Before we analyze the Greek venture capital funds, let's briefly comprehend the startup ecosystem. Greece is a hub of tech startups that have substantial potential - raised a record total of $4.5 billion in 2021, which provides for an unprecedented 239% annual increase compared to a total of $1.3 billion in 2020. The majority of the capital thus far has been sourced from abroad. According to Marathon Venture Capital research, in 2021, 175 investors supported Greek startups, with only 12 of them from Greece. The remaining investors were mostly based in the U.S., the UK, mainland Europe and Israel.
The Enterprise Greece, states that there are 21 venture capital funds currently in Greece, with a combined amount of 1.2 billion euros under management. Every single fund is linked to the Hellenic Venture Capital Association. Moreover, most of the VC firms were established with the assistance of TANEO, the nation's first and only “fund of funds" that concentrates on developing venture capital funds for SMEs. Thanks to the 11 funds created by this entity, more than 280 million euros have already been invested in Greek startups.
Now, after this short introduction, let’s meet active VC funds from Greece.
Venture Friends
Geography: Europe, MENA, LatAm
Preferred industries: PropTech, FinTech, TravelTech, Marketplaces, SaaS
Investment ticket: from €500K to €2.5M
Company stage: Seed to Series A
Venture Friends is a European Venture Capital fund based in Athens and London that invests in Seed & Series A, tech-enabled B2C and B2B startups, with a sweet spot for Marketplaces, SaaS, Proptech, Fintech and Traveltech. The firm was born in 2016 during the tough times of the Greek crisis. In 2021, the firm invested €60.6M in 37 startups. VentureFriends' undoubted successes include the $360M acquisition of Greek grocery business InstaShop by DeliveryHero and having fintech unicorn Jeeves in its investment portfolio.
Metavallon
Geography: Greece
Preferred industries: Space & Aviation, Energy & Cleantech, FinTech, Agriculture, HealthTech, Retail
Investment ticket: pre-Seed: €200k – €400k; Seed: €400k – €1M
Company stage: Early-stage
Metavallon is a €32M venture capital firm specialising in seed-stage funding for technology companies from Greece. They are looking for ambitious entrepreneurs with a global mindset to develop innovative scalable B2B solutions in various industries and geographies. Matavallon has one exit in its portfolio - ThinkSilicon (recently acquired by Applied Materials) offering a range of Graphics and Display Processors for the IoT, wearable and broader display devices markets.
It also offers a 3-month acceleration program with pre-seed funding up to $200k and seed funding up to $400k dedicated to sectors such as space & aviation, energy & cleantech, FinTech, agriculture, health tech and retail.
Marathon Venture Capital
Geography: Startups with Greek founders based internationally
Preferred industries: Tech companies
Investment ticket: from €1M to €1.5M
Company stage: Seed
Marathon Venture Capital is a Greece-based venture firm co-founded in 2017. Marathon invests in sectors as diverse as climate, health, security, infrastructure, finance, education, real estate, productivity, AI, and crypto. Beyond their domestic activity in Greece, about half of their portfolio investments originated internationally, from Nicosia through Munich and Berlin through Stockholm and London all the way to San Francisco. In 2007, one of the cofounders organized for the first time Open Cofee meet-ups which occur on a monthly basis until nowadays. Moreover, recently this VC fund increased its Fund II size to 70M EUR.
Starttech Ventures
Geography: Eastern Mediterranean and SE Europe
Preferred industries: Tech businesses
Investment ticket: Undisclosed
Company stage: pre-Seed and Seed
Starttech Ventures is an early-stage venture capital and incubator company investing in Europe and the US. Besides being a seed investor, Starttech Ventures also has a Venture Builder portfolio. Its focus goes directly on tech B2B startups with a commercial focus on the North American market. The firm has locations in Athens (Greece) and San Francisco (United States). Their mission is to design and apply a repeatable and financially efficient model in successfully launching new tech companies.
PJ Tech Catalyst Fund
Geography: Greece
Preferred industries: Information & Communication Technology
Investment ticket: up to €750K
Company stage: Seed
PJ Tech Catalyst Fund is a venture capital investment company supporting tech seed-stage startups from Greece. With $15M under management, they focus on top players revolutionizing the tech space. Each PJ Tech Catalyst Fund team member brings international and local experience, so besides financial support (of up to €750K per company), startups may expect business advice and mentoring. Their notable portfolio includes companies such as Pollfish - polling and survey software providing data analysis, intale - Cloud-based ERP and data analytics platform, Douleutaras - online marketplace for local services, or mist.io - dashboard for cloud management, server monitoring and automation.
Genesis Ventures
Geography: Greece and SE Europe
Preferred industries: Enterprise SaaS, Fintech, Healthcare, E-commerce, Deep-tech, Edu-tech, Prop-tech, Web3 and others
Investment ticket: from €100K to €500K
Company stage: Early-stage: concept, pre-Seed, Seed
Genesis Ventures is coaching and Business Angel’s co-investment fund for early-stage startups with a connection to Greece or South-East Europe. The firm was founded in 2021 and is based in Athens. In total, Genesis Ventures plans to unlock €40M in venture capital equity investment until 2025 from co-investing alongside angel investors.
