Venture Capital/News/ Meet the Greek tech giants you didn’t know about These Greek tech titans have flown largely under the radar outside of the country. By Freya Pratty 13 July 2022 Member Giorgos Hatzigeorgiou, cofounder and CEO of Skroutz Giorgos Hatzigeorgiou, cofounder and CEO of Skroutz \Venture Capital Are we in a downturn? What the data tells us about European tech in 2022 By Tom Nugent 8 August 2022 Member Venture Capital/News/ Meet the Greek tech giants you didn’t know about These Greek tech titans have flown largely under the radar outside of the country. By Freya Pratty 13 July 2022 Member Until now, Greece only had one widely reported unicorn: VivaWallet, a neobank which JP Morgan acquired a minority stake in earlier this year for an estimated €1.5bn. But there are other tech titans from Greece that have flown largely under the radar outside of the country. Sifted has confirmed two other Greek companies with unicorn valuations, and one that’s edging closer to joining the $1bn+ valuation club. PeopleCert PeopleCert, based in Athens, offers certification services for professional and language skills. The company was reported in the Greek media to have a €1.1bn valuation when it acquired British startup Axelos, another certification company, for €450m. Skroutz Skroutz is Greece’s answer to Amazon. It’s an online marketplace and says it’s the fourth most visited website in Greece, behind Google, Facebook and YouTube. The company was founded in 2005. A Skroutz representative confirmed to Sifted that its valuation is over $1bn. The company employs 700 people, all based in Greece and for the most part in Athens. Blueground Proptech company Blueground is like a longer-term Airbnb. It lets people rent properties for stays beyond a month in locations around the world. Blueground helps people source the rental properties and offers interior design services to get them ready. The company says it can’t disclose its current valuation, but it was last reported in October last year to be $750m. According to Dealroom, Blueground has raised $251m in funding, including its latest round, $40m in debt from Silicon Valley Bank. A growing ecosystem The unicorn count reflects a growing momentum across the wider Greek ecosystem. The country’s startups saw $972m invested in 2021, up from $882m in 2020. It’s important to note that this figure only covers Greek-founded startups still headquartered in the country, since there are a significant number of them based abroad. For more on Greece’s tech scene, including other top startups in the country to watch, take a look at Sifted’s new report, Greeking out, sponsored by Endeavor Greece. Freya Pratty is a reporter at Sifted. She tweets from @FPratty and writes our sustainability-focused newsletter — you can sign up here. Related Articles Early-stage VC firm The Fund launches in Europe By Amy Lewin Click here to read more Founders are a seriously privileged bunch By Amy Lewin Click here to read more Member Brunch with Luciana Lixandru, Sequoia’s new European chief By Isabel Woodford Click here to read more The list: September’s hottest European seed investments By Freya Pratty Click here to read more Most Read 1 \Public & Academic Europe’s top 10 ‘unicorn universities’ 2022 2 \Venture Capital Here’s what I learned being a CEO in finance — both as a woman and man 3 \Venture Capital 300+ female VC partners in Europe: the complete and updated list 4 \Fintech Priced out of the housing market but fancy owning part of a property? There’s a fintech for that 5 \Venture Capital Meet Cornerstone VC — a Black-led pre-seed and seed fund with £20m to invest Join the conversation Subscribe Notify of new follow-up comments new replies to my comments
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