The firm’s CEO took one of the last flights out of Bulgaria to get back to his family in London.

The CEO of Phos, a UK fintech startup that turns Android phones into payment terminals, managed to pin down $1 million in venture capital in Bulgaria – just as a state of emergency was declared. 
Founded in 2018, Phos has offices in London and Bulgaria, and was backed by New Vision 3, an early-stage venture capital firm, alongside a string of unnamed angel investors. 
The company’s software offers a new method of payment acceptance via smartphones, turning any Android device into a payments terminal, and eliminating the need for additional hardware and cutting related costs.
Speaking to Business Insider, cofounder Ivo Gueorguiev described how the firm’s CEO Brad Hyett was forced to catch the last flight out of Sofia to get back to his family in London – just as Bulgaria set course for a nationwide lockdown. 
“We signed the documents on the day the state of emergency was announced,” Gueorguiev said.
“Clearly, these were challenging circumstances, but our investors were fully supportive. And we managed to close this on time, as expected, despite everything going on in the world.”
The firm, which has raised almost $3 million in fundraising to date, said it would use the new investments to make new hires and expand its services’ capabilities. 
We got an exclusive look at the pitch deck it used to bring investors on board: