Sci-high Foundation

What Sci-high Foundation does

Sci-High Foundation (Фондация Сай Хай) is a Bulgarian non-profit organisation established in 2018 and headquartered in Sofia, Bulgaria. It operates a year-round student science club programme for grades 5–12 in which teams of 2–5 students, supported by a teacher-moderator at the school and a professional mentor from a university or industry, complete real scientific and engineering projects that culminate in public presentations at regional and national festivals. The foundation runs 21 partner schools across 9 Bulgarian towns and cities, has held 23 festivals attracting 1,376 visitors, and maintains a mentor network of 16 professionals alongside 18 teacher moderators and 7 volunteers.

The foundation delivers its programme through a custom festival management platform (sci-high.org) built on Supabase for database, authentication, file storage and edge functions, Cloudflare for hosting, CDN and bot protection (Turnstile), Resend for transactional email, Google Maps API for geolocation, and Stripe for donation processing. The platform supports team registration, festival categories, jury evaluation, public voting, and project media. Alongside the clubs, Sci-High runs three named programmes: Eco Champions (an Active Citizens Fund Bulgaria–funded €94,601 environmental project), STEM Lingua (STEM-context language development), and Learning Together (cross-grade school STEM club support). In June 2026, the foundation hosted a workshop delivered by MIT Edgerton Center at Sofia University.

The foundation is funded entirely by individual donations (via Stripe, GlobalGiving, Benevity, and direct bank transfer), corporate sponsorships structured in three tiers (Silver €2,500/year, Gold €12,500/year, Platinum €40,000/year), and institutional project grants. The programme is free for all student participants. Co-founders Reneta Bogdanova and Eli Stoykova lead the organisation, with Nadezhda Dimitrova serving as product manager and designer. Distribution is direct to Bulgarian schools through a community-led referral network, with growth supported by an active earned-media presence including 22 press appearances since 2019 across BNT, Bloomberg TV Bulgaria, BNR, and Dnevnik.bg.

Name

Sci-high Foundation

Legal name

Sci-High Foundation

Website

https://sci-high.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2018

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Sci-High Foundation is a Bulgarian non-profit that runs year-round student science clubs and public science festivals for grades 5–12 across 21 partner schools, connecting students with teacher-moderators and professional mentors from universities and industry, funded by donations, corporate sponsorships, and grants.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

STEM Education (nonprofit, K-12 extracurricular)

NAICS

Grantmaking and Giving Services (81321)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

STEM Research & Inquiry Programs (Research Mentorship, Science Fair Prep) (EDAMABAC)

akta.pro secondary industries

Hands-on Science Exploration & Experiments (Lab Kits, Science Clubs) (EDAMABAA), Research & Science Fair Competitions (Science Fairs, Research Symposiums) (EDAMAGAL)

Keywords

• STEM education programs
• Student science festivals
• School science clubs
• Scientific mentorship programs
• Nonprofit STEM outreach

Headquarters

HQ city

Sofia

HQ country

Bulgaria

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Individual Donations: Personal donations from individuals supporting the programme. Donors can give via Stripe (card), GlobalGiving, Benevity (employer matching), or direct bank transfer. Donations are unconditional and used entirely for programme delivery.
2. Corporate Partnerships: Three-tiered corporate sponsorship model (Silver €2,500/yr, Gold €12,500/yr, Platinum €40,000/yr) providing logo placement, festival access, mentorship opportunities, and co-branding in exchange for annual financial support.
3. Project Grants: Funding from institutional donors such as the Active Citizens Fund Bulgaria programme (€94,601 grant for the Eco Champions project).

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Sci-High Foundation runs a free, hands-on scientific literacy programme for Bulgarian students in grades 5–12, delivered through school-based science clubs supported by teacher-moderators and professional mentors from leading universities and industry. Teams of 2–5 students work on real scientific and engineering projects that culminate in public science festivals, supported by a custom cloud-based festival management platform for registration, mentor matching, jury evaluation, and voting.

Product overview

Sci-high Foundation operates a unified platform for student science education, combining a festival management system with ongoing science clubs for grades 5-12. The core product consists of the Sci-High Festival Management Platform and Sci-High Student Science Clubs, supported by three programs: Eco Champions (environmental project-based learning, €94,601 funding), STEM Lingua (language development in STEM contexts), and Learning Together (cross-grade school club support). Students create real scientific and engineering projects with mentors from universities and industry, culminating in public festival presentations.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Sci-High Student Science Clubs School-based science clubs for students in grades 5–12 where participants work in teams of 2–5 on real scientific and engineering projects guided by a teacher-moderator and a professional mentor from a leading university or industry. The programme is free for students and is the foundation's primary educational offering.
• Sci-High Student Science Festivals Public, juried science festivals in which Sci-High student teams present their scientific and engineering projects on stage to a jury, media, and audience. Includes regional and national editions (e.g. the National Sci-High STEM Fest), with team registration, jury evaluation and public voting coordinated through the foundation's festival management platform.
• Sci-High Festival Management Platform Web-based platform (sci-high.org) that supports team registration, mentor matching, jury evaluation workflows, public voting, and project presentation tracking for Sci-High science festivals. Built on Supabase (database, auth, storage, edge functions), Cloudflare (hosting, CDN, bot protection), Resend (transactional email), Google Maps API and Stripe.
• Eco Champions (Еко Шампиони) Funded project that trains and supports student teams working on environmental topics in their communities — including air pollution, waste, light pollution and noise pollution — supported by mentors from universities and industry and regional public presentations.
• STEM Lingua Programme that develops students' language skills in a STEM context, helping them present scientific work in Bulgarian and English and preparing them for international presentations.
• Learning Together (Учим заедно) Long-running initiative that supports the creation of STEM clubs in schools where students from different grades work together on projects that matter to their school and community.

