July 15 (SeeNews) - Capital Investments Fund (CIFund), a growth investment arm of Bulgarian Development Bank (BDB) group, has agreed to invest 2.5 million euro ($2.5 million) in Econic One, a start-up for the production of smart electric bicycles in Bulgaria, BDB said on Friday.
The fresh funds will enable Econic One to make further investments in technology research and development, with a focus on growing its IT and product design teams as well as make improvements to its facilities, BDB said in a press release.
Having originated a decade ago from efforts by founder and CEO Galin Bonev to develop an e-bike that can facilitate commuting, Econic One, which is based in Germany, has products on the market in over 500 retail points in 22 countries. The company employs 70 staff from Bulgaria, Germany and the US.
CIFund will provide back the start-up's goal of emerging at the top of the micromobility sector and expanding its footprint in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the US.
CIFund was set up in 2018 to provide growth equity financing to Bulgarian small and medium enterprises (SMEs). This is the fund's fifth deal, after investments in children's footwear manufacturer Kolev&Kolev, sound insulation products maker Decibel, furniture maker M2 PROM and International Power Supply (IPS), a turnkey systems developer for the power management sector.
($ = 0.0.99711 euro)