Pandemic stems cash flow to new startups
The coronavirus has affected the ecosystem of Greek startups too, as a number of domestic venture capital funds chose to stay in and reinvest in the companies in their own portfolios instead of going out and financing new ones.
Market estimates say that, this year, only 1-2% of new startups have managed to draw financing from EquiFund’s investment capital funds, which this year have a smaller number of new investments in their portfolios than in 2019.
This is attributed to investors’ preference for follow-on investments due to the uncertainty resulting from the pandemic; it is also down to the maturing of many investment funds in Equifund, some of which are completing their investment activity and are preparing to launch new funds of their own, such as Marathon Venture Capital, which has announced the creation of Marathon Fund II.
Of course there have also been some cases of startups financed exclusively by so-called “angel investors,” or via crowdfunding and international investors. Such is the case with Omilia, which this year raised $20 million from British fund Grafton Capital.
