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Elevate Greece: Unlocking Greece’s startup ecosystem

Meet Elevate Greece, a new national platform, aimed to be the Official Registry for Startups in our country, strengthening, developing and extroverting the Greek innovation ecosystem.

This is the first attempt by the Greek state to keep track, guide and reward existing startups, while enabling them to connect to global networks, access banking products and attract investment funds. Elevate Greece points to make our country one global innovation hub that will play a leading role in Southeastern Europe.

Eligibility Criteria for the startups

  • Legal Entity form: PC or LLC or SA with headquarters in Greece, or having a subsidiary or a branch in Greece (with a Greek VAT number), if headquarters are not located in Greece.
  • The company has not been running for more than 8 years since its establishment, counting from the date the application for registration with the National Startup Registry was submitted.
  • The company employs fewer than 250 employees Full-Time Equivalent during the last year of operation, as recorded through the ERGANI information systems of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs.
  • The annual turnover, as recorded in the financial statements of the previous fiscal year may not exceed the amount of 50 million Euros.

Selection Criteria for the startups

I) Innovation
  • Technological innovation in products, services and/or an innovative business model, taking advantage of the latest technologies available.
  • Existence of few competitors (startups or very few major companies). It is clarified that the term “competitors” refers to companies offering solutions with similar advantages but not simply firms catering to the same market in general.
  • Innovative enterprises are those whose primary activity relates to Research and Innovation and aims at patenting Intellectual Property Rights with prospects of commercial exploitation (“knowledge-intensive enterprises”).
II) Scalability
  • Evaluators examine whether the business model and/or technology allow for rapid scalability. The main company’s product/service is standardised, or may be easily, standardised. Consulting/design services or tailor-made solutions are not considered scalable.

Companies can be registered either through a fast track process or through evaluation by two independent judges. Especially, for the fast track process, a startup can be eligible if they gather specific characteristics, including companies which have already been funded by Venture Capital Funds, Banking Organisations and other institutional investors, as shareholders, spin-off of Greek Higher Education Institutions and Research Centers, companies funded within the context of HORIZON 2020 Programs and successor programs in HORIZON Europe and companies holding an active patent from the European Patent Office and the US Patent Office.

The Register monitors the progress of the startups based on specific KPIs, while the best of them will be awarded by the Official Supporters at the National Startup Awards, once a year. Moreover, Elevate Greece companies will be supported by further benefits and incentives, like international visibility, support measures offered by state authorities, funding, networking opportunities, updates, job openings and employment vacancies.

A typical example of a benefit that a registered startup will take advantage is a new action that announced recently by the Ministry of Development and Investment, funding 60 million euros through the NSRF. This initiative will enable companies registered in Elevate Greece to receive non-repayable funding of 5,000 euros up to 100,000 euros for Working Capital, in order to cover their expenses in purchases of consumer goods, raw materials and utilization materials, total benefits to employees and various operating expenses.