Marathon Venture PartnersVenture in Athens, which boasts “partners on the first day for Greek technological partners”, has just finished its latest fund with 75 million euros of capital liabilities, based on Panos Papadopoulos’s partner.
The vehicle runs the company’s assets as a part of management as much as 175 million Euro-significant amount for an eight-year investor at the seed stage in Greece, in addition to the reflection of some disputed exits. Among them was the sale of the Marathon of the Marathon of CNH, a manufacturer of agricultural machinery and construction equipment in last 12 months Cash contract (*75*) appreciated the augmenta at $ 110 million. Marathon also sold some of his actions at Hack The Box, a platform for assessing cyber security and talent assessment, investment company Carlyle Wa Secondary transaction.
We talked to Papadopoulos before sitting with him as a part of the first evening of Techcrunch in Athens on Thursday, May 8, the night, which also includes deep diving with the Prime Minister of Greece, Kyriakos mitsotakis. What we desired to know – and what are the predominant questions on Thursday evening – why Greece and why now?
Greece historically recorded smaller investments of the project than other European countries. What if at all, it modified locally, which allowed you to gather a fund price EUR 75 million, when global funds have change into harder?
At the starting a marathon and is the highest percentile around the world [realized returns]; We have built a portfolio that captured the current Zeitgeist, for example, for example, scientific research supported by AI, robotics or defense has change into the norm.
What is the thesis of your company and how does the thesis of this latest fund differ, taking into account the prolonged time axis that we see globally?
We support the founders who do something hard in important markets. (*75*) will be difficult because it requires unique knowledge, resembling a research doctorate or a high agency, which implies understanding an regulated or ignored industry, resembling energy network management. We will proceed to double our rapidly developing community that accumulates experience and knowledge, in addition to ambitions.
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Greek startups traditionally face the challenges of scaling outside the domestic market. How do you assess the international company growth potential in this environment where capital efficiency is more important than rapid expansion?
I encourage to differ. Greek startups use local talents to serve leading global customers and markets from the first day. There is practically no revenues from the domestic market in our portfolio. But they serve the better part of Fortune 500.
At the same time, capital efficiency and team sand are the second nature for our community.
We see less IPO around the world and prolonged periods of maintaining firms supported by the undertaking. How did this affect your conversations with limited partners about the expected schedules and returns?
We do not need Demikorn for our fund’s economy to work. We invest early, maintain significant capital positions and keep our small funds. They provide various possibilities of serious phrases, including secondary and strategic mergers and acquisitions, long before IPO. We made second place in 2021, when most of the market was a promising infinite maintenance time. In our culture, money is a king. It seems that many others have forgotten about it.
Many European VC emphasize deep technology and artificial intelligence. Does the marathon have a similar approach or do you see different possibilities specific to the Greek ecosystem?
Of course, we are all, but the definition of deep technology is stretched and means many various things for different people. We do not focus on any specific sector per se – as an alternative, we focus on people changing their sectors. Perhaps we were the first general VC to take a position in defense against war in Ukraine.
Greek founders have historically received less financing than counterparts in Berlin, Paris or Stockholm. Do you see valuations for Greek startups that reflect this discount, and does this create the possibilities of higher phrases?
Our experience shows that it is not about geography or price. We support the founders in terms of the possibilities of non -consumption that most VC would ignore. We move quickly with conviction and do not ask who else invests. It may sound like table rates; They are still not.
Given the difficult global starting environment, how do you advise your portfolio firms about strategic alternatives, resembling secondary sales or acquisitions?
We work with our portfolio firms in order to fail to perform the obligation of live scenarios. Starting from from there, all options are on the table. We see that the founders really need to run their firms in the future. We imagine that secondary sales will help with this, and most often we support such scenarios.
The EU emphasized the support of startups through various financing mechanisms. How important is the steadfast capital of those sources for your portfolio firms in comparison with five years ago?
We accept each such initiative with satisfaction. However, we advise our portfolio founders to not waste time on activities related to the market.
How did the improved macroeconomic situation of Greece affect each the means of obtaining funds and the quality of the startups you see?
It is all the time good when it does not appear on the first pages of press newspapers, but what we do is less suitable for local macro. As for the front of talents, I might say that it is really based on naive empiricism, that if there is a correlation, it is the opposite. Fate is the mother of all inventions.
Many American VC withdrew from European investments. Has it created more opportunities for local funds, resembling Marathon, or did it make syndicating harder offers?
(*75*) is definitely a different market, but also creates an increased opportunity for European investors. I do not think that the capital of capital in 2021 really change the probability for European firms. We all the time have to count on ourselves and be adapted with the founders in the long run.