Bulgarian Invenio Partners launches a new €55M regional private equity fund

The Sofia-based equity investment firm Empower Capital expands its business model, rebrands to Invenio Partners, and announces the launching of a new €55M regional private equity fund Invenio Partners Fund II to invest in SMEs in Bulgaria, Romania, and Serbia, The Recursive informs.

• Established in 2014 by Elvin Guri, Stanislav Nikolaev, Slavcho Parushev, and Tihomir Dyankov, Empower Capital is a €21 million fund financed by the European Investment Fund with the mandate to provide access to equity and quasi-equity funding to growing Bulgarian companies.
• Invenio Partners will continue the strategy of Empower Capital, as an industry-agnostic VC firm with preferences in manufacturing, retail, transportation and logistics, food processing, technology, healthcare, education, and hospitality that provides growth and buyout funding. Invenio Partners will remain in the equity segment under €10 million, and will co-invest with other partners.
• Invenio Partners will focus on Bulgarian, Romanian, and Serbian growth companies that are looking for regional expansion or industry consolidation. 

“The name Invenio Partners reflects much better our focus to discover the true potential in the companies we invest in, not only in terms of market expansion potential but also in identifying opportunities that would result in operational improvements and vertical and/or horizontal integration. We are expanding our efforts to support the fastest growing SMEs in Romania and Serbia, while Bulgaria remains our core market,”

Elvin Guri, CEO of Invenio Partners comments.

• The new Invenio Partners Fund II has already made two investments — €3 million in SAT Health, a Bulgarian healthcare data analytics and consulting company, and €2 million in Cycle Gets, a manufacturing plant for alloy bicycle and e-bike frames in Europe.