Newsletter

From Sofia to the world 🇧🇬🇫🇷

Bonjour, Hello, здравей 👋

We’re very proud to share that French Tech Sofia has officially been renewed for the 2026-2028 French Tech Communities cycle.

In practical terms, Sofia remains part of the global French Tech network, alongside communities in cities such as London, Tokyo, New York, Berlin, Barcelona, and many others.

The new French Tech Capitals and Communities network was announced on May 6 during a special event at Qonto’s headquarters in Paris, with Anne Le Hénanff, Minister Delegate for Artificial Intelligence and Digital Affairs, and Julie Huguet, President of La French Tech.

For us, it’s another sign that Sofia has become one of the most interesting tech ecosystems in Europe. And maybe beyond, but I might be slightly biased 

With three more years ahead of us, this feels like the right moment to restart something simple: a regular note from the ecosystem.

Over the past year, as The Recursive kindly noted recently, we have been quietly building stronger foundations around French Tech Sofia:

A platform. 

An editorial voice. 

More bridges.

For founders, operators, investors, institutions, and communities.To give more context to what is happening in and around the ecosystem.To make companies, initiatives, and people easier to discover.

You know how this goes.

Small steps, and a compound effect.

A lot of it starts with small conversations.

An introduction.A shared contact.A founder meeting the right person at the right time.A local initiative getting one more opportunity to be seen.

The timing feels right too. Sofia has changed a lot over the past years, for the better.

You can feel more maturity, more international energy, and more ambition. You see founders building globally from Bulgaria, operators bringing experience from abroad, investors paying more attention to the region, and communities finding meaningful ways to collaborate.

EVENTS

We are continuing our regular afterworks and gatherings. Always a good excuse to catch up and meet new people!

Next Afterwork,

? Tuesday, May 19th

? 6:45 PM

? Puzl CowOrKing, Alabin 58, Sofia

We’ll be back with two speaker sessions with Nusha Ognyanova, founder of Botanic Group and  Julien Sebire Founder of Hacking Reality and creator @hackingreality YouTube channel. This will be followed by the traditional post-talk networking.

? Register here.

COMMUNITY UPDATES

A few recent signals we found interesting and you may want to read:

• Marie Dumoulin on France-Bulgaria cultural ties
• DRONAMICS enters Japan with a local investor
• EU backs EUR210M for Bulgaria’s high-tech sector

ON THE PLATFORM

Over the past weeks, we also started expanding the French Tech Sofia platform with new ecosystem radar coverage, company and service pages, editorial content, and ongoing improvements to the website.

Recent company additions include Puzl CowOrKing, Capto, Inensia, Maier and Martinez, and ScoutAround, with more to come. Maybe yours is next? Reply to this email and I’ll be happy to schedule a discussion.

The goal is simple: make it easier to discover who is building what, locally and across borders.

The ambition is simple too: create more visibility, connections, and momentum around the people and companies building between Bulgaria, France, and Europe.

Thank you to everyone supporting the initiative so far.

Through advice, introductions, events, partnerships, feedback, or simply by reading and sharing the work, it genuinely helps.

More soon,

Wilfried Durand

President, French Tech Sofia

Originally sent on May 15, 2026 to French Tech Sofia newsletter subscribers.