THETI CLUB - The Hellenic Tech Investor Club

Following 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐭𝐢 𝐂𝐥𝐮𝐛'𝐬 end-of-year meeting, I had the opportunity to reflect on our achievements in 2024: 🔶100% 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐭𝐡 in our 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲, now encompassing 120 angels, family offices, and corporate investors across Greece and the Greek diaspora. 🔶570% 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 in total 𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝, reaching an impressive €845K Euro! 🔶366% 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐭𝐡 in 𝐟𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐬 participated, totaling 11 rounds this year. 🔶250% 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 in our 𝐩𝐢𝐩𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞, with 400+ startups screened. 🔶𝐇𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 12 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠: 6 investor meetings, 1 social event, 2 training sessions, and 3 private dinners - fostering investments, connections and collaboration. 🔶300% 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐭𝐡, starting the year as a one-man show and expanding with Markos Kiosseoglou and Nikos Kassotakis joining the team! Moreover, I’m especially grateful to our Board of Directors (Chrysanthi Vakla, Theo Paraskevopoulos, Theodore Kitsos and Anastasios Spanidis) who also joined at the start of the year and have been pivotal in driving the Club forward! As we count down the hours to the New Year, we set the bar even higher. 🚀 Our commitment remains unwavering: to support high-impact entrepreneurs and help transform Greece into a global innovation hub. A nation of #growth, #opportunity, and #prosperity for its citizens! 💪 Wishing you a Happy & Prosperous New Year!

Greece outpacing the rest of Europe? 😮 2024 saw €555 million invested in over 90 companies, a 15% increase from last year. Meanwhile, Europe’s ecosystems faced a slight 5% decline. Talk about momentum! 💪 The numbers speak for themselves: • Greece's startup ecosystem now boasts a total valuation of €10 billion, powered by successes like Viva Wallet (≈ €1.7 billion) and Blueground  (≈ €1 billion). • BETA CAE Systems' acquisition of $1.24 billion marked Greece’s largest tech company exit. • 16 VC funds actively targeting Greek startups, with increasing participation from angel investors and family offices in funding rounds. Greece is no longer a hidden gem, it’s a key player in the European tech landscape. 🌍 Where do you think we should focus next to make this ecosystem even stronger? Full report: https://bit.ly/3PeH93m

A European trillion-dollar startup sounds like a long shot. But so did Europe’s first unicorn. And now there are 300! Back in the early 2000s, no one thought Europe would be cranking out #unicorns like that. 🦄  Fast forward to 2024, and here we are, with 300+ billion-dollar companies thriving across nearly every corner of Europe. Early successes like Spotify and Wise paved the way, and now we're seeing an entire ecosystem doubling down on ambition and scale. Analysts predict Europe could hit an $8 trillion tech ecosystem value in a decade, and within that timeframe, we might just see the first-ever European trillion-dollar #startup. 🚀 Europe is still far away from becoming Silicon Valley but at least, now we’re in the game. 👉 Full Report here: https://lnkd.in/dbZ9pr42

I'm thrilled for my upcoming travels to connect with our #angelinvestors across Europe! 📍 London: Friday, 13/12 - Drinks & Dinner 🥂 📍 Zurich: Saturday, 14/12 - Barbecue 🥩🍗  📍 Nicosia: Friday, 27/12 - Coffee ☕ If you're a Greek in tech (or just passionate about innovation), don't hesitate to reach out—I'd love to meet and chat! Looking forward to connecting with fellow changemakers and sharing ideas 💪

A Decade of 10𝐱 𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐭𝐡 in Capital Investment for 𝐄𝐮𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐩𝐬! 🚀 Atomico released the State of Europe Tech Report 2024 highlighting the transformative growth of Europe's tech sector in the last decade. 𝐇𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬: 🔶 Capital: A 10x increase in venture capital. 🔶 Talent: The tech workforce grew 24% annually since 2015, now at 3.5 million. 🔶 Ecosystem Growth: Early-stage companies surged from 8,000 to 35,000+, with growth-stage firms increasing 8x. 🔶 Realized Value: Close to $1 trillion generated through IPOs and M&A. 🔶 Sustainability: 21% of 2024 funding targeted sustainability, nearly double the U.S. rate. Despite the progress, challenges remain. With Europe facing a $375 𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐭𝐡-𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐟𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐠𝐚𝐩, making startups half as likely to secure $15M+ rounds compared to the U.S. Pension funds allocate just 0.007% of $9 trillion to venture capital, but improving this could fuel exponential growth. By 2034, Europe could achieve an $8 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐬𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚 20 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧-𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐣𝐨𝐛 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭. 👉 Full Report here: https://lnkd.in/dbZ9pr42 #tech #innovation

