“Elevate Greece AE” presented its report for 2022 and its planning for 2023 in the context of the special event held today, Tuesday, May 16, 2023, at the Amphitheater of the Goulandris – Natural History Museum, in Kifissia. According to the report, the number of registered Startups that benefit from the privileges of Elevate Greece reaches 728, while the number of employees they employ exceeds 7,000. At the same time, the value of the Greek innovation ecosystem reached 8.2 billion euros.
Speeches at the event were made by the Minister of Development & Investments, Adonis Georgiadis, the Deputy Minister of Development & Investments, Christos Dimas, the Secretary General of Research & Innovation, Athanasios Kyriazis and the CEO of Elevate Greece AE, Michalis Dritsas.
Then, three representatives from startups and spin-offs briefly presented their own journey in the field of start-ups and technoblasts and their experience from Elevate Greece. These are Dimitris Kotta (CEO, Lambda Automata, Defense and Space Manufacturing), Fotis Teko (CEO, FoodOxys, Quality analysis of agri-food products – Technoblastos University of Thessaly) and Andreas Petropoulos, CEO Convert Group, Data & Analytics Market Intelligence).
The event was attended by the President of EBEA, Sofia Kounenaki-Efraimoglou, the President of the Hellenic Development Bank, George Zavvos, the President of the Hellenic Development Investment Bank SA, Haris Lambropoulos, the Authorized Advisor of Elevate Greece SA, Elli Diakanastasi and dozens of representatives from Startups and spin-offs.
The report for 2022
Today, the number of registered start-ups that benefit from the privileges of Elevate Greece is approaching 750, employing more than 7,000 workers, who use cutting-edge technologies to produce new products and services, with the aim of modernizing and optimizing processes in important sectors of the economy..
The sectors in which the 728 start-up companies that are members of Elevate Greece are active cover a wide range.
The Life Sciences sector ranks first with the largest number of companies and a percentage of 14.2% (13.3% in 2021). They are followed by the Environment – Energy and Advertising – Marketing sectors (9.0%), while the Tourism – Hospitality Services sector (8.1%) fell to 4th place from 2nd place it held in 2021 (with a rate of 9.4%) . Following with lower percentages are the sectors of Agri-Food, Data Analysis – Big Data, Retail & E-commerce – Fashion, etc.
As far as the modern technologies in which Elevate Greece’s registered start-ups are active, in first place with a percentage of 61% is the development of Software, while in second place with 55% are Internet Applications / Mobile Telephony ( web or email application).
In third and fourth place are the Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Data Analytics – Big Data categories with percentages of 44% and 41% respectively.
Finally, Cloud Computing Technologies and the Internet of Things (IoT) follow with 26%.
The priority in attracting funding, by sector, has always been held by the Life Sciences sector (29%), while the Data Analysis – Big Data (13.8%) and Agri-Food (9.7%) sectors are in second and third place with a wide gap ) respectively, as in 2021. The sectors are also of quite high financial interest
Advertising Marketing (7.4%), Education (6.1%), and Tourism – Hospitality Services (5.6%), while the Business Software sectors follow with lower percentages,
Human Resources, Storage – Transportation, Financial Technology, etc.
Regarding the 7,269 people employed in Elevate Greece’s registered businesses, Life Sciences will retain the highest percentage of employees in 2022 (12.8%).
Followed by Data Analytics – Big Data (10.0%), Advertising & Marketing (9.1%), Retail & E-commerce & Fashion and Business Software (8.7%), while Tourism – Hospitality Services fell in 6th place (6.4%).
A basic condition for setting up a start-up business is finding external funding. The external financing of the registry companies came from Venture Capital (VCs) by 61.3% and from Subsidies by 16.5%. An expected “reversal” is observed in relation to the 2021 report, as the NSRF subsidy action peaked in 2022 (72.8% VCs and 10% Grants respectively in 2021). This is followed by funding from Angel Investments (11.8%) and through borrowing (2.9%), increased as of 2021 (with percentages of 10% and 1.9% respectively). Compared to the 2021 report, in 2022 the total amount of cumulative external financing of the Register’s enterprises increased from ~162 million euros to ~236 million euros. It is partly attributed to the increase in their numbers, investments and subsidies they received. It is noted that 71.6% received support from the NSRF with non-refundable working capital, while 40.4% received the maximum amount provided (100,000 euros). They also stated that 53% rely on self-funding, while 47% have some funding from Angel Investors and/or VC funds.
The general secretary of Research and Innovation and president of Elevate Greece AE, Athanasios Kyriazis, said: “Elevate Greece is already a pole of attraction for investors, venture capital funds and businesses from Greece and abroad, which proves the success of the whole project. It also acts as a pole of attraction not only for funds, but also for specialized scientific personnel and thus contributes and will continue to contribute to the targeted and systematic support of start-up entrepreneurship in the form of financing”.
The managing director of Elevate Greece, Michalis Dritsas, emphasized that EquiFund I has closed its investment cycle. According to Dealroom.co between 2017-2022 the value of the ecosystem has increased 7.5x (8.2 billion euros) and our country is improving its position in international rankings (Start Blink). The new national super funds Innovate Now and EquiFund II succeeding EquiFund I together with the attraction of international investors and the activation of more Angel Investments ensure a significant investment flow in the coming years.
