The earlier a venture capital investment, the less it’s about numbers and business, and the more it’s about the people in the startup and their idea. When in 2021 we joined the excellent high school entrepreneurship program Teenovator as mentors, we met an entrepreneur whose grit, dedication and the ability to never take no for an answer inspired us beyond what we usually see in considerably more mature and experienced entrepreneurs. The fact that his idea evolved around sugar-free ice cream was less of a concern than the obvious entrepreneurial qualities this founder exhibited.
Such is the story of Alex Paunov, who was still in high school when we first met him two years ago at Teenovator. When Alex went on to win the program in 2022, we started discussing the possibility to invest in his ice cream startup, IcePro, and earlier this year, we successfully did so, and Alex joined the Future Verticals future of food accelerator program that we partnered with as investors. As he expanded his team with seasoned Bulgarian entrepreneur Oggy Popov, who is also part of the team of another company that we invested in, we had the full confidence that this high school startup idea can become a sustainable innovative business.
The idea that ice cream can be not only healthy but also tasty first came to Alex when he was sixteen. As he explains, there are a number of protein-based desserts on the market, but they all taste awful. “You always have to make this compromise between healthy and good-tasting when it comes to protein-added foods'', he explains as he puts the finishing touches on IcePro’s brand-new ice cream parlor, smack in the middle of the food court in Sofia’s biggest indoor shopping mall, Paradise Center. “I simply got obsessed with finding the best ingredients and mixing them in the best possible proportions”.
And that’s pretty much what IcePro is all about. It’s really tasty ice cream, with zero added sugar and only around 150 calories per serving of 100 grams. Most people of Alex’s age can say that graduating high school and starting studies or work are the biggest accomplishments in their life so far, but in the two years that Alex has been working on the idea, he has not only done all of that, but has also managed to successfully launch and grow a company that now serves hundreds of portions of ice cream every day all across Bulgaria.
With the successful participation in Future Verticals, and the investment secured from us at Vitosha, Alex is expanding the flavors, production, and distribution of IcePro. Having successfully partnered with restaurants and seaside venues during the summer beach season, he is now a proud tenant of the best-located parlor in the Paradise Center food court, and is launching distribution with one of the biggest supermarket chains in Bulgaria, Kaufland. And with eight ice cream flavors and counting, IcePro has also started offering protein shakes and sugar-free cookies at some of the locations where it’s sold.
All we can say is that we’re very proud of Alex, and that you should go get a serving of IcePro yourself at Paradise Center, and then stop by Kaufland to get more for sharing at home with your loved ones, all without any guilt or compromise to your diet and exercise routine. And don't forget to follow IcePro on Instagram for all of their latest news, flavors, and locations.