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The Greek Startup Universe online program has come to an end! The initiative of Startup Greece and Founderhood was under the auspices of the General Secretariat for Greeks Abroad of the Hellenic Ministry of Foreign Affairs. From March 2 to April 25, the participating tech founders experienced eight weeks full of networking. They also had access to discounted startup tools, educational content, and inspirational talks with successful entrepreneurs and investors. 

During the program, its 430 Greek and Cypriot tech founders met 46 Greek experts in 1-on-1 meetings covering all scalability questions and issues from business development to growth and fundraising strategy. Moreover, they attended 10 hours of Q&A live sessions with nine inspiring and successful speakers from the global entrepreneurship scene, like the founders Kostas Pardalis and Panos Papadiamantis – who have collectively raised more than $500M – and investors, like Niko Bonatsos and Kimon Angelidis.  

Greek Startup Universe included more than 300 startups from the stage of idea to the Series A stage. The 31 finalists of the program are now in contact with Greek angel investors with a global presence, giving them the ability to claim potential funding of 30 million, scale their business and enter international markets. All of this aside, the Greek Startup Universe’s participants can continue their journey by joining the NY Soft Landing Program in early July, which will support them in entering the American market. It is organized by the GSU’s strategic partners, CyprusInno and Greektech, with the support of the U.S. Embassy in Cyprus. 

Overall, the program supported the participants in several ways. As one of the participants, John P., mentioned, “I increased my network and got back on track with my goals to develop my MVP.” Kate D. said that conversations with other founders destabilized her, challenging her thoughts and making her more focused and eager to get things to work. For many, the program was beneficial, informative, with many insights and tips for new founders.

Thanos Paraschos from Startup Greece and Dimitris Dimosiaris from Founderhood stated, “We are thrilled that our first program has launched successfully. We were planning this program for months and put a lot of love and effort into it. Our driving force was our eagerness to support and bring together every Greek tech founder with no or limited access to great startup resources. And that will work multiplicatively in the Greek tech startup ecosystem’s empowerment, which is our long-term goal.

We await June 3, where we will celebrate the end – for now – of the Greek Startup Universe, hosting a massive event wrapping up this creative and innovative journey.”

Greek Startup Universe will draw the curtain into a final online ceremony on Thursday, June 3, to present the program’s results. Influential people of the international entrepreneurial ecosystem, such as members of the Greek Ministry and representatives of the European Commission, will also take part in. In addition, there will be roundtables, fireside chat, and networking opportunities for the attendees. 

In the next few days, there will be announcements, including the full agenda and many more. Stay tuned to the Greek Startup Universe website https://greekstartupuniverse.org/ and social media , , , . 

The 8th week of the open online program for Greek and Cypriot tech startup founders, Greek Startup Universe, is on! The program, which is a nonprofit initiative of Startup Greece and Founderhood, runs under the auspices of the General Secretariat for Greeks Abroad of the Hellenic Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Its main purpose is to support every early-stage Greek and Cypriot startup founder by building a global tech startup network.

Since the beginning of the program on March 2, the participating founders have delved into sectors like business development, product roadmap, and sales & marketing growth. The last two weeks of the program have to do all about fundraising strategies, and this sector’s speakers are the investors, Niko Bonatsos and Apostolos Lerios. 

In the Greek Startup Universe, 430 Greek and Cypriot founders participate, with the average age being 35 years. The founders are located in 28 countries, and most of them are in Greece, the UK, and Cyprus. Though, some unexpected countries are the Hong-Kong, Thailand, and Chile. Also, it is pleasant to see that 1 in 4 founders are women. 

Over 300 startups are participating in the program, coming from more than 30 industries. Most of them operate in the healthtech and the biotech sector, while there is also a high rate of startups in industries like Fintech, Retail / e-Commerce, and Tourism. 

58% of the teams are in the idea or the development stage, 27% are in Pre-Seed, Seed, and Series A stage, while 9% belong to SMEs. Half of the program’s startups provide Services as their product. The rest, 30%, belongs to startups that produce software, and 15% of startups have to do with software and hardware products. 

The majority of the active startups of Greek Startup Universe find the program quite beneficial. They agree that the program helped to find answers and solutions to crucial problems. As participants mention, “Greek Startup Universe is connecting startup founders with experienced professionals in a unique way!”. 

On April 25, the program will come to an end, following interesting events. You can stay informed about the new actions as well as the next program on the website www.greekstartupuniverse.org. Stay tuned to the social media channels of Greek Startup Universe  , , , and .

Non-profit organization StartupGreece and Founderhood are pleased to announce the launching of the online program Greek Startup Universe on March 2, 2021, which is under the auspices of the General Secretariat for Greeks Abroad of the Hellenic Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The program will be free for all Greeks and Cypriots who have a tech startup or a promising tech idea.

Throughout the eight weeks of the program, accomplished startup founders of Hellenic descent, investors, and specialized executives, whose experience stems from the greatest tech innovation hubs globally, will be in touch with Greek and Cypriot tech startup founders all over the world.

The participating teams will be able to schedule one-on-one meetings with more than forty accomplished experts of Hellenic descent, distributed in all the world’s continents, eager to offer their experience over sectors like the minimum viable product, communication, sales, and fundraising strategies. Moreover, they will gain access to a network of 17 major tech business markets, including Silicon Valley, New York, and Israel, but also emerging markets, like India or Brazil. The experts are employed in companies like Google, Amazon, Salesforce, Linkedin, and Facebook.

Apart from the one-on-one meetings, the participants can attend weekly talks by experienced mature tech founders who have collectively raised more than $500 mil, like Alex Piperides, Costas Pardalis, Niki Goulimi, and also investors like Niko Bonatsos. The active communication to community forums, access to educational material, and perks provided by the program’s corporate partners, like HubSpot, Zendesk, and Proto.io, are other notable pillars of the initiative. The teams with the greatest progress during the program will be matched with Greek Angel investors, with $10 mil of investment capital available.

The Greek Startup Universe aims to connect innovative Greeks from across the globe, bringing together strategic partners like GreekTech in New York, CyprusInno in Cyprus, and the Office of Economic and Commercial Affairs of the Consulate General of Greece in San Francisco. The Economia group and Epicheiro are the program’s media partners. The initiative is supported by Orange Grove, the Athens Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, and the Greek House of Davos, among others.

We make an appeal to Greek and Cypriot tech startup founders in Greece and abroad, who are interested in the program, to register through its website, www.greekstartupuniverse.org, by March 1. 

For more information, you can attend the program’s online presentation, on Thursday, February 25, 2021, at 9:00 pm EST, which will be broadcasted live from the social media of the Greek Startup Universe, & .

You can find the Greek Startup Universe on social media , , & .