Gates;
• Small group – only 7 people;

WHEN: October 15 – 18
WHERE: Bulgaria – Serbia – Romania
WITH WHOM: Ivaylo Katerski (licensed guide, WSET 3)

The vacant places are currently 5.

For information and registration – info@via-vino.com / t. +359 88 731 8546

Each BBCC member will get EUR 50,- discount!

Escape the city and make the most of your weekdays with a refreshing mountain retreat at The Rila Hotel Borovets. Book three consecutive weekday nights and enjoy a complimentary fourth night with our special 3=4 offer, available with both our Nature Film Camp and Pass It On experience packages. Both packages combine accommodation with a rich programme of activities designed to bring people together. While Nature Film Camp inspires children to become filmmakers in the heart of nature, Pass It On creates unforgettable moments for three generations through shared traditions, creativity and family bonding. Just an hour from Sofia, The Rila offers the perfect balance of relaxation and adventure.

Because sometimes the best part of a holiday is having one more day to enjoy it.

Book your stay now!

The devastating wildfires that swept across France and Spain during the last ten days of July have burned more than 250,000 hectares of land, destroying forests, farmland and residential areas on the outskirts of Bordeaux and west of Madrid. The disaster has led to the largest peacetime evacuation in recent history, with more than 300,000 people displaced after losing their homes or being forced to flee due to hazardous smoke.

BCause Foundation invites companies and individuals in Bulgaria to support the emergency appeals launched by their partner organisations in France and Spain.
This is made possible through BCause Foundation’s membership in the Giving Europe network, which enables secure and tax-efficient cross-border philanthropy across Europe. 
Donations can be made through BCause in Bulgaria, allowing donors to benefit from the applicable Bulgarian tax incentives.

Every donation helps provide immediate assistance to people who have lost their homes and livelihoods, while supporting the recovery of the affected communities.

How to donate:

• Support France – Appeal by Fondation de France (card donation link)
• Support Spain – Appeal by Empresa y Sociedad Emergency Fund (card donation link)

For corporate donation agreements or bank transfers, please contact tge@bcause.bg.

Priority areas for support:

Support for displaced families

• Emergency accommodation and essential supplies, including bedding, blankets, towels and hygiene products.
• Food and bottled drinking water for families staying in temporary shelters.
• Children’s supplies, including colouring books, pencils and toys, to support young evacuees.

Support for emergency response teams

• Medical supplies, eye drops and protective masks for firefighters and first responders working in hazardous conditions.
• Assistance for the families of firefighters who lost their lives while responding to the fires, including dedicated fundraising campaigns in France.

Care for affected animals

• Emergency veterinary treatment, medicines and food for farm animals, wildlife and abandoned pets impacted by the wildfires.

Giving Europe (formerly Transnational Giving Europe) is a network of partner foundations in 19 European countries: Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

Every fundraising appeal and beneficiary organisation is carefuly vetted and approved by the respective national partner foundations, ensuring transparency, accountability and effective use of donations.

United Bulgarian Bank (UBB), part of KBC Group in Bulgaria is the biggest winner at this year’s edition of the banking awards for exceptional achievements, namely the Еuromoney Awards for Excellence, organized by the reputable British magazine Euromoney. The Bank wins for a fourth consecutive time the Best ESG Bank in Bulgaria prize, while the Best Digital Bank in Bulgaria distinction is the second such in the UBB’s collection. During this year the Bank wins for the first time a Best Bank for Corporate Banking in Bulgaria award. The kind of a hat-trick of awards fully indicates the comprehensive nature of UBB’s activity and the ambition of one of the leading financial institutions in this country to be the first in all its business lines.

„I am proud that our efforts of contributing to the sustainable development of the Bulgarian economy and society are given a consecutive international assessment and for yet another year in a row we win the prize for Best ESG Bank in Bulgaria. Satisfaction is even bigger, because it is the second time that we add the Best Digital Bank prize to the above award. We now win for the first time the recognition as the Best Digital Bank for Corporate Banking, and it validates the leadership role of UBB for the development of the corporate sector and this country’s economy. The awards by Euromoney are yet another impressive achievement for our Team Blue in Bulgaria, emphasizing on our commitment, dedication and ambitions of offering the best and earning the trust of our customers and the society on a daily basis. This is a recognition of the hard work and dedication of all my colleagues at UBB, and a token of gratitude for the trust of our customers and partners.“, shared Christof De Mil, Country Manager of KBC Group in Bulgaria and Chief Executive Officer of UBB.

The basis for Euromoney’s assessment of the Best Bank for Corporate Banking takes into account the facts that in 2025 the corporate banking activity of UBB registered the highest growth in terms of business loans in Bulgaria in both absolute as well as percentage terms. This represents a market share of 19.6% in business loans towards the end of 2025. Over the year the Bank reported a 15% growth in its loan portfolio, thus generating EUR 1.7 billion new loans.  Over 2025 UBB achieved its highest NPS (Net Promoter Score) of 51 and customer satisfaction score of 81%, measured by the independent research company IPSOS among the corporate customers of UBB and on the overall Bulgarian market.

Over 2025 in the sustainable development domain and through the product „Investment Loan under Preferential Terms for Construction of Photovoltaic Plants for Own Needs of SMEs“ UBB financed 326 projects of value exceeding EUR 100 million – out of which 103 new ones, financed with EUR 45 million in 2025. Through the „Financing of Projects for Renewable Energy“ the new volumes of this type of funding in 2025 reached a total of EUR 346.5 million. Through the „Mortgage Loan for Energy Efficient Homes“ 2025 the funding of „green“ real estates amounts to EUR 289.8, out of which EUR 132.7 million – mortgage loans for energy efficient housing.

In the digitalization domain part of the impressive figures behind the award are the reaching of over 1 million customers in the UBB Mobile banking app with approximately 500 000 daily users. The digital assistant Kate has become an invaluable helper during the euro adoption campaign. According to the digital research of Finalta, a subsidiary company of McKinsey, performed at the end of 2025 UBB is a digital leader on the Bulgarian market. The report states that UBB has 62% utilization rate of mobile devices by active customers, as compared to the average result for the local market being 49%. The contribution of digital channels to sales is 46%, upon an average market indicator of 32%. Customers, attracted in a digital way comprise 48%, as compared to the average market indicator for Bulgaria, being 25%. Euromoney Awards for Excellence are among the most prestigious awards in the banking and financial sector over a period of more than 30 years. Their organizer is the specialized British magazine Euromoney. The goal of these awards is to distinguish and give the due merit and recognition to banks and bankers who impose standards, who are pioneers in various domains of banking and showcase impressive achievements in their performance. These awards serve as a reference in the banking industry worldwide. Over the last four years UBB has been invariably winning the Best ESG Bank in Bulgaria prize, it has won twice the Best Digital Bank in Bulgaria award and once – the prizes Best Bank in Bulgaria and Best Bank for Corporate Banking in Bulgaria.

The British Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce is pleased to announce that UK Ambassador Bob Spence has been invited to speak at the 10th anniversary edition of Finweek Bratislava, taking place on 13–14 October 2026.

Bob will present “AI Agents in Banking & FinTech”, exploring how artificial intelligence is reshaping customer engagement, commercial performance and decision-making across the financial services sector.

Finweek Bratislava is one of Central Europe’s leading financial services conferences, bringing together senior leaders from banking, fintech, regulation and investment.

The invitation reflects the Chamber’s growing profile across the region and its commitment to strengthening commercial and innovation links between the UK, Bulgaria and the wider Central European fintech ecosystem.