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Blog > Regions > Bulgaria > Bulgaria: Strategy, Unicorns, and Pan-Balkan Reach
BulgariaCEE

Bulgaria: Strategy, Unicorns, and Pan-Balkan Reach

Ana Coteneanu
By Ana Coteneanu Published May 19, 2025 56 Views
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15 Min Read

If you think about fintech, you probably wouldn’t pick Bulgaria as the first country to lead the charge in Central and Eastern Europe. And yet, here it is, quietly building one of the region’s most dynamic fintech ecosystems.

Contents
Regulation: Stability First, Innovation Close BehindCommercial Banks, Neobanks & Fintechs: Digitalisation Meets ConsolidationFintech Startups & Investment Beyond UnicornsAssociations & Support: Who’s Holding Up the Fintech SceneConclusion: Early Days, Big Signals

Over the past few years, Bulgaria has gone from having a small patchwork of digital finance startups to hosting more than 150 fintech companies, most of them clustered in Sofia. The sector has seen consistent growth in revenue, investment, and international visibility, and it’s not just about volume. It’s about how these companies are scaling fast, experimenting across verticals, and attracting global backing.

The digital payments segment is especially dominant. It makes up about a third of all fintech activity in the country and drives more than 60% of the industry’s revenue. Names like BORICA, Paynetics, and EasyPay form the local backbone, while giants like Visa and Mastercard have set up shop here too. Add in Bulgaria’s first fintech unicorn, Payhawk, and a wave of crypto innovation led by companies like Nexo, and the picture gets clearer: Bulgaria is a testbed for real fintech ambition.

So, how did this happen? What role did regulators, banks, and cross-border investors play in shaping the ecosystem? And what’s next as Bulgaria eyes eurozone entry and deeper EU integration?

That’s what we’re about to explore.

Regulation: Stability First, Innovation Close Behind

Bulgaria’s financial regulation system is methodical, and that’s part of what’s helped the fintech ecosystem grow without overheating. At the centre of it all sits the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB), which acts as the country’s central bank, banking regulator, and macroprudential watchdog. It issues licenses for banks, payment institutions, and e-money firms, oversees financial stability, and implements EU rules like PSD2.

Since 2020, the BNB has been under “close cooperation”with the European Central Bank, meaning the ECB now supervises Bulgaria’s largest banks directly through the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM). This was a major step forward in aligning with the eurozone. The BNB has gradually raised capital buffers, like the countercyclical capital buffer (CCyB), which hit 1.5% in 2023 as a way to prevent excessive credit growth and make the system more shock-proof.

Speaking of eurozone preparations, Bulgaria still aims to adopt the euro, even though that timeline has slipped past 2025 due to inflation concerns. But regulators are treating it like a when, not an if. The BNB recently connected its national payment system (BISERA) to the ECB’s TIPS platform, enabling instant euro transfers, one of the last pieces of technical infrastructure needed for euro adoption.

Another big name in the regulatory space is the Financial Supervision Commission (FSC). While the BNB handles banks and payments, the FSC oversees insurance, pensions, capital markets, and non-bank finance. They’ve started to lean into fintech more actively, rolling out a Strategy for Monitoring Financial Innovation (2021–2024) and showing openness to ideas like a regulatory sandbox, though a full one hasn’t launched yet.

There’s also the Ministry of Finance, which handles legislation and coordinates Bulgaria’s eurozone strategy and post-COVID recovery investments. Their work with the BNB and FSC helps align Bulgaria with upcoming EU rules like MiCA (for crypto) and DORA (for digital operational resilience).

So far, this three-pronged setup (BNB, FSC, and the Ministry) has struck a fairly good balance between financial stability and fintech growth. One key challenge, however, remains financial literacy. Bulgaria’s population still struggles with understanding new financial products, especially digital ones. The government’s Financial Literacy Strategy (2021–2025) tries to tackle that, but making fintech truly inclusive will take time.

