Small and medium-sized firms that win investors in return for a stake in their business will get back up to 90% of their preparation costs. The pilot scheme has a budget of €1m.
Boyko Takov, head of the Executive Agency for the Promotion of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, presented the scheme with Iliyana Iliyeva, head of the Executive Agency "European Funds for Competitiveness", and Manyu Moravenov, chief executive of the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE).
It will cover up to 21 companies. Bulgarian firms that were registered only recently can apply too.
The project, "Easier access to equity financing for SMEs to support their sustainable growth and competitiveness", is paid for under the 2021-2027 "Competitiveness and Innovation in Enterprises" programme. It is run with the BSE. Aid goes only to firms that raise capital by selling shares or stakes.
Firms can offer shares on the BSE's regulated market, on BEAM, its growth market for small and medium-sized firms, or on the equity crowdfunding platform SpaceCrowd. They can get back at most €60,000 for the regulated market, €35,000 for BEAM and €25,000 for SpaceCrowd.
On the regulated market, a firm must offer shares to investors for the first time and raise at least €350,000 within 12 months of signing a contract with an investment broker. On BEAM, it must raise at least €200,000 within nine months of signing with an adviser. On SpaceCrowd, a campaign must end successfully with at least €100,000. If a firm does not raise the capital, its costs are not repaid.
The programme pays for advice on issuing shares, presentations and campaigns to individual investors and funds, the issue itself, and accounting and legal costs. These include changing the company's legal form, if needed. Firms must hire investment brokers or advisers within 60 days of signing the contract with the agency.
"Our help is to cover part of the costs they need to pay," Takov said. He said two contracts have been signed so far. A consulting firm is considering raising at least €300,000, and an energy company plans to raise about €3m. A third contract, with a technology company, is expected within days.
The project will run for 36 months. Firms applying for the regulated market can file until 15 October 2027. Those applying for BEAM and SpaceCrowd have until 15 January 2028.
"The programme starts at a very precise moment in history. It follows a series of years in which Bulgaria's capital market has kept growing," Moravenov said. He said indices, trading volumes and the number of new listings are rising. He added that joining the eurozone and the country's higher credit rating give investors further reasons for interest.
Moravenov said pension funds will get a multi-fund system from the start of next year. It will let more money go into riskier investments, and the funds will be able to buy directly on the growth market too. He added that the exchange lets the first private investors in young firms sell their stakes, but it asks companies for more openness, reporting and better management.
Iliyeva said that if the scheme works and interest is high, a bigger budget could be discussed. A similar tool with more money is being considered for the next programme period.