Startup-Heaven Greece

by Dimitri C. Michalakis

Over past issues we’ve been featuring the exciting news that Greece, despite the economic climate and hidebound bureaucracy, is a hotbed of startups that have exploded in number and are making their mark throughout the world. As in this issue Kumilio preserves, produced in Evia by the Lambrou family and using the island’s natural treasury of figs. Founder Kosta Lambrou says, “The possibility of exports is something I did not have at all in my mind when I started. Originally, I was approached by stores in central European cities that have Greek products, but along the way I accepted proposals from destinations that I did not even dare to imagine.”

And startups are sprouting everywhere in other industries in Greece, as highlighted by Bojana Trajkovska in the website EU-startups. Just a few:

Augmenta, started by two farmers and systems engineers, an agritech startup that offers “AI-based solution comprised of a hardware device and a web platform that scans and analyzes crops” so farmers can make informed decisions and increase yield using fewer chemicals. Cube RM, which develops revenue management software including for Fortune 500 companies and thousands of users in more than 20 countries. Ingredio, “a mobile application that informs consumes about the toxicity of food ingredients and cosmetics…set on a mission to create a society free of toxic chemicals.” Fieldscale, a Thessaloniki-based startup that designs and develops simulation software for electric design and analysis, which has won several awards in Greece. Nummyspay, only two years old, a subscription management and credit card processing platform, awarded the FinancesOnline Rising Star 2018 Award. RTsafe, which develops technology for “personalized quality assurance” in radiation oncology, “where the treatment can be first applied and checked before being approved for the real patient” to minimize side effects. It won first place in the MITEF Greece Startup Competition in 2015. Syncbnb, awarded the best Greek tourism startup, which provides “calendar synchronization that help owners and managers of short-term rental properties to increase their revenue by synchronizing their bookings from multiple rental platforms.”

The young people in Greece are never still and like the Lambrou-family in Evia with their Kumilio preserves, it’s heartening to see them taking the traditional products of Greece and making them something special to offer to the entire world.