Chris GasteratosChris Gasteratos

A Closer Look at the State of Greek Startups

Following up on our previous post tracking investment activity in Greek startups, we attempt a deeper dive to highlight patterns of interest. Our sample includes 143 technology companies maintaining the core part of their operations in Greece, that have raised financing between 2010 and 2017, or have been acquired in the same timeframe.

State of startups slide 1

The first graph provides a bird’s eye view of the current status of the ecosystem. 14 technology companies have been acquired. Not all such exits may have been spectacularly successful per se; still, the figure is a considerable one and is expected to further increase in the future.

We define as “growing” the companies which have either raised financing or hired at least ten employees in the last year. 23 companies have ceased operations up to date. Currently, the number of startups under “static” status is dominating the chart. We expect such percentage to diminish going forward, with more companies growing or concluding operations faster.

State of startups slide 2

The graph above depicts the distribution between companies delivering to enterprises versus consumers versus both. An external observer may have expected that consumer services are the most popular among Greek entrepreneurs. Still, the opposite proves to be the case, and we anticipate such trend to accelerate as founders accumulate enterprise experience.

State of startups slide 3

Another view of interest relates to the various industry verticals that such companies are focusing on. Classification may have been rudimentary in edge cases; still, the message is clear: Areas of interest for Greek entrepreneurs is as broad as it gets. The fact that demanding sectors in the likes of the Internet of Things, Medtech or IT Infrastructure are highly sought after is also to be highlighted.

In our quest to help ambitious founders build world-class companies, we intend to continue monitoring such trends and sharing our learnings with you. If you want to be part of such graphs in the future, we’d be happy to talk!