The YoY increase (2021 to 2020) of PropTech solutions included in BULGARIA: PropTech Mapping Report is 81%, inclusive of mobility solutions.

The YoY increase (2021 to 2020) exclusive of mobility solutions is 65 %

This increase is as a result from 2 factors. The first one is the 14 newly-established PropTech companies in 2021. The second one the increased number of PropTech solutions we at PropTech Bulgaria have identified. As it is a well-known fact, there is no register in Bulgaria, alike many other countries, of tech solutions according to their type.

It takes time and a lot of efforts, and resources to do the scouting and identification of tech solutions per industry verticals. This makes BULGARIA: PropTech Mapping Report the only source and the only reliable source of information on Bulgarian PropTech.

The total number of Bulgarian PropTech solutions identified and analysed by PropTech Bulgaria is 114. The number rises to 130 when we add some Smart City solutions which don’t classify along the 5 PropTech life cycle stages, but are included in the 10^th Smart City categories which are typical for categorising such tech solutions.

Bulgarian PropTech solutions contribute to 7 out of all 17 SDGs of UN 2030, and 3 of them have the most solutions. These are: SDG 11, SDG 7, SDG 12.

16 % are the externally funded Bulgarian PropTechs, and 84% are bootstrapped.

The most well-funded Bulgarian PropTech company is Officernd. Crunchbase reports (dd 22.03.2021) that the company has received EUR 4.2M and is registered in the UK, though being physically based in Bulgaria, and founded by Bulgarians.

At the very surge of the pandemic, PropTech Bulgaria made a research among Bulgarian PropTech companies on the effect of Covid-19 economic crisis on their business. The results revealed an impressively healthy state of the tech sector. Some of the key findings are as follows,

38.5 % of Bulgarian PropTechs say the C-crisis has not caused a decrease in the demand for their services. For part of these companies the corona crisis has influenced favourably the demand and there is a considerable increase for their services. Despite, the rest 62.5 % encounter a decrease in demand. However, Bulgarian PropTechs stand out with a number of decisive advantages, namely,

► Firstly, an exceptional flexibility and adaptability. 76.9 % of Bulgarian PropTechs surveyed have already been restructuring their business. And this makes true resilence.

► Secondly, 84.7 % have a cash buffer for a period of 3 to 12 months’ time, and app. 54 % have a cash buffer which will suffice for more than 6 months. Just to compare, 73 % of tech companies in the Netherlands have a cash buffer for no longer than a 6 months’ period. It turned out that being bootstrapped made Bulgarian companies impressively resilient in comparison to their Western European and American counterparts which struggled because of the frozen external funding. Before the pandemic, being bootstrapped meant being slow to expand and competitively weak. However, the pandemic displayed that being bootstrapped means being financially independent from external funding sources.

Bulgarian PropTechs proved their longer-term resilience in unexpected adverse circumstances.

Startup Genome (2020) reports that startups worldwide have found themselves in a double bind, being hit hard by two main shockwaves:

capital shock and demand. They go further, ‘[F]our out of every 10 startups today are in the red zone: they have three months or fewer of capital runway. This means that they will collapse if they do not raise additional capital and their revenues and expenses remain unchanged, risking a mass extinction event for startups globally.’ Moreover, the fundraising process has been dramatically disrupted, and total VC funding has dropped across all continents.

► Thirdly, app. 77 % of Bulgarian PropTechs don’t lay people off.

Startup Genome (2020) reports that the number of employee layoffs grew 5x between March and May 2020. Over 60% of startups have laid off employees or reduced salaries. For startups reducing FTEs, an average of 33% of jobs were cut.

Bulgarian PropTech started restructuring immediately in March 2020. One of the major reasons was to keep their people on board.

► Next, there is not a single PropTech company in Bulgaria that has brought its business and product development to a halt because of the corona crisis. Just the opposite.

imilarly, Startup Genome (2020) reports on a second shockwave in addition to capital shock, namely drop in demand.

