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Svetlin Nakov

Entrepreneur, Innovator, Tech Education Influencer

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Svetlin Nakov is passionate for education, innovation and entrepreneurship with 20+ years of experience as a founder, advisor, lecturer, author and community builder.

Summary

Dr. Svetlin Nakov was born in Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria on the 14th of June 1980. He graduated in 1999 from the local math high school with an excellence and honorable diploma from the minister of education.

During his school years Nakov was a programming contestant in the national team of Bulgaria, with 4 international medals from IOI (International Olympiad in Informatics) and BOI (Balkan Olympiad in Informatics). He graduated from Sofia University (bachelor and masters degree in computer science in 2005) and was awarded in 2010 with a PhD in computer science for his work in the area of computational linguistics and language models.

Svetlin started his professional career as a freelance software developer in 1996, and junior developer in 1999. He passed through tech positions, like mid-level developer in 2000-2001 and software development team leader in 2003-2004.

His first startup was the National Academy for Software Development (NASD), founded in 2004 to teach practical software development courses for the local tech industry in Bulgaria.

With hundreds of graduates NASD had a significant role in the IT industry growth. In 2010 NASD was partially acquired by Telerik Corp. to establish the Telerik Software Academy. Nakov was the main driver of Telerik Academy (2009-2013) and managed to grow it to #1 software bootcamp provider in Bulgaria, with thousands of graduates.

In 2014 Nakov co-founded and was the main visioneer at SoftUni, the largest tech education provider in Southeast Europe, which achieved 300K+ student enrollments in software engineering, digital marketing, design and UX.

With its 25K alumni, SoftUni provides nearly 40% of the software professionals in Bulgaria, and is a major driver for the tech industry’s growth.

In 10 years SoftUni and Nakov built the most impactful tech education ecosystem in Bulgaria, which expanded with many educational initiatives: SoftUni Light (licensed tech high school), SoftUni Digital (marketing academy), SoftUni Creative (design and UX academy), SoftUni Global (international franchise of SoftUni), SoftUni Kids (kids coding school), SoftUni Foundation (non-profit helping IT teachers), Finance Academy (finance and investments academy) and LeaderClass (leaders academy).

Nakov was the main person behind the educational product and innovation at SoftUni. Over the years SoftUni was involved as co-founder or investor in many tech companies: Motion Software (remote work development agency), CreateX (AI-driven marketing agency), AMBITIONED (software development company), and others.

Entrepreneurship

• Co-founded SoftUni (https://softuni.bg) in 2013, the leading tech education company in Southeast Europe, providing practical training, profession and employment to tens of thousands of software engineers. Grew it to a team of 100+ people over 9 years, with 300+ enrollments and 30K+ graduates.
• Co-founded SoftUni Global (https://softuni.org) in 2021 to make tech education accessible worldwide through franchise programs. Its content reaches thousands of learners in 5 countries.
• Co-founded SoftUni Light (https://svetlina.softuni.bg) in 2018, a digital professions high school, educating the next generation of tech talent. It has 500+ students and is scaling fast in 5 years.
• Co-founded LeaderClass (https://leaderclass.bg) in 2022, an educational platform where top business leaders and celebrities share knowledge, teach and mentor the future leaders.
• Co-invested and board member in Motion Software (https://motion-software.com) through SoftUni in 2019, a remote work software consulting agency grown to 115 tech employees in 4 countries, acquired in 2022 by Exadel.
• Co-founded AMBITIONED (https://ambitioned.com) in 2021, a software development and consulting company, with the ambition for fast growth in the IT industry, through tech talent from SoftUni.
• Co-invested and board member in CreateX (https://createx.bg) in 2021, a highly-innovative digital marketing agency, with high growth ambition, driven by SoftUni Digital top students.
• Co-invested and board member in Finance Academy (https://financeacademy.bg) in 2021, a digital education platform that provides practical learning programs on finance and investments.
• Advisor and investor in notable blockchain projects like LockTrip / Hydra (raised $10M+ in 2017, https://locktrip.com) and Kingsland University / Academy School of Blockchain (raised $50M in 2018, https://kingslanduniversity.com).
• Co-founded the SoftUni Foundation in 2014 (https://softuni.foundation), a non-profit organization, with significant positive impact on the school level tech education in Bulgaria.
• Established the Telerik Academy (https://telerikacademy.com) massive education model as Manager of Technical Training at Telerik Corp. from 2009-2013. Transformed it into a leading tech education provider, with thousands of graduates.
• Co-founded the National Academy for Software Development (NASD) in 2004, established it as a leading software development academy in Bulgaria, with hundreds of graduates, partially acquired by Telerik Corp. in 2010.

