Bulgaria is on the cusp of a digital renaissance, having established its first unicorn and with the share of the digital economy in its GDP projected to soar to 16% by 2025. 

The country has gone under the radar, but years of investor attraction to its strategic location, tech talent and cheap operating costs mean that it status as rising star in the SaaS and ICT sectors has become impossible to ignore. Companies originating in the region are increasingly opening offices in Western Europe before expanding further afield.

Enter the #BreakingGrounds initiative, spearheaded by The Recusive’s Storytelling Studio to put the region on the map. The initiative is dedicated to bringing Bulgaria and the CEE region into the larger picture to catalyse investment and technological development, amplifying their reach whilst connecting them with investors and industry leaders. #BreakingGrounds’s vision is for Bulgaria to be a deeptech hub by 2027, and they are well on their way to realising it.

Boyko Takov, Executive Director at the Bulgarian SME Promotion Agency, illustrated the values of the public-private partnership: “Our profit as a public agency is solely when companies succeed—that is our mission and goal.” The agency will focus this year on supporting Bulgarian SMEs as they expand into international markets. 

He explained how the agency collaborates with The Recursive to raise the profile of such startups: “The #BreakingGrounds initiative is a wonderful platform to showcase our companies to the world, their achievements, and to open new horizons for them.

“It is very important that such participation provides direct benefits to the participants and also benefits our country by positioning it on par with other nations, showing that things are happening here.”

#BreakingGrounds brings Bulgarian startups, scaleups, VCs, and government officials onto the global stage by using audience analysis to supercharge their public relations, digital presence and social media campaigns as well as selecting a delegation of tech leaders to showcase the region at tech conferences. Previous destinations have included Web Summit, Slush, and DLD Conference. Last year, delegates conducted 567 meetings across Slush and Web Summit combined.

In 2025, the team expect to include conferences in other geographies mainly in the US (SXSW, SEC) and even Davos.

Iskren Krusteff, Co-Founder & CEO of Integrator JSC shared that “through the well-established partnerships between the Bulgarian SME Agency, the media outlet for innovation in Bulgaria, The Recursive, the tech PR agency Storytelling Studio, and an excellent selection of participants, #BreakingGrounds enhances trust in Bulgarian business on the international stage.”

“For Integrator JSC, #BreakingGrounds is a symbol of good collaboration among Bulgarian institutions, businesses, the academic community, and investment partners, who together demonstrate the benefits of high work ethics, quality and scalable products, and services but moreover unity that we have not witnessed before,” he added.

The relatively low profile of Bulgaria has given rise to a highly collaborative system, with cross-border initiatives across energy and infrastructure development setting a mindset which distinguishes its tech sector. 

As the leading fundraiser of venture capital in SEE, Bulgaria provides a home to many of these partnerships with its Sofia Tech Park and plays a major role in facilitating them. 

Pavel Lisev, CEO at FMFIB, highlighted the country’s role: “Bulgaria has made a quantum leap in building an interconnected and tech- enabled ecosystem with regional links, pan-european exposure and global access.”

Keen to further kindle its growth, Bulgarian governments have made the tech sector a priority, with successful initiatives such as the International Technical Fair and AWS Community Day Bulgaria. 

#BreakingGrounds has played an instrumental role in strengthening private-public partnerships and ensuring alignment on messaging that brings key stakeholders together.

This year, #BreakingGrounds has planned a total of 11 conferences, having kicked off with Tech.eu Summit London 2024. Before the end of the year #BreakingGrounds will attend Bits & Pretzels in Munich, How To Web in Bucharest, Web Summit in Lisbon, Slush in Helsinki, and the last stop will be again London at the FinTech Connect.

Being in dialogue with various stakeholders in the ecosystem, startups, investors, corporate leaders, academia, associations and policy-makers allows The Recursive to identify common denominators, foster strategic connections and streamline communication into one integrated program.

Companies are encouraged to apply to #BreakingGrounds as soon as possible to avoid missing out.