Boyan and TeodorSHYN is the first Bulgarian technological company to win funding from the Digital News Initiative (DNI) – a three-year initiative worth EUR 150 million which Google launched two years ago to encourage innovations in journalism and help the media survive and prosper in the digital age.
SHYN is going to receive EUR 47,000 to develop the prototype Smart Thumbnails that allows a media outlet to transfer some of its advertisements directly to its content on social media and in chat applications. The project aims to facilitate the media’s sustainability in an environment in which long-term success depends on a constant and effective adaptation to the latest technologies. These technologies have a direct impact on the media sector, as they make old financial models, such as newspaper sales and ads, unstable and outdated. In this context, the media should come up with new business models to achieve financial sustainability while simultaneously improving the user experience.
Founded in October 2016, SHYN strives to find radically new ways to discover, share, and monetize digital content, including news, images, and videos. The company’s co-founders include Boyan Benev, an executive producer at the Bulgarian agency Fusion Embassy, a former TV host, and a chairman of the Bulgarian Entrepreneurship and Innovation Cluster (BEIC) between November 2012 and October 2015, and Tihomir Nedev, an entrepreneur who has co-founded several tech companies over the past few years.
In the previous round, two Bulgarian media companies won DNI funding: Economedia (for the application Kapital NewsPal) and Investor Media Group (for the platform HelpBook.info).
Pisture: Linkedin