Commercial Banks, Neobanks & Fintechs: Digitalisation Meets Consolidation

Bulgaria’s banking sector is concentrated, foreign-owned, and (over the past few years) quietly getting a digital overhaul. As of the end of 2023, 23 banks were operating in the country, including six branches of foreign banks. But it’s the top five that run the show, holding nearly 77% of all banking assets. That level of concentration isn’t new, but what’s changed is how these banks are operating.

There’s been a steady wave of consolidation. The most recent example was in 2023, when Postbank (Eurobank Bulgaria) acquired BNP Paribas Personal Finance Bulgaria, tightening its grip on the retail lending market and expanding its customer base.

Banks like UniCredit Bulbank, DSK (OTP Group), UBB (KBC), and Postbankare not only dominant but also investing heavily in digital transformation. Bulgaria’s eurozone ambitionsare pushing banks to modernise legacy systems, tighten up compliance, and rethink how they deliver services online. A lot of this is also driven by necessity, such as regulatory alignment and rising customer expectations.

United Bulgarian Bank (UBB), part of the Belgian KBC Group, has been getting noticed not just for tech upgrades but also for its ESG credentials. In 2024, UBB was named Best Digital Bank and Best ESG Bank in Bulgaria by Euromoney, proof that digitalisation and sustainability can go hand in hand.

Meanwhile, neobanks and fintech-style lenders are starting to carve out their own space. A major move came in 2024 when Advent International announced it was acquiring tbi bank, a Sofia-based digital-first bank focused on Buy Now, Pay Later and consumer lending. Tbi isn’t a classic neobank, but it plays like one: mobile-first, quick onboarding, and accessible financing options.

On the infrastructure side, Evrotrusthas become a key tech provider, especially in digital identity. In 2023, the Bulgarian government officially adopted Evrotrust’s eID scheme as the national standard for electronic identification, allowing people to sign documents and access public services online. The company is also working with private clients. Porsche Finance Group Bulgaria now uses Evrotrust to digitise internal workflows.

Beyond banks and neobanks, Bulgaria also has a handful of heavyweight fintechs that are powering much of the ecosystem’s infrastructure:

  • BORICA, a state-backed payment infrastructure provider, runs the Blink instant payment system, launched in 2021 for 24/7 transfers in BGN. It later added person-to-person transfers via phone number, and is now being linked with the ECB’s TIPS platform for euro instant payments.
  • Paynetics is a licensed e-money institution that operates across the EU and UK, offering card issuing, embedded finance infrastructure, and payment solutions to fintechs and merchants.
  • iCard is one of the oldest fintech names in Bulgaria. Its digital wallet app supports IBAN accounts, P2P transfers, foreign exchange, and even crypto/metal investments. The company now serves 1.8+ million clients in 30+ countries.
  • And EasyPay, while sometimes flying under the radar, is one of the most widespread hybrid payment platforms in Bulgaria, combining physical cash-in/cash-out points with digital services and integrations into the national payments infrastructure.

Fintech Startups & Investment Beyond Unicorns

For a long time, Bulgaria’s fintech scene flew under the radar. That changed in 2022, when Payhawk raised a $100 million Series Bextension led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, officially becoming Bulgaria’s first unicorn.

But Payhawk isn’t the only company making a difference. Over the past five years, Bulgaria has quietly grown a dense network of fintech startups, more than 150 by 2022. Most of them are SMEs based in Sofia, but their ambitions are regional, and sometimes global.

Take Iris Solutions, one of the first licensed open banking providers in Southeast Europe. They offer infrastructure for banks and fintechs to launch PSD2-compliant services. Or Boleron, an insurtech startup building a fully digital insurance platform. In 2023, it raised €2.1 million to expand into Greece and Romania, showing that regional investors are now looking at fintech through a wider lens.

So, what’s fueling all this? A mix of local and international capital. Funds like LAUNCHub Ventures and Eleven Ventures have backed some of the biggest names in the market, including early rounds for Payhawk and Nexo. LAUNCHub has also invested in Nexo’s early stages and continues to raise fresh capital for fintech and deeptech bets across the region.