Investments

• Excitel (https://excitel.com) – one of India’s largest and fast growing Internet providers, with over 900K subscribers, valuated at €100 million in 2023
• Eleven III Fund (https://eleven.com) – €60 million early-stage venture capital fund that invests in technology companies in Southeast Europe, with 150 collective investments in 10+ years
• Webit Investment Network (https://webit.network) – equity investment fund, investing in the finalists from Webit Founder Games entrepreneurship competition

Education

• PhD in computer science and computational linguistics, Sofia University
• MSc in distributed systems and mobile technologies, Sofia University
• BSc in computer science, Sofia University

Awards

• Presidential award “John Atanasoff” for contribution to the IT Community (2004)
• 4 medals from International Olympiads in Informatics (IOI, 1998-1999)
• Forbes Bulgaria front cover and headline (2018)
• BAIT “Special Contribution for the IT Ecosystem” award (2017)
• Forbes award “Social Entrepreneur” (2022)

Books

• Author and co-author of 15+ books on software development: Practical Cryptography for Developers (2018), Programming Basics with C# (2018), Programming Basics with JavaScript (2018), Programming Basics with Java (2017), Programming Basics with Python (2017), Programming Basics with C++ (2019), Fundamentals of Computer Programming with Java (2017), Fundamentals of Computer Programming with C# (2013) and few others – https://introprogramming.info

Others

• GitHub profile (3K+ stars): https://github.com/nakov
• SlideShare profile (170 public talks): https://www.slideshare.net/nakov/presentations
• Website and blog (480 publications): https://nakov.com
• YouTube channel (85 videos, 4K subscribers): https://www.youtube.com/c/CodeWithNakov

Velizar Velichkov

Entrepreneur

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• Co-founder: Grabo.bg (2010)
• Co-founder: Trendo.bg (2013), exit in 2018
• Co-founder: 1ForFit (2015)
• Board Member and Partner Gospodari.com: (2019)
• Co-founder: Artvent (2021)

Introduction

Born in Plovdiv, Bulgaria on on the 20th of April 1987
University degrees – National Academy for Theater and Film Arts with degree of drama acting, in 2010
Velizar first ventured into the digital World at the age of 14 by creating his initial website. Shortly thereafter, he joined Bulgaria’s biggest mp3 websites of that era, mp3-bg.com, where he contributed as an uploader, news editor, and music organizer for two years. However, due to legal complications, the website was eventually sold. As a young entrepreneur, Velizar established a company specializing in website development, marking his initial step into the business world.

Business ventures

• Grabo.bg: In 2010, he co-founded Grabo.bg, which soon became the biggest daily deal website in Bulgaria. By 2014, the business attracted the attention of Nova Broadcasting Group and MTG, leading to a strategic acquisition of a 51% stake. Currently, the business is making annual turnover of 13+ million euros and Velizar is a Board Member.
• Trendo.bg: In 2013 Velizar co-founded Trendo.bg, an e-commerce platform catering to the fashion industry. The business achieved an annual turnover of €2 million, and in 2018 it was sold.
• 1ForFit: In 2015, Velizar made an investment at Dietata.com and after that co-founded 1ForFit. Nowadays 1ForFit is a leading multi-brand and direct-to-customer developer with significant scale and reach across Europe, North and South America, Australia, Africa, and Asia. Present on 180+ markets, 35 languages and reaching more than 300 million people worldwide. B2C Marketing Campaigns with a budget of $20+ million for 2020)
• Gospodari.com: By 2019, Velizar joined the team behind the former TV show “Lord of The Air” and became instrumental in their website’s development. Presently, he is a partner and a Board Member of Gospodari.com.
• Artvent: In 2021, Velizar co-founded Artvent, a company dedicated to promoting a diverse range of events, from concerts to theater performances. Today, Artvent is selling more than 250,000 tickets annually with turnover of 4+ million euros. The company is working with one of the biggest celebrities in Bulgaria, such as Zachary Baharov, Dimitar Rachkov and Lubo Kirov.

