Bulgaria still prizes hosting COP
Sofia still hopes to co-host the UN Climate Change Conference in 2024 (COP29) despite the opposition of Russia and Belarus, the Minister of Environment and Water, Julian Popov, told journalists on the eve of this year's COP28 climate conference in Dubai.
Hosting COP28, which is scheduled to be held in Eastern Europe, could be problematic since Russia has blocked the applications of EU member states. The other candidates are Azerbaijan and Armenia but given their mutual conflict, they will most likely veto each other's candidature.
Against this background, Bulgaria has proposed a new model: the so-called distributed COP, where events are divided among several host countries in the same region.
Three policemen fired over violence against protesters
Interior Minister Kalin Stoyanov has claimed that he was absent during police violence towards those protesting against the management of the Bulgarian Football Federation last Thursday. He added that the ministry's performance should not be castigated because of individual cases of police aggression.
The head of the Sofia Police (SDVR), Lyubomir Nikolov, announced that in less than 48 hours, five employees had been found to have committed violations against protesters. Disciplinary proceedings were instituted against three police officers over abuse of authority (out of this group of five) and they have now been sacked.
LucidLink wins financing
Software company LucidLink, which develops software for rapid communication and cloud collaboration, has raised a series C funding round worth $75 million. The company was co-founded by the Bulgarian Georgi Dochev and works partially from Bulgaria.
The leading investor in the current round is the American fund Brighton Park Capital, which also includes Headline Ventures, Baseline Ventures and Adobe Ventures, the fund of the software giant Adobe, previous investors in the company. The Bulgarian fund BrightCap participated in the previous three rounds in the company, including the earliest financing.
LucidLink would not comment on the company's valuation, but the previous funding round in mid-2022 was valued at $200 million on a $20 million investment, suggesting that with the new round, LucidLink is likely to cross the $500 million mark. With the new investment, the total external financing raised by the company reaches $115 million.
Bulgaria still prizes hosting COP
Sofia still hopes to co-host the UN Climate Change Conference in 2024 (COP29) despite the opposition of Russia and Belarus, the Minister of Environment and Water, Julian Popov, told journalists on the eve of this year's COP28 climate conference in Dubai.
