Low capitalization, slowdown in funding, caution on the part of investors are some of the elements that make up the market startups. Uncertainty, rising interest rates, a looming recession and geopolitical events have made investors around the world more wary of high-risk investments, while tech companies are stalling growth and cutting spending to move towards profitability. So far, mature Greek startups have not cut back, and any slowdown is also due to the fact that many Greek Equifund funds, which began operating in 2017-2018, have completed their investment period and are trying to raise new capital. In fact, the Faistos Foundation is already investing, and in 2023 new funds, also supported by the EATE, will intensify their activities.

According to the first estimates of Found.ation (an innovation agency), in the 9th month of 2022 (January-September), there is a slowdown in funding for Greek startups of about 20% -30%. As he clarifies, these are investments made through private equity (where the shares include new investors), and not through borrowed funds, since in this case the amounts seem higher than last year. On the contrary, as reported by Found.ation, as well as market cycles, smaller investments are made in companies that are in earlier stages of development, i.e. companies aiming for a capital of less than 1 million euros.

Meanwhile, new investments in companies planning to create applications based on next-generation networks (5G) are being launched by the Faistos fund, which is managed by 5G Ventures SA, a subsidiary of the super fund. As 5G Ventures CEO An. Tsortsakakis, an investment fund, is currently conducting technical and financial due diligence on two companies in the cybersecurity and Internet of Things (IOT) sectors. It also looks at three companies in the retail and chip manufacturing sectors. Faistos has already invested in two companies. These are Matternet, which provides medical and biological drone delivery services, and OQ Technology, which uses low-orbit satellites to provide seamless connectivity to Internet of Things (IoT) entities. It is noted that Faistos has funds in the amount of 100 million euros, which came from part of the proceeds from the tender held at the end of 2020 for the allocation of spectrum for the development of 5G, as well as from the participation of private investors (Latsco Family Office, D. Daskalopoulos family office, Deutsche Telekom group).