Quantifiable outcome

• 279 students participated in the programme across all seasons
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration5 records

Feature1 record

Partnerships

18 partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• abv AcademyminorStrategic or Co-development Partnerabv Academy is listed as a partner of Sci-High, likely providing educational or mentorship support to the programme.
• IBM BulgariaminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerIBM Bulgaria is listed as a partner of Sci-High, likely providing technology expertise or mentorship support.
• PhoneArenaminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPhoneArena is listed as a partner of Sci-High.
• RATIOminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerRATIO is listed as a partner of Sci-High.
• Biological Faculty, Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski"coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Biological Faculty of Sofia University is a key partner, hosting the national Sci-High STEM Fest venue and providing university lecturers as mentors for student teams.
• Vratsa Software SocietycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerVratsa Software Society partners with Sci-High, contributing to the Eco Champions project and providing mentorship support for student teams in the Vratsa region.
• Education Without Backpacks (Образование без раници)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerEducation Without Backpacks is listed as a partner of Sci-High, likely contributing educational expertise to the programme.
• TechnokratiminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerTechnokrati is listed as a partner of Sci-High, contributing technology expertise.
• Foundation "Zaedno v Chas" (Заедно в час)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFoundation 'Zaedno v Chas' is a long-term partner of Sci-High, providing coordination support and contributing mentors and staff to the programme.
• Foundation Reach for Change BulgariaminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerReach for Change Bulgaria is listed as a partner of Sci-High, providing support for the programme.
• Foundation Halo 2019coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFoundation Halo 2019 is a key partner in the Eco Champions project, managing activities in Sofia, Haskovo, and Vratsa, and contributing to the programme's operational delivery.
• Centre for Applied Research and Innovation CASIminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCASI (Centre for Applied Research and Innovation) is listed as a partner of Sci-High.
• MIT Edgerton CentercoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMIT Edgerton Center collaborated with Sci-High to deliver a workshop for students and teachers in Sofia on 6 June 2026, led by Prof. Ed Moriarty. This partnership brings international expertise and inspiration to Bulgarian students.
• Supabase Inc.coreTechnology or IntegrationSupabase provides the database, authentication, file storage, and edge functions powering Sci-High's festival management platform and website (sci-high.org). Data processing agreement in place under Art. 28 GDPR.
• Cloudflare Inc.coreTechnology or IntegrationCloudflare provides hosting, CDN, and bot protection (Turnstile) for the Sci-High platform and website. Data processing agreement in place.
• Stripe, Inc.coreTechnology or IntegrationStripe processes online donations for Sci-High when this functionality is active on the platform. Data processing agreement in place.
• GlobalGiving FoundationcoreTechnology or IntegrationGlobalGiving is used for routing donations through corporate matching programmes. Sci-High Foundation is registered on GlobalGiving for donor routing.
• Benevity, Inc.coreTechnology or IntegrationBenevity is used for routing donations through corporate matching programmes. Sci-High Foundation is registered on Benevity for donor routing.

Scale indicators14 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Code.org: Large US-based non-profit providing K–12 computer science curriculum, teacher training, and an Hour of Code campaign. Operates broadly across STEM education rather than specializing in Sci-High's hands-on research-and-festival niche, but competes for the same corporate STEM-sponsorship wallet.
• Khan Academy: Major free online STEM education platform with a foundation-backed model similar in spirit to Sci-High's free-to-student positioning. Far larger scale and digital-first delivery, but addresses the same audience (K–12 STEM learners) and competes for philanthropic STEM funding.

Direct peers

• Science Olympiad: US-based non-profit running team-based STEM competitions across science disciplines, with school-level clubs feeding into regional, state, and national tournaments. Closely mirrors Sci-High's structure of teacher-moderated student teams competing across scientific categories.
• FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology): US-based non-profit running student STEM clubs (FIRST LEGO League, FIRST Robotics) that culminate in public competitions with professional mentors. Closest direct peer to Sci-High's club-plus-festival model, including the use of tiered corporate sponsorship and a dedicated festival/competition platform.
• Zaedno v Chas (Teach For Bulgaria): Bulgarian education non-profit that places teachers and is a long-term coordination partner of Sci-High. Operates in the same country, addresses the same scientific-literacy gap, and shares staff and mentors with the foundation.
• Maker Education Initiative: US non-profit promoting maker-centered, project-based STEM learning in schools through teacher training and student programs. Closely parallels Sci-High's hands-on, mentor-supported, project-presentation model for K–12 students.
• MIT Edgerton Center: MIT's hands-on STEM education outreach center, which ran a workshop for Sci-High students and teachers in June 2026. Operates student maker-club programming and educator training — directly comparable activities and a confirmed active partner of Sci-High.
• Regeneron ISEF (International Science and Engineering Fair): World's largest international pre-college science competition run by Society for Science. Students present original research to expert juries and a public audience — the same competition-and-judging dynamic that defines Sci-High's festivals, although at significantly larger scale.

Regional players

• European Union Science Olympiad (EUSO): Pan-European science competition for secondary school students. Sci-High alumni and Bulgarian national olympiad winners could plausibly flow into EUSO; comparable competition format and jury-driven evaluation, though operating at a national-team rather than school-club scale.
• Reach for Change Bulgaria: Social-enterprise incubator active in Bulgaria that supports education-focused founders. Listed as a Sci-High partner. Comparable in regional scope and non-profit mission, but operates an accelerator model rather than direct student programming.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/scihigh.bg
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/sci-high

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Sci-high Foundation