Growing Together Athens Event Report

Press Release by our member HDB: Growing Together gathered 300 entrepreneurs, investors, bankers and representatives of European institutions from 8 European countries in Athens on 4 April. 

Athens, April 7th, 2022 – 60 inspiring speakers intervened on the main stage and on four thematic agoras on agribusiness, climate, creative and cultural industries and health, to share their experiences and goals for growth in a stronger Europe. At the same time, 8 pitches by Greek entrepreneurs seeking to raise more than €35 million took place to present themselves to investors and stakeholders organized by the Hellenic Development Bank (HDB) and Bpifrance.

A European cooperation protocol between five national public banks and investment Institutions was announced at this occasion in Zappeion Megaron, with the presence of the Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis. This protocol aims at increasing European growth capital funds’ capacity to provide late-stage funding to EU-based technology companies. Over the next 3 to 5 years €3.3 billion will be mobilized as part of this agreement, fostering the development of European global tech leaders. The five partners are: Bpifrance (France), KfW Capital (Germany), Tesi (Finland), Hellenic Development Bank of Investments (Greece) and Vækstfonden (Denmark).

The Hellenic Development Bank for Investments (HDBI) and Bpifrance have also signed a Memorandum of Understanding to accelerate the growth of investment fund managers for the benefit of equity financing of Greek companies.

Furthermore, the Hellenic Development Bank signed two additional Memorandums of Understanding with Sowalfin (Belgium), and with Banco Portugues de Fomento (Portugal), signaling the starting point of joint initiatives that can produce new synergies and opportunities for economic and social development. These MoUs set the objective of enhancing opportunities for growth and seek to strengthen funding arrangements to mobilize investments and support SMEs. Moreover, these MoUs aim to attract equity investments and foster the extroversion and competitiveness of Greek entrepreneurship, including via the established “InnoAgora powered by HDB” platform, which is a Greek community within EuroQuity-Bpifrance, the online matchmaking platform aimed at creating and sustaining a professional and qualified network for the collaboration of investors and entrepreneurs at European level. 

At the same time, a very important and strategic agreement between the Hellenic Development Bank and the Public Gas Corporation of Greece (DEPA) was signed related to the” White Dragon” project. This project – an investment which exceeds € 8 billion – concerns the development of an innovative integrated green hydrogen project in Greece which covers the entire hydrogen value chain. Its goal is to will create the new ecosystem of companies in the field of green energy, through the planning of joint support actions and the effective utilization of our financial tools to companies operating in the field of green energy.

These synergies declare in practice the commitment of the development banks to their common goal and vision: to support and promote entrepreneurship in Europe for Growing Together.

Moreover, eight high-potential companies, all members of InnoAgora powered by HDB, participated in the pitch session in front of more than 30 investors on site and online, seeking to raise more than €35 million: BibeCoffee, Brite Solar, Centaur Analytics, InSyBio, Loctio P.C, PaloServices, PD Neurotechnology and RTsafe.

Eight innovative Greek companies exhibited in the context of Agora sessions: Biopix DNA Technology IKE, EV Loader, Eye Radar, Magos, Moptil-Mobile Optical Illusions, SciDrones, OramaVR and PD Neurotechnology. 

HE Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the Prime Minister of Greece, honored the event with his presence. Among the institutional participants at “Growing Together” were:

• Adonis Georgiadis, Minister of Development and Investments (Greece)
• Yannis Tsakiris, Deputy Minister for Development and Investments (Greece)
• Nicolas Dufourcq, CEO, Bpifrance (France)
• Pascal Lagarde, Executive Director, in charge of International, Strategy, Studies and development
• Isabelle Bébéar, Director, Head of International & European Affairs
• Athina Chatzipetrou, CEO and Chairwoman of the Hellenic Development bank (Greece)
• Pantelis Tzortzakis, Executive Vice-Chairman of the Hellenic Development Bank (Greece)
• Antigoni Lymperopoulou, CEO of the Hellenic Development Bank of Investments (Greece)
• Haris Lambropoulos, Chairman of the Hellenic Development Bank of Investments (Greece)
• Nathalie Berger, Director for Support to Member States’ Reforms, European Commission
• Beatriz Freitas, CEO, Banco Portugues de Formento (Portugal)
• Jean-Pierre Di Bartolomeo, President, Solwalfin (Belgium)
• Gytis Zakevicius, Advisor to the Minister, Ministry of Finance of the Republic (Lithuania)
• Ioannis Kaltsas, Head of Division, European Investment Bank
• Anne Mieke Van der Werf, Director Business Development, Invest NL (Netherlands)
• Jan Sasse, CEO, Tesi (Finland)
• David Denzer-Speck, Head of EU Affairs, KfW (Germany)
• Ioannis Bratakos, President, Athens Chamber of Commerce & Industry

And also entrepreneurs and investment funds:

• • Alex Fotakidis, Partner – Head of CVC Greece, CVC Capital Partners
  • Apostolos Tamvakakis, Founder and Managing Partner, EOS Capital Partners
  • Giannis Papadopoulos, Chairman, the Hellenic Venture Capital Association (HVCA)
  • Bertrand Rambaud, Chairman, Siparex
  • Véra Kempf, Co-founder, Singulart

• Nicolas Fritz, CEO, ContentSquare 

• Georges Tziralis, Partner, Marathon Venture Capital
• Antoine Papiernik, Managing Partner, Sofinnova Partners
• Dimitris Dimitriadis, Chief Innovation Officer, TheFutureCats
• George Dimopoulos, Partner, VentureFriends

Complete list of speakers here

Media relations :

About Bpifrance

Bpifrance is the French national investment bank: it finances businesses – at every stage of their development – through loans, guarantees, equity investments and export insurances. Bpifrance also provides extrafinancial services (training, consultancy) to help entrepreneurs meet their challenges (innovation, export…).  For more information, please visit: www.bpifrance.fr and presse.bpifrance.fr – Follow us on Twitter: @Bpifrance – @BpifrancePresse

About HDB

The Hellenic Development Bank SA (HDB) is the development institution of Greece. It is the 100% state owned financial intermediary in Greece, which is functioning in reciprocity with the Greek banking sector. Established in 2004, HDB contributes to the driving forces of the Greek enterprises as a pillar of growth of the national economy. HDB is the trusted partner of Greek entrepreneurs. In particular, HDB is supporting primarily micro, small and medium enterprises by facilitating their access to finance and support through non-financial tools, to address and cover any market failures and to create an ecosystem that favors and supports SMEs. HDB sees “Banking as a Service”.

For more information, please visit: https://hdb.gr/ 

Follow HDB @: https://facebook.com/hdbgr

https://linkedin.com/company/hdbgr

https://twitter.com/HDB_GR 

About HDBI

The Hellenic Development Investment Bank SA (HDBI, ex TANEO) was established by the Greek State under the article 28 of L. 2843/2000 and is the Sovereign Fund of Funds of Greece. The main activity of HDBI is to manage state or EU funds for the purpose of procuring and investing these resources to participate along other investors in Venture Capital and Private Equity Funds. The company’s mottos are #WeInvestForGrowth and #FinancingInnovation.

For more information, please visit: www.hdbi.gr