Business accelerator egg - enter grow go, organized an Investor Day facilitating 39 startups from Greece and Cyprus to present their ideas and to seek funding from a wide audience of VC's, corporate investors and Business Angels from Greece, Central & Eastern Europe, Israel, USA, Canada and UK. The President of the Board of Directors of the Hellenic Development Bank of Investments, Mr. Haris Lambropoulos, addressed the conference, which took place at the EGG Hub in Moschato, on Friday, 16.2.24, in the presence of the Deputy CEO of Eurobank & Head of Corporate & Investment Banking, Mr. Konstantinos Vassiliou, senior management executives and distinguished guests from the local and international startup ecosystem.
The egg Investor Day aims to support the new, extrovert entrepreneurship to network and raise funding, capitalizing on the positive dynamics formed for the domestic market in the international investment community, following the recovery of the investment grade and, also, on the important institutional and legislative steps taken to strengthen the Greek ecosystem. Evidence of the increased investor interest is that the egg Investor Day was attended by more than 100 investment fund representatives from Greece and abroad, alongside the participating companies. Pitching presentations were made by 24 innovative companies, as well as by 15 research teams / spin offs from Universities in Greece and Cyprus that had successfully completed egg's first business mini acceleration program for female researchers and students (Female Entrepreneurship MAP). The presentations during the egg Investor Day, conducted both physically and digitally, addressed a very broad investor audience, covering approximately all sectors of activity, with a particular focus on competitive fields of the new economy, such as health sciences, innovative tourism technologies, food and agri-tech sectors, green economy, information, and communication technologies, etc.
In his opening remarks the President of the Board of Directors of the Hellenic Development Bank of Investments, Mr. Haris Lambropoulos, said: “Technology, innovation, outward orientation, investment attraction, creation of new business models, and continuous growth prospects. These are the exact characteristics cultivated by the numerous Greek startups, successfully showcased during the EGG event. HDBI, as the Sovereign Fund-of-Funds of Greece, with €2.1 billion total funds under management and strong European and international investment partnerships, plays a catalytic role in the scaling up of the equity investment ecosystem of our country. We are proud for contributing and being an indispensable component of this thriving innovation ecosystem for the benefit of the Greek entrepreneurship.”.
Eurobank's Deputy CEO, Mr. Konstantinos Vassiliou, noted: "Through the successful business incubation and acceleration programme, Eurobank has the advantage to understand in more depth the Greek startup ecosystem, its stakeholders, its challenges but also opportunities, as this business community is expected to play a significant role in the future of the Greek economy. We are committed to continue supporting innovative and growing businesses and carry on our efforts in bringing the Greek startup ecosystem on the radar of local and international investors.".
The strong developing momentum of the domestic startup ecosystem, currently undergoing a period of transformation, and the role of egg, which in its 12 years of operation has evolved into a reference point and a reliable “new economy” stakeholder, was underlined by the Chairman of the egg Steering Committee and General Manager Group Marketing & Corporate Communications, Mr. Michalis Vlastarakis, welcoming the guests. A panel discussion followed which featured Mr. Marc Kitten, Partner and Co-Founder of CANDESIC & Visiting Professor of Economics at Imperial College London, Mr. Huseyin R. Demirhisar, Board Member of the European Business Angel Network & CEO of BiD Capital Partners, Ms. Katerina Pramatari, Partner at Uni.Fund and Professor at the Athens University of Economics and Business, and Mr. George Varvarelis, Co-Founder & CEO of Augmenta which has been hosted at egg. Other speakers included egg's Director, Ms. Roula Bachtalia and Co-Founder & Board Member of Corallia, Mr. Nikos Vogiatzis, both members of egg's Steering Committee.
The panel discussion highlighted the increase in divestments (exits) of Greek startups that have strengthened the country's image in the international startup ecosystem, having attracted interest also from international strategic investors. Special reference was made to the important role of the Hellenic Development Investment Bank, which contributes through its financing tools to the mobilization of significant venture capital in the domestic market, as well as to the institutional and legislative interventions launched for the development of new businesses in competitive sectors. In this framework, scale up and expansion of inter-regional, transnational and/or pan-European collaborations as well as incentives for mergers and acquisitions of startups for accelerated growth of new enterprises were mentioned as two of the major challenges for the next day of the Greek ecosystem.
The event was attended, among others, by the General Secretary for Research and Innovation, Mr. Athanasios Kyriazis, as well as representatives from the Embassies of Israel and Canada, the Hellenic Federation of Enterprises (SEV), Enterprise Greece and Elevate Greece.
It is noted that the application submission for the 12th cycle of egg commences on the 26th of February 2024.
More information about egg - enter grow go, here.
Photo, left to right:
Michalis Vlastarakis, Chief Marketing Officer, Eurobank
Dr. Haris Lambropoulos, President at Hellenic Development Bank of Investments
Antigoni Lymperopoulou, Chief Executive Officer at Hellenic Development Bank of Investments
Konstantinos Vassiliou, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Head of Corporate & Investment Banking, Eurobank
Roula Bachtalia, Director & SC member egg – enter grow go
Prof. Athanasios Kyriazis, General Secretary for Research and Innovation, Hellenic Ministry of Development