One in every 50 startups gets funding

Just a tiny fraction of Greek startups have managed to attract the interest of domestic investors and secure funds and breathing space. According to estimates by the venture capital funds involved in the Equifund initiative, only 1-2 percent of proposals assessed this year have secured any funding.

Although the number of investments and the criteria of each investment fund are different, their views converge on the fact that only a handful of startups qualify for funding, as is also the case internationally.

“Around the world, only 1 to 2 percent gets funding, and of them only one in every 10 goes on to become successful,” says a fund representative, adding that in the next five years only 140-150 Greek startups will have drawn support from Equifund funds. “Just two very successful proposals will emerge from them, and 10-15 companies will have a valuation of between 20 and 80 million euros. The others will unfortunately disappear from the business map,” the same source noted.

It is estimated that, since late 2017, six investment funds belonging to Equifund have invested some 60 million euros out of the 215 million euros they manage in total.