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 , , , .