Financing crunch hits startups
Startups in Greece have also been feeling the global financing crunch over the past three years.
As it did around the world, financing for startups in Greece peaked in 2021, when companies either active in Greece or Greek-owned but active abroad received a capital infusion of nearly $1 billion.
According to data collected by Marathon Venture Capital, during the first half of the year, investments in startups with headquarters or branches in Greece received $307 million. And while this number is slightly better than last year’s ($298 million), investments in so-called Series A startups, whose projects are far enough advanced to demonstrate commercial viability, are scarce. Only 5 of this year’s 41 funding rounds, from 30 investors, concern Series A startups.
A fund partner told Kathimerini that investments in advanced startups are, indeed, scarce. “Things are moving at a slow pace. We are going through a transitional period,” he says.
But other investors say that it is hard to find attractive investments. “We had a lot of ‘easy’ ideas in the past few years, but now startups are a sport for the few,” one of them says.
