Here is what veterans of diaspora investments NEVEQ and Launchub, and the new player on the market BrightCap told Trending Topics.

Here is a list of tech M&A deals that concern the local tech sector in 2018.

NEVEQ pioneered the venture capital industry at the time when the start-ups were called 'green field projects'

Bulgaria's number of users with a 5,000+ reputation makes it the country with the highest average reputation in the world and best place in the world to find top programmer talent. Data: from Stack Overflow, the dominant Q&A platform for coders, with 3.5 million users, ranked Stack Overflow as the 53rd most trafficked site in the world by Alexa.

An IPO by one of Southeast Europe’s biggest and most successful information and communications technology (ICT) companies will give investors the chance to participate in a sector in which Bulgaria has displayed remarkable strength in recent years. Racking up double-figure annual growth in some cases, Bulgaria’s ICT sector is capitalising on a communist-era legacy of excellent technical education and technology development, the EU’s lowest labour costs, a favourable business climate and a strategic geographical location.

British technology startup fund Oxygen Accelerator is looking for startups in Bulgaria and elsewhere in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) to finance, Bulgarian newspaper Capital reported Feb. 5.

Who is NEVEQ? An early stage, emerging market VC fund based in Europe, delivering above average investor returns through global investments.

NEVEQ II is a venture capital fund which manages EUR 20 million. 70% of the funds come from EU's JEREMIE program, with the European Investment Fund (EIF) acts as limited partner. Private investors subscribed the remaining 30%. The fund structure is a regulated Luxembourg company, allowing private investors to access 100% of the Fund's profits, after all investors have received distribution of the entire capital commitment, plus a hurdle rate. The investment mandate of the second fund managed by NEVEQ Capital Partners requires either 50% of the revenue to be generated in Bulgaria or 50% of the assets to be based locally. This is good for the Bulgarian market but may limit the return on investment for investors, according to Pavel Ezekiev. Such investment mandate may have have become an obstacle but with the support of EIF, NEVEQ's investment team identified and applied to its investments a holding structure, which allowed the Fund to back entrepreneurs globally and co-invest with other funds. Together, NEVEQ and its investors are now able to target investment returns which are not limited by addressing only the domestic demand.

Several prospect student startup teams in Bulgaria were identified through a selection process, including the Junior Achievement programme, and invited to join the first edition of the Student Startup Challenge. Each team has their own business plan in a field of their choice.

As investors review their choices for the last quarter of 2014 and the expected $23 billion IPO of China-based Alibaba.com may become the largest US listing in history, NEVEQ also considered where private capital is best put to work.

The start-up ecosystem in Bulgaria has emerged recently but evolved significantly. The European Investment Fund and the government provided support, including the Jeremie programme which, among other instruments helping entrepreneurs, has funded the first two seed accelerators in the country and co-funded the second venture capital fund, raised and managed by NEVEQ.

New Europe Venture Equity LP (NEVEQ I) is a venture capital fund with eight investments in seed and growth stage technology companies, while NEVEQ II is a newly launched fund, supported by the European Investment Fund.

The acquisitions of leading global IT companies have revealed interesting patterns in their strategies.

by Anna Vital http://fundersandfounders.com/how-startup-valuation-works/ How would you measure the value of a company? Especially, a company that you started a month ago – how do you determine startup valuation? That is the question you will be asking yourself when you look for money for your company.

A good FT piece of work on the improved business environment in Bulgaria: "Pavel Ezekiev, a partner at NEVEQ, cautions that competition to attract high-tech investors is increasing in south-east Europe."