Investments

• FantasticStay: Fantastic Stay is a digital real estate company specializing in short-term rentals. On one hand, they offer software for property managers globally, and on the other, they’re building their own portfolio of premium properties around the World.
• Excitel: One of the largest Internet Connection/Service Providers in India with more than 900k subscribers.
• FindMeCure: FindMeCure helps anyone to easily find future treatments and apply for participation in studies within a few clicks. They also offer a SaaS solution that they sell to clinical trial organizations and pharmaceutical companies.
• EconicOne: Econic One is a Bulgarian manufacturer of e-bikes aiming to change the way we move and do this in a sustainable way.
• SmartOcto: SmartOcto is a smart editorial analytics system. It’s built with and designed for newsrooms, storytellers and other content creators.
• Eleven Fund III: Eleven Ventures is one of the leading early-stage VCs in Southeast Europe, investing in startups since 2012. With 150 collective investments over 10 years, Eleven’s team has been instrumental in catalyzing the regional startup ecosystem.
• trueInsights: trueInsights is a science-based tool that shows eCommerce what and how needs to be improved on any product page.

Board Member:

• Board Member of HR Capital – Bulgarian public company who is investing in different business ventures in the field of technology.
• Board Member of BESCO – A non-governmental organization that acts as a bridge between startups, private and institutional investors, the government and other stakeholders in the innovation industry.

Hristo Tenchev

Entrepreneur

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• Founder XS Software (2004)
• Co-founder SoftUni (2013)
• Co-founder LockTrip.com (2017)

Introduction

Born in Sofia, Bulgaria on the 3rd of August 1986.
Graduates 73rd German High School in Sofia.

University degrees – Engineering Bachelor Degree in Computer Systems and Technologies in German Faculty of TU Sofia and MBA.

Hristo’s first touch with technology and games came as a young kid before joining an elementary school, fascinated by games like Karateka on Pravetz microcomputer and games on the early consoles Atari and SEGA.

Gaming grew into a real passion for Hristo during elementary and high school.

In his last year in school, Hristo decided to create his own computer game and started to self-educate in computer programming. He created the first Bulgarian MMO game in 2004 – Bulfleet.com, which set the foundation of XS Software – his first company (https://www.xs-software.com/).

The company is officially registered next year, once Hristo turned 18 years and can legally manage it. XS Software develops over 10 games, publishing in 30+ languages and managing to attract over 60 million players worldwide. To this day the most famous titles are:

• KhanWars (www.khanwars.com), – a medieval real-time online strategy game, having 20+ million registered players.
• Lady Popular (www.LadyPopular.com) – Fashion role-playing online game, having 35+ million registered players.

At the end of 2013, Hristo enters into a partnership with Svetlin Nakov and they founded together SoftUni (https://www.softuni.bg (BG) / www.softuni.org (EN)) – an innovative educational group aiming to provide quality education and career development in the area of digital technologies – programming, digital marketing, entrepreneurship and computer graphics.

Hristo and Svetlin joined forces with a strong third partner – Ivan Nenkov and together they grow SoftUni to become the largest educational organization in Bulgaria having more than 400,000 registered students, a vast portfolio of courses and innovative educational initiatives in various areas such as:

• Leaderclass.bg – an online platform for education, where public leaders share their personal know-how and experience
• FinanceAcademy.bg – a private education center for financial education.
• Digital education in K-12 age groups with SoftUni Kids (kids.softuni.bg) focused on 6-12 years and SoftUni Svetlina (svetlina.softuni.bg) – the first in Bulgaria licensed professional high school for Digital Sciences.

SoftUni is now focused on expanding its educational initiatives and its international growth, setting the start of www.softuni.org.

