Fresh hope for new businesses in Greece

Where does the Greek startup ecosystem stand? Last week was marked by the official launch of EquiFund, the new fund of funds that has been set up to promote entrepreneurship in the recession-battered country. How much progress has been made since the launch of four funding programs through the JEREMIE initiative of the European Investment Fund (EIF) in 2013?

"There are now people with experience, who know what they are doing," says George Tziralis, a partner at Marathon Venture Capital - one of the nine funds backed by EquiFund - in reference to potential startup founders. Tziralis was also part of the first European Union effort to fund startup technology companies in Greece, as a partner in Openfund II, which among others invested in Workable - perhaps the most successful Greek startup in recent years. Panos Papadopoulos, the other partner at Marathon, until recently lived...