The world of start-ups at OT.gr

Christos Nikoloudis, CEO of Mantis Innovation and creator of the Elevate Greece platform, and Giannis Costopoulos, CEO of Sammy, were at the OT.gr stand and talked about the ecosystem of start-ups in Greece.

In particular, Mr. Nikoloudis, coming from the Technical University of Athens and with the assistance of the Ministry of Development, created the Elevate Greece platform, which is essentially a record of start-ups.

To date, 3,500 applications have been submitted to Elevate Greece, of which, 451 have already been approved. Referring to the operation of Elevate Greece, Mr. Nikoloudis said that he actually undertakes the mapping of the start-ups system and as a second role  ecosystem development.

When asked about the current ecosystem of start-ups, for the last ten years, Mr. Costopoulos referred characteristically to the application that his company has created for the management of works (such as berths at marinas and ports.

Referring in general to the way start-ups work, Christos Nikoloudis said that 80% of these businesses are closing. Of the remaining 20%, 80% end up becoming a small and medium enterprise, while a very small percentage makes it up the ladder, ie the big leap where it extends geographically and for which users. There the revenue no longer comes from the users but from the business value. “The start-ups are targeting funds with high investment risk,” Mr. Nikoloudis admitted.

For his part, Mr. Costopoulos said that his own company due to R&D background was transformed to support commercial penetration, while noting that there is investment interest.

When asked “why are we talking about valuations”, the two representatives of the world of start-ups noted that there was an acquisition of 360 million, while another valuation reached 700 million.

For the possible problems that may exist with the Greek State, they admitted that until 2017 someone needed a dozen approvals and to spend countless hours at various services while today through gov.gr everything is done directly and digitally. We feel that the climate is very positive, they concluded.

Finally, they referred to the dimension of the State as a customer, where there are steps that must be taken to homogenize the needs while there is also a strategic issue in targeting an organization. They also noted that, in general, as a country we are very low in relation to the international environment, but start-ups are companies that emerge and make demands.