NOVATOR-backed startup CloudCart closed a €640k Seed Funding Round

Our portfolio company, CloudCart, just closed a €640k (BGN1.25m) investment with the professional support of our team. We at NOVATOR successfully partnered with CloudCart and New Vision 3 (NV3) to conclude one of the biggest investment deals in the field s of e-commerce in Bulgaria in the recent year. 

The VC fund NV3 led the round providing €500k, out of which €440k are public funds coming from the Fund of Funds. The rest €200k were contributed by private co-investors with the participation of NOVATOR. The lead investor NV3 will have an option to increase its stake in the company by up to €1m within one year upon certain milestones reached.

Well prepared for an international growth

The structuring of the investment round and the finalization of the transaction took place after confirmed interest from multiple local and international investors. “We will be using this initial investment for CloudCart in a most strategic manner – namely for opening up new markets and new opportunities to CloudCart in Europe” states CloudCart’s CEO, Nikolay Iliev.

CloudCart, as founded in 2016 by Nikolay Iliev and Peter Iliev, is a novel Bulgarian e-Commerce platform allowing merchants to fast and easily build an online store with a variety of value-adding functionalities and third-party integrations. CloudCart’s product is mainly targeted at the vast majority of small and mid-size merchants willing to bring and grow their businesses online.

Lead Investor coming on board

NV3’s Managing Partner, Konstantin Petrov, explained that CloudCart’s product and business vision is complementing effectively with the rest investments of NV3 as well as with the strategic positioning of the Fund’s portfolio. “We are happy for the opportunity to invest in a motivated team and a company whose development we’ve been following for a few years. The company is positioned within a growing segment of the market, has a proven business model, and has developed a partnership ecosystem – all of which are factors we believe are crucial for a successful international expansion” shares Konstantin.

New Vision 3 is a Venture Capital Fund investing in early-stage companies and is successor to NEVEQ I and NEVEQ II - veterans in the VC industry in Bulgaria and in the region. NV3 is based in Sofia, Bulgaria, and invests in fast-growing technology companies, aiming to achieve leading positions on global and / or local markets. A major investor in NV3 is the Fund of Funds providing the amount of EUR 19.1 million under the Operational Program "Innovation and Competitiveness 2014-2020," co-financed by the European structural and investment funds.

Our Involvement

We at NOVATOR are very proud with the progress of CloudCart for the past several months since we have been working closely together on the product’s strategic positioning, on their financial modelling, and on investor relations. We believe NV3 are a great fit coming on board of the company at this stage and we are happy for being able to assist and mediate for this deal to happen.

NOVATOR is an advanced B2B intermediary supporting startups in fundraising, business development, and financial management. Our mission is to support Bulgarian high-impact projects on their way to global success. With our wide range of top-up services we are a one-stop-shop and add value all the way through the development, acceleration, and growth phases of our portfolio projects.