Forty-two (42) companies from Greece, Cyprus and Ukraine participating in the business incubation and acceleration program, egg-enter•grοw•go, presented their business ideas, seeking funding from a wide number of venture capitalists (VC's), corporate investors and Business Angels from Greece, Central & Eastern Europe, Israel, USA, Canada and the UK, at the Investor Day event held at the EGG Hub on 16th of February, 2023. The event was attended by the Deputy Ministers of, Development & Investment and Research & Technology, Mr. Yannis Tsakiris, and Mr. Christos Dimas, respectively.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between egg and the InnovX business accelerator based in Romania, aiming at strengthening the cooperation between the innovation ecosystems of Greece, Central & Eastern Europe, in the presence of representatives of the political leadership and distinguished guests from the domestic and international start-up entrepreneurship ecosystem.
The Investor Day event is the largest ever organized in egg’s successful ten-year course, as egg intensifies its support for new extrovert entrepreneurship to network and raise funding amidst strong challenges in the current international environment. It is noteworthy that, during the event, 42 participating egg companies had the opportunity to interact with more than 80 representatives from Venture Capital Funds, Family Offices and Crowd Funding platforms as well as individual Business Angels, from Greece and abroad.
Eurobank's firm commitment to expanding synergies among the innovation ecosystems in Central & Eastern Europe was underlined by the Chairman of the egg Steering Committee and General Manager of Marketing & Corporate Communications of Eurobank Group, Mr. Michael Vlastarakis, who welcomed the guests. Mr. Ioannis Tsakiris, Deputy Minister of Development & Investments, referred to the important contribution of public resources in creating venture capital ecosystems, while, on his part, Mr. Christos Dimas, Deputy Minister of Research & Technology, analyzed the evolution of the Greek Research & Innovation ecosystem. The event was also addressed by, among others, the CEO of the Hellenic Development Bank of Investments, Ms. Antigoni Lyberopoulou, the Executive Director and Member of the Board of Enterprise Greece, Ms. Betty Alexandropoulou, the representative of the InnovX business accelerator, Mr. Daniel Dumitrescu, the Deputy General Manager and Head of Investment Banking & Principal Capital Strategies, Mr. Dimos Kapouniaridis, as well as the Director of egg, Ms. Roula Bachtalia, and the Co-Founder & Member of the Management Board of Corallia, Mr. Nikos Vogiatzis, both members of the egg Steering Committee.
Boosting cooperation between Greek and Romanian innovation ecosystems
egg - enter•grow•go, the leading and most, prominent business accelerator in Greece designed and implemented by Eurobank and Corallia of the RC Athena in 2013 has supported thousands of new companies contributing substantially to the development of the country’s innovation ecosystem. At the same time, placing particular emphasis on strengthening the extroversion of Greek start-up entrepreneurship, it promotes important partnerships abroad.
- The new Memorandum of Understanding between egg and InnovX, marks the expansion and cooperation of the innovation ecosystems of Greece and Central & Eastern Europe and supports the mutual promotion of innovation and start-up reinforcement by the two accelerators, mainly in the areas of Education, Extroversion, Business Networking, Diversity & Inclusion. In this context, among other things, the following are foreseen: Joint bootcamp training and extroversion programs in mutually agreed international target markets.
- Networking of egg and InnovX start-ups with potential customers and private investors in Greece and Romania, as well as in other countries.
- Empowerment of female founders and the increase their participation in start-ups in both countries, through the development of common strategies and the exchange of good practices.
- Organize start-up exchange visits between the two accelerators.
It is worth mentioning that egg has extended for an additional five (5) years the partnership launched in 2018 with the internationally renowned Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson University), based in Canada, focusing on synergies with the world leading business accelerator DMZ. In addition, it has signed a cooperation agreement with Cyprus Seeds, aiming to link innovative academic research produced in Cypriot universities and research institutions with the real economy. It also expands its initiatives for linking Greek universities and the research academic community with the market. In this context, it has also signed Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) to support Greek spin-offs with ten (10) Universities and Research Institutions, including the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, the Democritus University of Thrace, the National Technical University of Athens, the University of Patras, and the National Technical University of Patras.
The results of egg – enter grow go until today:
- 1.100 entrepreneurs have been hosted and supported in egg premises
- 310 business teams have been participated in egg Platforms
- 171 business teams have created legal entities
- €43.4m from private investment funds (VCs, CVCs, Business Angels) in 65 egg startups
- €12.25m turnover come from 101 egg alumni startups (from 171)
- €3.2m financing from Eurobank to 49 egg startups (Eurobank Financing Tool)
- €12m Eurobank overall investment for egg operations
More about egg - enter•grow•go._