Bulgaria's Sirma Group wraps up exit from Sirma AI unit

As per the terms of the deal, approved by the Bulgarian company's board in May, Luxembourg-based fund New Frontier Technology Invest has also invested 10.75 million euro in a capital increase of Sirma AI, Sirma Group Holding said in a bourse filing last week.

New Frontier Technology Invest acquired the entire company, purchasing also shares held by Sirma Solutions and Ontotext.

The total value of the purchased shares is some 19.5 million euro, of which 6.6 million euro were received by Sirma Group Holding.

Following completion, New Frontier Technology Invest holds 76.2% of the target company's equity, while Sirma Solutions retains the balance of 23.8%.

The software group held 517,901 shares in artificial intelligence (AI)-based technology and semantic databases developer Sirma AI, according to an earlier statement.

Sirma AI merged semantic technology firm Ontotext in 2019 for 21.25 million levs, with the resulting company providing AI-based technology services for clients such as S&P, the Financial Times, Johnson Controls, automobile conglomerate Stellantis, BBC and the British parliament.

Integral Venture Partners has offices in London, Budapest and Belgrade. It advises and manages institutional capital from investors such as the European Investment Fund (EIF), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and World Bank affiliate International Finance Corporation (IFC) as well as individual funds owned by global entrepreneurs and family offices.

($ = 1.00751 euro)