In 2017 Hristo entered into a partnership with Nikola Alexandrov and they founded together LockTrip (www.locktrip.com) – a members-only platform, allowing users to book flights and hotels worldwide at 20%+ lower prices.

Later on WebJet Limited (WEB.AX), a publicly traded company, valued at $2B, invested in the company. Today LockTrip includes offers by 2+ million hotels worldwide.

Hristo is among a few Bulgarians, featured twice on the Forbes Bulgaria cover.

Hristo is among the first 4 Bulgarians, featured in Forbes Europe 30 under 30 list.

With his entrepreneurial experience, Hristo is assisting and investing in various start-ups and established companies.

Over the years Hristo has taken part in numerous public speaking events and has been featured in many TV interviews, magazines, and newspapers. His ventures have amassed dozens of awards and achievements.

Denislav Georgiev

Entrepreneur

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Introduction

My name is Denislav Georgiev, I’ve been an entrepreneur and investor in companies related to the IT field for the past 14 years. I started my first digital business at the age of 22 during my masters.

Since then I’ve been constantly improving my skills in leading a product company, which has helped me to accumulate a serious background in starting businesses from scratch, creating an excellent operational team, driven by high company culture, leading to consistent results.

As my biggest achievement I would classify 1ForFit.com, which we built together with my partners from 0 to 60+ people. An amazing team and worldwide recognition on more than 180+ Markets.

Besides leading a company in the past couple of years I started to invest in companies, which I believe had great potential to go public in the future. If you are interested in my journey from 2010 until 2022 you could check the following article:

https://forbesbulgaria.com/2022/07/22/танцуващият-с-инфлуенсъри/

Education

• 91 German Language School
  Sofia High school of Mathematics
• Master’s Degree (Transportation Engineering) / The University of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Geodesy, Bulgaria
• Master’s Degree (Management of Infrastructure) / Vienna University of Technology, Austria

Experience

• Sep 2010 – present / Founder (Dietata.com is nutrition website which lets you create a personal meal plan)
• March 2011 – 2013 / co-Founder (ProDiet is a mobile application that lets you create a personal meal plan)
• Oct 2015 – present / co-Founder (1ForFit.com is a leading multi-brand and direct-to-customer developer with significant scale and reach across Europe, North and South America, Australia, Africa, and Asia. Present on 180+ markets and reaching more than 300 million people worldwide. B2C Marketing Campaigns with a budget of $20+ million for 2020 )
• January 2020 – present Lecturer (Softuni.org is the largest educational institution in Bulgaria having more than 400 000 registered students)

Investments

• Excitel (https://www.excitel.com) – one of the largest Internet Connection/Service Providers in India with more than 900k subscribers.
• FindMeCure (https://www.findmecure.com) – FindMeCure helps anyone to easily find future treatments and apply for participation in studies within a few clicks.
• EconicOne (https://www.econicone.com) – Econic One is a Bulgarian manufacturer of e-bikes aiming to change the way we move and do this in a sustainable way.
• SmartOcto (https://smartocto.com) – Smartocto is a smart editorial analytics system. It’s built with and designed for newsrooms, storytellers and other content creators.
• Eleven Fund III (https://www.11.vc) – Eleven Ventures is one of the leading early-stage VCs in Southeast Europe, investing in startups since 2012. With 150 collective investments over 10 years, Eleven’s team has been instrumental in catalyzing the regional startup ecosystem.

Ivan Nenkov

Entrepreneur

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Introduction

• He began his career at Start It Smart, participating in the first projects forming the then nascent startup ecosystem in Sofia (2010).
• In 2014, he became part of the then-starting SoftUni organization, taking the position of Executive Director and partner in the company.
• Board member and partner in Motion Software, which in 2022 will be acquired by the American multimillion-dollar company Exadel.
• Partner in many organizations such as “SoftUni Svetlina”, Finance Academy, digital marketing agency CreateX.
• Various individual awards, including Forbes’ 30 under 30, for the most successful Bulgarians under 30, 1st place at the B2B Awards for Executive Director of the Year, 3rd place in the Forbes ranking for Executive Director of the Year.