East Mediterranean presents great startup investment opportunities
At Starttech Ventures we have firm belief in the amazing investment opportunities available in the East Mediterranean.
Why is that?
First of all, throughout the centuries people from the broader ‘Levant’ area have been famous for their notorious commercial skills. Our first-hand experience suggests that this is definitely still true (we all have heard of Aristotle Onassis, right?).
Moreover, despite (or, perhaps, because of) the economic and political instability in this region, the society greatly values education resulting to developing numerous top-level scientists and engineers (for instance, you may have heard of Mohamed El Baradei of Egypt, who served for twelve years, 1997–2009, as the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency).
Last but not least, exactly because of the economic, political and societal conditions in the region, people, especially the youth, do have very strong entrepreneurial drive as a means to change their own lives as well as the lives of their loved ones (for instance, in the badly-hit Greece during the financial crisis the startup ecosystem presented explosive growth).
It is true of course that the marketing skills, especially talking about modern digital marketing, are generally weak while the now-dominant methodologies around customer development, lean and agile are not widespread; this is however a gap which Starttech Ventures aims to covering with our Lean Acceleration Program.
The actual reality is that entrepreneurship hubs like Nicosia, Beirut, Cairo and Tunis, but also Sofia, Belgrade and Istanbul, are homes to exceptional founders who, surprisingly to many, will be able to find the optimal conditions to develop their businesses in Athens (versus to their home or other mainstream hubs such as London, Paris or Berlin).
Why is that, again?
Because the investment capital will suddenly become available in Athens (thanks to a number of developments, like for instance the massive EquiFund program by the European Investment Fund), the cost structure is very competitive and the general societal and urban environment much friendlier and more familiar versus the alternative choices.
This has long been the Starttech Ventures strategy (having invested in Israeli and Cypriot startups), being a private pre-seed investor, and most importantly that’s why we are launching an effort for creating and institutional investments arm in order to augment this activity to the benefit of all involved parties.
The idea is simple:
- Find the best founders from the East Mediterranean hubs
- Select those who have international mindset, strong culture of cooperation and who develop software products or services commercially targeting North America and North / Western Europe
- Relocate them to Athens and get them through the Starttech Ventures long acceleration program
- Keep investing in them as needed
- Raise follow on rounds and/or pursue M&A opportunities with investors and strategics from the key target commercial markets of these businesses — That is primarily North America and secondarily North/Western Europe.
How will you be able to review and, should you find this aligned with your strategy, pursue this investment opportunity? Just send us a note here.
