Meet The Team - Fintech Bulgaria

Founded in 2017, BFA is a non-governmental organization, aiming at bringing together all FinTech companies in Bulgaria. The BFA community consists of specialists, with proven track in Financial Technologies, who want to further develop the FinTech industry in the region.

The goal of the organization is to represent and safeguard the shared values of its members before regulators, investors, financial institutions, foreign associations, partners and any other party.

Connect tradition &
innovation

Represent the industry's interests

Improve the awareness
about the sector

Stimulate financial
innovation

Serve as a platform for knowledge sharing

Establish Bulgaria as a Fintech centre

Build a Fintech community

Meet our Team

Valeri Valtchev

Valeri is a serial entrepreneur and investor. During the last 15 years he has invested in over 15 companies in Bulgaria, some of which made it from start-ups to well established ventures. Valeri built successful businesses in IT, financial services, professional services, energy, automotive, real estate, telecoms and entertainment. In the last couple of years, he’s been focusing on redefining payments by building several fintech companies among which Paynetics, Phyre and Phos. He is also Chairman of the Bulgarian Fintech Association.

He was previously an international lawyer with White & Case in Brussels and Washington D.C.

VALERI VALTCHEV

CO-FOUNDER & CHAIRMAN

Svetoslav Dimitrov

Svetoslav Dimitrov has an experience as a Managing Partner of one of the biggest Bulgarian Law Offices – Penkov, Markov & Partners, as well as extensive experience as litigator, especially in the area of IT, TMT and FinTech. He is currently one of the partners at Innimmo and the Paynetics group.

SVETOSLAV DIMITROV

CO-FOUNDER & BOD MEMBER

Kaloyan Ratchev

Kaloyan Ratchev is a Founding Board Member of the Bulgarian Fintech Association. He is also the Founder & CEO of Vangavis Ltd – an international innovation company with a focus on future industries, supporting the internationalisation and the growth of startups, scaleups and ecosystems. He is a partner at Trending Topics – a European media company with a focus on business and technology, based in Austria and Bulgaria.

Kaloyan is also an Initiator & Organiser of Fintech Ecosystem Summits in Vienna 2017. Prior to that, he has more than 15 years of professional experience in agency business, as well as in corporates like A1 Telekom Austria or GfK Austria.

KALOYAN RATCHEV

CO-FOUNDER & BOD MEMBER

Martin Bogdanov

Martin Bogdanov is CEO and among the founders of Paysera Bulgaria, one of the first FinTech companies in Bulgaria. He has more than 20 years’ experience in the financial sector and has held managing positions in leading banks in Bulgaria and Albania. He has numerous international specializations in the field of economics, debt instruments, money and currency markets, lending and sales techniques. He has participated as lecturer at events for e-commerce and online shops, payment systems, international business, sales techniques, and more.

MARTIN BOGDANOV

BOD MEMBER

Loic Le Pichoux

Loic Le Pichoux is the CEO and a Co-Founder of Klear, a unique platform combining Peer-to-Peer Lending and Financial Education.

Loic brings in 20 years of experience in Cetelem and BNP Paribas Personal Finance, having occupied various C-Executive positions in many countries. He had been the CEO of Cetelem in Algeria and was the CEO of BNP Paribas Personal Finance in Bulgaria just before leaving this big banking group.

Gathering a team of experienced professionals from the industry having previously worked with him, Klear was created in Bulgaria with the idea to build a sustainable activity, fair and transparent.

LOIC LE PICHOUX

BOD MEMBER

Ivaylo Ivanov

Ivaylo Ivanov is the CEO of iuvo and a Board member of the Bulgarian Fintech Association. In the last 7 years he has designed, launched and further developed various fintech business models. He has collaborated with pan-EU regulators (EC, EIFR, ESMA, EBA) on topics of development of the EU fintech landscape. Ivaylo was also founding Board member of the first European Equity Crowdfunding Association (EECA).

IVAYLO IVANOV

BOD MEMBER

Georgi Penev

Georgi has a proven track in business consulting and development in the IT sector of Bulgaria. He started working in the IT sector 7 years ago after which he quickly moved to a leading role in the business development of an award-winning Fintech company in Bulgaria. Georgi holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Sciences from the UNWE-Sofia and a Master’s Degree in Public Policy and Management from the University of Glasgow.
He believes in the benefits of digital transformation and wants to take an active part in building the bright future of Fintech in Bulgaria and Europe.

GEORGI PENEV

DIRECTOR

Guergana Stoitchkova

Gergana is part of Eleven Ventures, one of the most active VC funds in the SEE region, where she’s heading their Visa Innovation Program. She’s also part of the fintech investment team, leveraging her experience in the field. Prior to that, she was a Strategy Manager at Paynetics, working closely with all fintech companies from the group. Previously Director, Gergana is also still very much involved with the Bulgarian Fintech Association, which she helped building from the ground up. She holds BSc in BA from LMU in Munich and MSc in Finance from Bocconi University in Milan.

GERGANA STOITCHKOVA

ADVISOR

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