Meanwhile, foreign investors are getting in earlier than they used to. Payhawk’s $100M round brought in Lightspeed, Greenoaks, and Earlybird. Even crypto startups like Nexo, though they’ve had a bumpy regulatory ride, drew global capital during the boom years. Some startups like Phos, a SoftPOS provider that turns Android phones into card readers, even got acquired by big names (Ingenico picked them up in 2023).

What’s also interesting is how established players like Paynetics are acting like platforms for others. Besides offering embedded finance infrastructure, Paynetics has actively supported fintech entrepreneurs, partnered with startups like Phyre, and even acquired UK neobank Novus to expand its digital reach.

From a macro perspective, Bulgaria still isn’t a massive funding market. But it still performs beyond expectations. In 2023, over €260 million in startup funding was raised in Bulgaria across all verticals, and fintech remained one of the strongest categories. According to StartupBlink, Bulgaria ranked 37th globally in the Startup Ecosystem Index, with Sofia acting as the central hub for innovation.

So while the unicorn headlines matter, the real story is about ecosystem depth. A growing number of fintech startups, VC funds with regional reach, and a few high-profile exits have created momentum. And if Payhawk’s rise is any indication, Bulgaria’s next breakout fintech might already be in the works.

Associations & Support: Who’s Holding Up the Fintech Scene

Behind the startups, funding rounds, and flashy exits, there’s a surprisingly solid support system helping Bulgaria’s fintech ecosystem grow. And for a relatively small country, it’s got a few things going for it that others don’t.

The Bulgarian Fintech Association (BFA) is probably the loudest voice in the room. Since 2018, they’ve been the go-to group for research, advocacy, and general ecosystem-building.  Then there’s the Visa Innovation Program, which Bulgaria helped launch and now co-leads through Eleven Ventures. 

What started as a local accelerator has turned into a regional platform connecting fintech startups across Greece, Turkey, and Bulgaria, with Sofia acting as a central hub. Startups in the program run pilots with Visa’s corporate partners and banks, which is a big deal when you’re trying to validate a product in a conservative industry.

And it’s not just Visa. A few years back, Raiffeisen Bank’s Elevator Lab also ran a chapter in Bulgaria to scout for fintech partnerships. One notable graduate was actually Phos, the SoftPOS startup that eventually got acquired by Ingenico. It’s a good example of how these programs can bring real value. 

Add to that startup hubs like Campus X, where fintech founders work out of the same building as VCs and tech mentors, and you get an ecosystem that’s tight-knit, not siloed. Some of the Visa program activity even took place there.

So while there’s no formal regulatory sandbox (yet), the combination of active associations, corporate-led programs, and VC-accelerator overlap has created a pretty functional support structure. It’s not flashy, but it works. And it helps explain why a country with just 7 million people keeps putting interesting fintechs on the regional map.

Conclusion: Early Days, Big Signals

Bulgaria’s financial sector has undergone major shifts in recent years, from the consolidation and digitalization of traditional banks to the rise of a growing fintech startup scene. It’s not the largest market in the region, but it’s moving fast and making itself hard to ignore.

What stands out in a Central and Eastern European context is the density and profitability of its fintech ecosystem. Bulgaria actually outpaces Romania in both the number of fintech companies and sector performance, and while it hasn’t positioned itself as a licensing magnet like Lithuania, it stands out for its engineering talent, strong infrastructure, and cost-effective environment. 

The sector is still in early stages, but it’s vibrant, well-networked, and building from solid fundamentals. With active associations, cross-border accelerators, and a healthy mix of local and foreign investment, the conditions are right for entrepreneurs to scale.

In the larger context of CEE, Bulgaria has positioned itself as both a collaborator and a competitor, collaborating to build regional fintech synergies while competing by offering a highly skilled yet cost-effective environment for financial services development. 

The country’s first fintech unicorn and successful exits signal the coming of age of the ecosystem. Going forward, the continued inflow of EU funds, the prospect of euro adoption, and sustained tech innovation are poised to further integrate and advance Bulgaria’s financial market

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TAGGED:#banks#CEE#fintech#fintechinvestor#fintechstartups#innovation#regulation#startups#unchain

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