Greek startups raised €400M+ in H1, Blueground expands to Saudi Arabia, & Found.ation report.

Happy summer holidays and welcome to the 14th edition of #Techincider!
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Weekly Roundup

• Greek startups and scaleups contributed nearly 40% of the top 20 venture capital deals in Eastern Europe in 2023, investing €351.8M in various companies.

• Found.ation and EIT Digital have released the "Startups in Greece" report for the 7th consecutive year, offering valuable insights into the Greek startup scene.

• METLEN Energy & Metals has completed the acquisition of VOLTERRA.

• Blueground is expanding to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, through a strategic franchise partnership with Masaleh Properties.

• Sporos Platform invested an undisclosed amount in Swaplanet, an innovative e-retail and exchange platform for children's clothes, toys, and books.

• Persado Launches GenAI Tool for Personalized, Emotion-Driven Marketing Content by Angelina Maksimovic, Junior Content Writer at CX Scoop.

• Viva.com and EPSILON NET have joined forces to offer Greek businesses end-to-end payment acceptance solutions, focusing on the comprehensive "ALL in ONE" proposition.

• Genesis Ventures invested an undisclosed amount in illuminem, the leading platform for sustainability information and data, which provides news and insights to over 350,000 users from the largest global network of sustainability experts.

Opportunities Roundup

• Learn Machine Learning Engineering in just 4 months with a free online course from DataTalks.Club.

• The Women TechEU Open Call is a two-year EU-funded project offering up to €75k in support for women leading deep tech startups in Europe. Apply by September 30th.

• Applications for Vodafone's #Codelikeagirl program are now open for girls aged 14-18 with an interest in programming. Apply by August 9th.

• The EIC Women Leadership Programme is now accepting mentor applications for its 6th cohort. Apply by September 1st.

• Join the inaugural Startup Genome Ecosystem Leadership Forum in the UAE on October 15, 2024.

• The 2024 Youth Start-Up Competition (YSC) is open to young visionaries aged 18-25 with transformative start-up ideas. Apply by September 20th.

Things Worth Reading, Listening and Watching

• Getting ready to soak up the sun and enjoy great tunes with your favorite Spotify summer playlist curated by Athens Technology Center.

• Improve Your Startup Pitch with Storytelling by Lyn Graft.

• Check out the "weLEADERs Unplugged" podcast on how HR-Tech collaboration can drive effective upskilling and reskilling. Featuring Stelios Mantas, Partner and Head of Deloitte Digital, Irene Panagiotakopoulou, our CHRO, and Eleni Aktypi, Managing Director at WE LEAD.

• How Orfium is Harnessing Greece's Potential as a Global Tech Player by Michael Petychakis, CTO at Orfium.

• Catch the Business Review Greece interview on fintech investment with Giorgos Karampelas, Principal at VentureFriends VC.

• Tune into LIFO's podcast series: "In What Ways Does the Algorithm Read Our Thoughts?" featuring Professor Lilian Mitrou from the Department of Information and Communication Systems Engineering at the University of the Aegean.

• Catch the latest episode of Endeavor Greece Greeking Out 2.0 with Marco Veremis, Partner at Big Pi Ventures, discussing the evolution of Greece's tech space since the economic crisis and the country's competitive edge in engineering talent.

That’s it from us this week, enjoy your summer holiday!
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