Dare2Scale

Ethermind Wins Best Pitch Award at Endeavor’s Dare2Scale Demo Day

A total of 16 companies and two non-governmental organizations from Albania, Bulgaria, Kosovo, and North Macedonia participated in the seventh and largest edition to date of Endeavor’s growth program, Dare2Scale. The program is designed for entrepreneurs and companies ready to scale their businesses and move into the next phase of growth.

Participants went through an intensive program that included more than 10 group sessions held in Sofia, Skopje, and Pristina, led by established regional entrepreneurs and business leaders such as Mergim Cahani (Founder of Gjirafa), Doruk Mutlu (CEO of EVAM and Endeavor Entrepreneur), Pavel Goch (part of Insider — a Turkish unicorn and member of the Endeavor network), Skerdi Sino (Chief Marketing Officer at Native Teams), Zarena Kancheva (former Senior Director of Global Growth & Marketing at Rakuten Viber), among others. In addition, each company received up to 10 one-on-one mentoring sessions with consultants from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and leaders from the Endeavor network.

Collaboration between the entrepreneurial ecosystems of the four countries became evident through the companies’ active participation in the program’s regional initiatives and their strong drive to build partnerships. This was most clearly felt during the second international Dare2Scale Demo Day in Sofia, where entrepreneurs demonstrated their readiness to share experience and ideas and to develop joint projects — some of which are already underway.

"The seventh edition of the program is clear proof that the regional approach works. Since last year, we have been following a deliberate path toward building a stronger and more connected region. This year, we saw that vision become reality: companies naturally seek collaboration, exchange knowledge, and build trust with one another. Creating bridges between Bulgaria and the Western Balkans is key to accelerating growth — not only for individual businesses, but for the entire entrepreneurial ecosystem. We are excited to continue on this path and to see the regional community grow and strengthen in the years ahead."

Ivo Atanassov, Dare2Scale Program Manager

The expert jury evaluating the participants’ pitches consisted of established business leaders including Manuela Nessl (EBRD), Bojidar Neytchev (PwC), Mergim Cahani (Gjirafa), Diana Stefanova (BrightCap Ventures), and Todor Breshkov (LAUNCHub Ventures). Companies were assessed based on three criteria: potential for global growth, clarity of strategic goals, and presentation skills.

The main award of the evening — the Jury Award — was presented to Ethermind, a company that transforms organizations’ critical expertise into AI agents. By doing so, Ethermind addresses the loss of valuable knowledge and skills when experts leave, converting their experience into a permanently accessible resource.

Two additional awards were presented to three participants based on their overall performance throughout the program:

  • Endeavor Ambassador Award, granted to a company that actively engages and educates its community around Endeavor’s mission, was awarded to kidsday — a fast-growing Kosovar edtech company transforming early childhood education, which has recently entered the Bulgarian market.

  • Momentum and Progress Award, recognizing companies that successfully applied feedback from the Endeavor network and established new key connections and improvements, was awarded to:
    BioStyle — a leading producer of innovative organic and gluten-free foods.
    Simobotics — a developer of collaborative and autonomous mobile robots for logistics and industrial applications.

The event concluded with an open invitation to entrepreneurs looking to scale their businesses to apply for the next edition of Dare2Scale. Endeavor opened an expression-of-interest form for the 2026 program, both for companies wishing to apply and for founders who deserve to be recommended.

Dare2Scale is implemented with the support of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the Bulgarian Small and Medium Enterprises Promotion Agency (BSMEPA), the America for Bulgaria Foundation, and the Fund Manager of Financial Instruments in Bulgaria (FMFIB).

For another consecutive year, senior experts and business consultants from four PwC offices provided mentorship to participants. For the first time, South Central Ventures joined the program as a capital partner for the Western Balkans.

This year’s regional partners include Gjirafa, Startup Club Skopje, Keiretsu Forum, and the Swiss Entrepreneurship Program (Swiss EP).

Media partners of Dare2Scale 2025 are Forbes Bulgaria, Bloomberg TV Bulgaria, Digitalk, and Vestbee.