Velocity.Partners
Geography: Greek entrepreneurs around the globe
Preferred industries: Tech companies
Investment ticket: up to €500K
Company stage: pre-Seed and Seed
Velocity.Partners Venture Capital is based in Athens, Attiki. The firm brings in a diverse team of founders, operators and investors with hands-on experience and skills in areas such as Maritime-tech, Med-tech, FinTech, and Travel-tech, where Greece has a unique competitive edge. This fund wants to focus on Greek founders contributing to the development of the technology sector worldwide. Velocity. Partners are part of the EquiFund family of venture capital funds and are also supported by the Operational Program “Competitiveness, Entrepreneurship & Innovation” (EPAnEK). What’s interesting, its Founder Dimitris Kalavros-Gousiou is the initiator of has also been the founder of TEDxAthens.
TECS Capital
Geography: Greece
Preferred industries: Deep-tech, Industry 4.0
Investment ticket: from $1M to $5M
Company stage: Seed
TECS Capital, based in Thessaloniki, is an Alternative Investment Fund (AIF) established under Greek Law with Hellenic Development Bank for Investments (HDBI) as an anchor investor. The firm invests in science and technology startups having Finloup - A buy Now Pay Later Provider in Greece and Oliveex - a startup providing Industrial-Internet-of-Things solutions targeted at the food industry, among other startups in their portfolio. TECS Capital members come from various backgrounds and are happy to provide their startups with advice and knowledge resulting in quick reactions to technology challenges.
Big Pi Ventures
Geography: Greece, Luxembourg
Preferred industries: Deep-tech
Investment ticket: Undisclosed
Company stage: Seed
Big Pi Ventures focuses on investments in intellectual property and technology companies from Greece and Luxembourg. Their investments are in companies having R&D and/or product teams in Greece, headquarters in several countries, and potential users everywhere. Big Pi’s portfolio includes optimization and simulation tools, health technology, new materials, IoT infrastructure, and creative solutions.
Uni.Fund
Geography: Greece
Preferred industries: ICT and e-business
Investment ticket: pre-Seed: up to €250K, Seed: €250K-€500K
Company stage: pre-Seed and Seed
Uni.Fund wants to provide funding to new startups and to create a new philosophy in the Greek business ecosystem, universities and research centres. Its initial capital equals €27 million, and it is expected to rise to as much as €40 million. They invest in ICT and e-business (e.g., ICT, IoT, healthtech, fintech, insurancetech), with innovative products or services (e.g. in trade, agro-food, maritime, tourism, health), as well as the broader technology sector (materials, energy informatics, environment).
Northern Greece Investment Fund
Geography: Greece
Preferred industries: all sectors Sector-agnostic
Investment ticket: Undisclosed
Company stage: Early stage, Expansion Stage
Northern Greece Investment Fund, founded in 202, is the only growth fund based in Thessaloniki. NGIF manages a total of €30M in the capital, which comes from private and institutional investors, including the Hellenic Development Bank of Investments.
NGIF invests its funds in growing innovative enterprises in the fields of Food – Beverages, manufacturing, Renewable Energy Sources, Energy Saving and Waste Management, Health Services, and Tourism, as well as in IT and Telecommunications companies. In January 2022 The Northern Greece Investment Fund announced its first investment of a total of €1M in Pragma IoT (a startup that provides IoT solutions and other similar services to organizations and businesses).
Alpha Ventures
Geography: Global
Preferred industries: Industry-agnostic
Investment ticket: Undisclosed
Company stage: Seed
Alpha Ventures, established in 1991, is a Private Equity/Venture Capital firm with a long-term participation horizon (over 3-5 years) investing in global new or dynamically growing enterprises. Vc fund provides its portfolio startups not only financial support but also lifelong assistance on legal and strategic matters. They are part of Alpha Bank Group - a strong financial Group with a dynamic presence in Greece and abroad.
i4G
Geography: Greece
Preferred industries: Tech companies (Software, Services); science (Bio-Health)
Investment ticket: Undisclosed
Company stage: pre-Seed and Seed
i4G is a seed investment fund as well as a startup incubator offering investment funding, access to workspace & events, networking opportunities, and mentorships to tech and science-focused startups. The firm is primarily focused on pre-seed and seed firms in the software, bio-health, and service sectors. From 2003 until today, i4G has participated in 12 Seed & Pre-seed funding rounds, investing more than €2.3M, in total.
While describing the Greek VC ecosystem it is worth mentioning Endeavor Greece contributing to the local ecosystem development by facilitating local and global entrepreneurs to develop their projects through mentorship, services, and programs. This so-called epicentre of the Greek Innovation Ecosystem is a part of the mission-driven, global organization Endeavor Network.
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