AUBG invests in 3 Bulgaria student startups in its Elevate accelerator
Summary
The AUBG Accelerator Program Elevate is a 18-week experience-and mentorship-based program designed to help AUBG students and recent graduates start and grow a business. It was created by American University in Bulgaria in partnership with Sofia-based VC Eleven Ventures. Since its inception in 2019, the Elevate accelerator has nurtured a total of 25 startup projects across four cohorts. Elevate AUBG provides students and alumni with a $2,000 investment to cover expenses for validation and prototype building, allowing them to test and develop their startup ideas.During the Season 5 Elevate Demo Day on April 24, three of the teams secured funding of $10,000 with motivation to continue working on the projects:Winners of the fifth edition of Elevate: a Sofia-based startup founded in 2023, Verdere, growing and supplying nutrient-dense micro-vegetables to restaurants and direct to customers; a Blagoevgrad-based Enthela that creates a biostimulator based on nitrogen-fixing bacteria that allows farmers to replace the use of nitrogen fertilizers while maintaining yields and increasing soil fertility. a Bulgarian ReGrounded that turns coffee grounds into eco-friendly reusable cups, revolutionizing the coffee industry and building a sustainable future one cup at a time.The jury of the accelerator included Bulgarias top investors and enterpreneurs Pavel Velkov, Rene Tomova, Nikola Yanev, and Krum Hadjigeorgiev.