Startups in Greece 2022-2023: Venture Financing Report

Found.ation, in collaboration with EIT Digital published for the sixth consecutive year an extensive report, with the aim of recording funding opportunities and the profile of startups in Greece.

2022 was a year that put a brake on the leapfrog growth of the ecosystem seen last year, given the international circumstances. However, this was expected and does not overshadow the up-to-date upward trajectory of start-up entrepreneurship in Greece, leaving much hope for the future.

The Deputy Minister of Development and Investments, Mr. Yiannis Tsakiris, in his editorial highlighted positive elements regarding businesses and the investment sector in our country: “Greece managed to climb at the first position in the world in terms of improving the business environment since 2019, climbing a total of 16 places in the global ranking. At the same time, the OECD announced the data for the year 2021: in the index of foreign direct investments (FDI), Greece achieved an all-time record. During this year our country attracted the most investments (over 6.3 billion euros) since the OECD started including Greece in the relative index. “

As it is characteristically mentioned in the editorial of HDBI in the report: “It is especially important to note that Greece has secured over €80 billion of European funds for the next 5-7 years. The successful utilization and deployment of those resources is simultaneously a great challenge and a historical opportunity since they are of paramount importance to scale-up and guarantee the resilience and sustainability of the Greek economy and society.”

The report records all the investments that have been made within the EquiFund financial program, as well as by Greek and foreign investment funds, and analyzes the profile of the companies that have been funded. Also, the lists of the most successful Greek startups are updated and presented, both those that have received the most funding within 2022 and overall, as well as those that have achieved the best exit deals. Also listed are the 10 companies with the highest valuations, some of which are at or nearing the unicorn stage.

Found.ation collaborated with Dialectica and SeedBlink, with the aim of analyzing and highlighting the characteristics of startuppers, but also forces of the startup community that are not easily visible, such as angel investors and those who choose to invest through crowdfunding platforms.

Some of the most important elements of the report:

• The dynamic recovery of the Greek economy continued in the first quarter of 2022, but global development dampened growth thereafter. We witnessed a decreased number (by 35-40%) of companies announcing new rounds of financing, fewer new-born companies, as well as slashed or flat valuations. As most of EquiFund’s funds concluded their investment period late last year, a very obvious and profound funding gap appeared, affecting mostly the pre-seed market segment.
• As EquiFund has come to an end, the results and its impact are extremely encouraging. More than 138 companies have been supported by the initiative, attracting more than €1.13B in total financing. It is estimated that these companies employ more than 6.000 people in Greece.
• More than 50 companies were funded in 2022, while only 20% of those were previously backed by EquiFund. The total financing amount in rounds that involved investors outside of Greece reached 73% of total investments in 2022. In total, Greek startups this year attracted more than €310M in funding.
• The creation of the first Greek business angel fund stresses the fact that private investors are invited to participate to a larger extent in startup financing. The activity of angel investors rounds up to 10% of the total investments of 2022, which is almost double the amount compared to last year’s investments.
• In the context of the wider South Eastern European ecosystem, Greece leads the way when it comes to the amount of total attracted capital in 2022, with ~40% of all venture funding in the region. In 2022, we also saw a record-breaking amount of exits as 19 Greek startups were acquired. The featured exits of this year are without a doubt that of Accusonus, by Meta, and Pollfish, by Prodege. The partial acquisition (49% equity) of Viva Wallet was also announced in the beginning of the year, but has not yet been finalized until the time of writing. The deal, one of the most important in the history of the Greek ecosystem, places Viva Wallet in the first place of the country’s most valued companies, with a unicorn valuation that is close to €2.1B. We have identified the 10 most valued Greek startups, with a total valuation of €5.5B. It is estimated that the Greek ecosystem as a whole has a valuation of over €8B.

“Although the market expects new funds to launch in early 2023, the new funding reality in Greece will produce a rather different outlook compared to the EquiFund period (2018-2021). Regional funds are starting to spend more time in the country, a much-needed development as we finally need to enlarge the total footprint of our ecosystems. The asset class is gaining interest from family offices and corporate investors, which traditionally were not exposed that early in the alternative investments space (where VC sits).” notes Dimitris Kalavros-Gousiou, co-founder of Found.ation and partner at Velocity.Partners.

This year’s report is supported by the Hellenic Development Investment Bank (HDBI) and sponsored by Pfizer, Dialectica, egg – enter grow go and Seedblink.

Download the full report (in English).