Venture capital

"Stagnation" is the term used by several representatives of investment funds in Greece to describe the trajectory of the Greek startup ecosystem at the end of the first quarter of this year compared to the corresponding period last year.

Startups may have now gone past the worst, say several international investors, predicting that 2024 will be a year of stability, in contrast to 2023, that showed shrinking investment and mass layoffs by technology companies.

Most Greek businesses are extremely short-lived, as 56% of them "die" before completing a decade of life. This proves business ventures in Greece are often done casually, without a plan or sufficient funds, motivated by need and not because the would-be entrepreneurs have identified a real opportunity.

The Industrial Development Bank of Türkiye (TSKB) has announced that it obtained a $155 million loan from the World Bank, with the guarantee of the Treasury and Finance Ministry, to establish the Türkiye Green Fund.

Vestbee, one of the leading European platforms for startups, VC funds, accelerators, and corporates, has just published VC Funding In CEE Report - 2Q 2023. According to this quarterly overview, VC trends in the CEE region have been closely mirroring the global downturn as the total value of disclosed funding rounds settled at €560M.

The next edition of CEE Startup Challenge is now officially accepting applications! This the biggest online competition in the region is powered by Vestbee - the leading community-powered matchmaking platform connecting startups, VC funds, accelerators, and corporate entities.

In line with the global startup activity, the Turkish startup ecosystem witnessed growth in both deal volume and deal count in the second quarter compared to the January-March period, according to a report by KPMG.

There were a total of 77 deals in the second quarter of 2023, and the total deal volume was $150 million, including startup acquisitions.

It's the last chance for fintech startups to join the AWS Global Fintech Accelerator, a non-equity, online program, launched by Amazon Web Services in collaboration with NVIDIA, a tech giant igniting the era of modern AI, and Vestbee, one of Europe's leading platforms for startups, venture capital firms, accelerators and corporations.

The total deal volume in the Turkish startup ecosystem, including acquisitions, has amounted to $78.9 million in the first quarter of 2023 with 53 deals, shows a report by KPMG Türkiye and 212.

Global startup funding carried out $76 billion, which indicates a sharp decline, compared to the record-breaking first quarter of last year, the report noted.

BELGRADE - Serbian PM Ana Brnabic said on Friday Serbia's potential was once again recognised in the new Startup Genome report on startup ecosystems.

"We are in the world's top 20 countries when it comes to talent and we raised the value of our startup ecosystem by as much as 75 pct (average global growth at 47 pct) between 2018 and 2022," Brnabic wrote in a Twitter post.