Page 16 - bne_Magazine_September_2017

16 I Companies & Markets bne September 2017
bne:FinTech
Sale of Bulgarian airfare search company to spur on local market
Denitsa Koseva in So a
The recently completed sale of Bulgaria-based cloud software company Vayant Travel Technologies to the US’s PROS Holding, -- second largest such deal in Bulgaria to date – could help the IT sector to attract foreign investors, Pavel Ezekiev, co-founder of tech venture-capital fund NEVEQ, said in an interview with bne IntelliNews.
NEVEQ was the largest investor in Vayant, and has been with the company since its establishment in 2007. The IT company was sold to PROS Holding for $35mn, ranking the deal
right after the sale of fellow IT company Telerik, a provider of application development tools, which was acquired by US-based Progress Software for $262.5mn in 2014. The
deal ranks is also a top 10 exit to a global strategic player of a software vendor in the region, according to Ezekiev.
“I think it’s time – beside the brilliant example of Telerik – to start seeing this more often, for it to be a trend, not a phenomenon, because I think that that in Bulgaria there exists a strong entrepreneurship culture,” Ezekiev said.
Entrepreneurship is Bulgaria's best suit and more established than the manufacturing sector, says Ezekiev, although the software industry is still at an early development stage.
Vayant was set up in 2007 with funding from NEVEQ the Cape Capital fund. German airline Lufthansa joined in 2014, although Ezekiev declined to say just how much has been invested in total.
The Bulgaria-based company has developed technology for airfare search, providing its services to the airline and wider travel industry as the local market is too small.
Its clients include some of Europe’s biggest airlines.
“I think that the significance of this deal and the Telerik one is that when you have a positive example in your
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neighborhood, this has a positive impact, even if it is symbolic,” Ezekiev said. He added that the investors who exited Telerik have since reinvested their capital in Bulgarian enterprises, which Vayant’s investors are also expected to do.
“I expect that those people will affect the environment, because it’s not just about money – there is money for
“The deal ranks among the top 10 venture-backed exits to a global strategic player”
startups in Bulgaria, the question is whether you can not only engage with a sum, but also provide your time and expertise to the people who want to do something,” Ezekiev said.
From PROS Holding’s point of view, the acquisition of Vayant will give it access to European markets and expand its portfolio.
“The combination of Vayant’s shopping, pricing and merchandising with PROS revenue management and real-time availability solutions provides extraordinary value to our customers and partners. Bringing together the complementary travel expertise of our two companies provides a further synergy to support the ongoing changes of the travel industry and opens positive opportunities to Vayant employees. We are honoured
to become part of the PROS family,” Vayant’s CEO Eric Dumas said in a statement announcing the deal.