A Decade of 10𝐱 𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐭𝐡 in Capital Investment for 𝐄𝐮𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐩𝐬! 🚀 Atomico released the State of Europe Tech Report 2024 highlighting the transformative growth of Europe's tech sector in the last decade. 𝐇𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬: 🔶 Capital: A 10x increase in venture capital.  🔶 Talent: The tech workforce grew 24% annually since 2015, now at 3.5 million. 🔶 Ecosystem Growth: Early-stage companies surged from 8,000 to 35,000+, with growth-stage firms increasing 8x. 🔶 Realized Value: Close to $1 trillion generated through IPOs and M&A. 🔶 Sustainability: 21% of 2024 funding targeted sustainability, nearly double the U.S. rate. Despite the progress, challenges remain. With Europe facing a $375 𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐭𝐡-𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐟𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐠𝐚𝐩, making startups half as likely to secure $15M+ rounds compared to the U.S. Pension funds allocate just 0.007% of $9 trillion to venture capital, but improving this could fuel exponential growth. By 2034, Europe could achieve an $8 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐬𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚 20 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧-𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐣𝐨𝐛 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭. 👉 Full Report here: https://lnkd.in/dbZ9pr42 Always a believer in European tech! #tech #innovation

Easiest way to spot great early-stage #startups: Find great founders and back them up. Great founders' trait list: 1. Intelligence: Find smart people. 🧠 2. Great communication skills: #Founders will need to sell their company to future investors, their vision to employees, their product to customers. So they have to be good at it. 3. Execution speed: You want people that get things done fast. 4. Strong motivation: Starting a startup is a long-term commitment with many dark days. You must have a deep sense of mission to go through it. No one made a lot of money by backing up mediocre founders. Full video: http://bit.ly/4fUmHQx

💥 We’ve Done It Again! 💥 Our latest investment is all about simplifying everyday needs… Seven of our members have joined forces to invest €100,000 in @Anymaster, a dynamic platform that's shaking up the local services landscape. 🚀✨ Anymaster makes finding and hiring local professionals straightforward and hassle-free. From plumbers to personal trainers, Anymaster is making sure that accessing top local talent has never been easier! 🔧👩🏫 Shoutout to our members for making this happen. We’re excited to see where Anymaster goes next on its mission to transform local services!

48th Birthday #Resolution - time to give back more to the country where I grew up.. 🇬🇷 The beauty of living abroad for 30 years in multiple countries is that you develop a personal global network that you can “tap into” when you want to have a quality discussion, be it on VC, #technology or #business. It has been a blessing to know and “rub shoulders” with #leaders in #VC ‘s, #ICT, #cybersecurity, #IoT, #Web3, #Medtech, #Utilities, and more… leading figures like: - Eadan Agur , Andrey Bronfin, Ariel Cohen 🎗️, Tal Fialkow, Jeff Sakkal and many others from #dream, #amdocs, #nice and other companies and VC’s in the ultimate “startup nation” of #Israel; - Kalev Reiljan, Toomas Kärner, Toomas Polli and others in Estonia, the country with the highest number of #Unicorns per capita; - Yoke Kong Seow, William Woo, Dr. Zeev Berkowitz and others from #APAC and #APJ . The list could continue for #Turkiye, #MENA, other countries in #Europe, #USA and #UK, of course. I have earned and taken so much from these interactions - and the #learning never stops. But in all these years, I was never really involved with developments in the country where I grew up, #Greece. Professionals like Gerasimos Michalitsis and others would get on my case to get involved and help move things forward. I was sceptical for almost two decades. Until recently…. #Greece has undoubtedly undergone a dramatic economic and business environment transformation recently. So, when Gerasimos put me in touch with Raphael Kontos, I was at the very least intrigued to hear about what has changed in Greece, from a young professional that got to see the crisis at its peak and is “neck deep” in the tech ecosystem. I left the meeting impressed and convinced that things are finally truly changing in Greece. I have joined THETI CLUB - The Hellenic Tech Investor Club , an initiative that is part of a wider set of local developments that are moving the tech ecosystem in the right direction in Greece 🇬🇷 . The future is bright, as long as this new generation of professionals and the country continue on this path. It is a great time for expats like me to get involved and help. So, here we go…time to give back more.

"Investors always say what they really care about is the team. Actually, what they care most about is your traffic, then what other investors think, then the team. If you don't yet have any traffic, they fall back on number 2, what other investors think."  — Paul Graham Most VCs don’t even understand the tech behind the companies they invest in. And yet, they manage to make a lot of money. 💰 How? By investing in momentum. They're not focused on picking the next big thing, they’re just watching for signs that something might be the next big thing. When they sense that early excitement, they jump in. In reality, they’re betting on startup “buzz” more than anything else. Some weeks, your startup’s “stock price” is sky-high, and everyone’s calling you. A week later, if one key investor cools off, you could be yesterday’s news. The safe play? Don't obsess over-hyping your valuation. When you get a solid deal, take it and get back to building. 🚀 Startups win or lose on the quality of their product, not the hype around it. https://lnkd.in/dyyXWJ9v