Hellas Direct Invests €68M in Romania; 17,000 New Electric Cars Acquired in Greece in 2024!

Good morning!

This week, we're highlighting startup opportunities at the upcoming EU-Startup Summit in Malta, investment rounds raised by Deepmirror, ClearDrop, Neurohive, and Intryc, as well as Hellas Direct’s €68M local asset investment in Romania.

Mark your calendar for April 24-25! The annual EU-Startups Summit is back—bigger, bolder, and packed with opportunities. Join 2,500+ innovators, meet Europe’s hottest startups, and learn from the continent’s most successful entrepreneurs. Two game-changing days of networking, inspiration, and growth await.

🚀 Are you a startup? Apply now for a chance to win the €750,000 prize in the Pitch Competition! Hurry—applications close on January 31.

🎟️ Plus, use the discount code WELOVEGREECE for 20% off tickets! Find all the details about the summit here.

Weekly Roundup

• Deepmirror Secures $2.4M to Help Chemists Design Drugs with One Click.

• Hellas Direct Insurance Company Steadily Commits to Romania with €68M Local Asset Investment.

• 17,000 New Electric Cars Acquired in Greece in 2024!

• Neurohive Raises €147K Led by Genesis Ventures and John Tsioris to Revolutionize Farming with Wearable Sensors for Real-Time Animal Health Monitoring, Smarter Decisions, and Increased Productivity.

• Deloitte Greece Relocates to a New Office Space in Marousi Designed by The Architectural Firm.

• ClearDrop Raises €600K: A French-Based Startup Using Acoustic Waves to Clean Solar Panels Without Water, Robots, or Damage, Led by Valeureux, Genesis Ventures, and 8 THETI CLUB Members.

• CapsuleT Accelerator Startups Mystery Pot, Deliverback, and Tourmie Showcase Their Solutions at the Recently Concluded FITUR (International Tourism Trade Fair) in Madrid.

• OpenAI Introduces Operator: A Research Preview of an Agent That Uses Its Own Browser to Perform Tasks.

• Intryc (YC S24) Raises $3.1M Seed Round Led by General Catalyst, Y Combinator, Episode 1 Ventures, 500 Emerging Europe, e2vc, and Activant Capital to Transform Customer Support and Unlock Insights.

Opportunity Roundup
Ecosystem

• GrowCrete 2.0: An Incubator for Sustainable Business Ideas in Crete. Do you have an idea or a new business that can make a difference and contribute to sustainable development? Apply by 17 February for a chance to win €5,000 in cash prizes.

• Applications Open for the 6th Edition of the European Startup Prize for Mobility – Europe’s Largest Acceleration Programme for Clean Mobility Startups! Apply by 7 February.

• The 8th Cohort of the EIC Women in Leadership Programme is Open to Women (Co-)Founders and Leaders in C-Suite Positions. It Aims to Support Advanced Entrepreneurs by Helping Them Grow Their Businesses.
  
  Join the Info Session on Tuesday, 28 January, to Learn More. Application Deadline: 9 February.

• Sui’s First AI Agent Hackathon Featuring a $100K USD Prize Pool. Registration Opens from January 31 to February 10, 2025.

Jobs

• Investment Associate (London) Role at VentureFriends.

Events

• AI & Audiovisual Production Open Class by SAE Athens, Wednesday, 29 January

• Funding Your Idea: Workshop Powered by Thessaloniki's VC Funds (NGIF, TECS.Capital, and Loggerhead Ventures), Wednesday, 29 January

• Ministry of Testing: Exploring Quality Engineering - Episode Eight, Wednesday, 29 January

• Networking 151: Automating Your Network Provisioning in Your AWS Platform, Wednesday, 29 January

• Innovation Greece 6.0: 29–30 January

• EIT Digital Athens Connect: Bridging Technology and Talent, Thursday, 30 January

• The 3rd Athens Causal Data Science Meetup: AI Meets Experimentation, Thursday, 30 January

• Green InnoLab: Two-Day Workshop on Sustainability and Innovation, 30–31 January

• Symposium on 'Networking Culture' by Athens Museums and Cultural Institutions Network, Friday, 31 January

Things Worth Reading, Listening and Watching

• Read: AI Automation in Supply Chain and Warehouse Management by Marilianna Fotopoulou, Product Marketing Lead at Dialectica.

• Read: 'Startups: Funding and the Masculine Gender' by Lina Giannarou, Journalist at Kathimerini.

• Watch: TEDxAthens 2024, X Machina - A Passionate Panel on Reimagining the City’s Future.

• Read: Why Early-Stage Startups Don’t Always Need Venture Capital Financing by Dimitris Tsingos.

• Read: Deepseek: The Quiet Giant Leading China’s AI Race

That's all for this week. If you'd like to have your news, events, job opportunities or thought leadership article featured, please send them to us via email here.

Thanks for subscribing and your support! As we look ahead to an exciting 2025, I’d love to hear your feedback on how we can improve. Feel free to share your thoughts and suggestions — I value your input!

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