‘The other side of the equation on the shocks affecting startups is we have seen demand drop like a rock for most companies. About 72% of startups saw their revenue drop since the beginning of the crisis, with the average startup experiencing a decline of 32%.

Shockingly, almost 40% of companies of the companies saw their revenue drop by 40% or more, and only about 12% are experiencing significant growth. The impact is uneven between different sectors and regions, as we show below.’

They further list the drop per tech sectors, and specify a decrease of -34% change in revenue for Property & Construction Technologies. For more information, see Figure ‘Change in Revenue since the Beginning of the Crisis by Subsector’ in the Appendix.

Among Bulgarian PropTechs 61.5 % experienced a decline in revenue, and 38.5 % reported no change or an increase in demand. Bulgarian PropTech companies which were hit the hardest are those on the overlap of Tourism Tech and ConTech. The former has still not recovered, while the latter recovered by the end of 2020.

► According to an online poll conducted by Nordic PropTech Initiative during their webinar on 06.04.2020 г., 70 % of PropTechs state that the demand for their service has either not changed, or has increased; some even hardly meet the need for their services. 

► According to the results of a second poll completed by PropTech Lab (Belgium) as part of their webinar on 09.04.2020 г. 80.85 % of PropTechs declare the same. 

► 38.5 % are the Bulgarian PropTechs that assert the same. 53.8 % specify that there is a decrease in the demand for their services as a result of the corona crisis. 

Many analysts apply the model ‘The Hammer & the Dance’ to scheme the development of the C-crisis. The lockdowns exert the hammer effect on business, followed by wavering recovery processes (the Dance) after each lockdown…

The PropTech industry in Bulgaria gains more and more speed. We are pleased to see the fruit of our efforts in a never-ending strive to perfection to establish this tech sector in Bulgaria, identify the key players, and collaborate with them on an increasing number of inter/national opportunities.

Hence, we are proud to list some of the high achievements in 2020 as a result of our incessant efforts:

PropTech Bulgaria organized the 1^st international PropTech conference in South-East Europe on 04.11.2020;

PropTech Bulgaria established the 1^st Annual PropTech Award in partnership with imoti.net and Investor Media Group. The Award ceremony was on 07.07.2020;

The 1^st Bulgarian PropTech channel on the worldwide event RE:Connect 1.0 was ranked among TOP 3 most-viewed sessions in the context of 400+ parallel sessions from 40+ countries. The channel was broadcasted on 07.01.2021;

In Dec. 2020 we released the 1^st PropTech overview on the South-East Europe, namely ‘South-East Europe PropTech Trends 2020’ e-book;

We opened the DACH region market to Bulgarian PropTechs through our international partnership with blackprint Booster, Germany;

We supported both key media in Bulgaria, and Bulgarian PropTechs in the unbearable turbulence of Covid-19 crisis;

We were among the first-movers worldwide to research the Covid-19 impact and implications on Bulgarian PropTechs. Consequently, we were among the few to release a separate analysis of the situation early on into the pandemic. We were followed by countries like the Netherlands that we freely provided to our research questionnaire;

The efforts of PropTech Bulgaria to position highly Bulgaria on the international scene, were recognized by key international players;

PropTech Bulgaria was featured in the yearly e-book on PropTech issued annually by the European PropTech Association – PropTech House;

And all these are only in addition to our long-term endeavours like:

The 2^nd edition of BULGARIA: PropTech Mapping Report 2020 released on 27.02.2020. We daresay that PropTech Bulgaria is the first organisation worldwide that issues such analytical reports and mappings for the national PropTech sector. We are the only one to have 3 annual editions thus far, and you are holding the 3^rd one in your hands;

Providing international recognition and opportunities to Bulgarian PropTechs through our partnership with the European PropTech Association – PropTech House. Proud to represent Bulgaria in this pan-European alliance.

All these are just a fraction of all we do for:

national PropTechs that want to enter foreign markets, and international PropTechs who want to enter the Bulgarian market;

tech investors and property developers who operate in Bulgaria or at European level.