“We will [still] be a unicorn today”, says CEO of Bulgaria’s first-ever $1bn startup

The CEO of Bulgaria’s first-ever unicorn says it would still be a $1bn valued startup, if valued today. Hristo Borisov, CEO and co-founder of Payhawk, was speaking on the Tech.eu podcast, where he discussed the history of Payhawk, his relationship with his co-founders, future plans and how AI is and will impact the spend management industry.

Payhawk became Bulgaria’s first-ever unicorn in 2022, following a $100m extension to a series B round. It has not had further funding since, but Borisov says Payhawk would still be valued at $1bn at least if valued today.

He said:

"We will be. And the reason for that is because we are almost 20 times the revenue we were when we did that round. 

"We had an opportunity to close multiple times rounds that were at that valuation and, you know, we have rejected them."

Elsewhere in the podcast, Borisov talks about the impact AI will have on Payhawk and the wider spend management industry. He said it marked a “new competitive playground” where Payhawk can challenge in the procurement and accounts payable space.

He said with the arrival of AI agents, Payhawk would be one of the companies building agents.

He said:

"The way we think about AI is just another channel, the way we think about mobile, the way we think about web, AI is yet another channel.

"Our philosophy is not to build an AI team, I think AI needs to be across the board."