Marathon Enterprise Companions, a enterprise agency in Athens that prides itself on being “day one companions to Greek tech companions,” simply closed its latest fund with €75 million in capital commitments, in response to companion Panos Papadopoulos.
The automobile brings the agency’s whole belongings underneath administration to €175 million — a significant quantity for an eight-year-old, seed-stage investor in Greece and a mirrored image, too, of some sizable exits. Amongst them was the sale final yr of Marathon’s portfolio firm Augmenta to CNH, a maker of farm equipment and development gear in a money deal that valued Augmenta at $110 million. Marathon additionally bought a few of its shares in Hack the Field, a cybersecurity upskilling and expertise evaluation platform, to the funding agency Carlyle in a secondary transaction.
We chatted with Papadopoulos forward of an in-person sit-down with him as a part of TechCrunch’s first StrictlyVC night in Athens on Thursday, Might 8, an evening that may also embrace a deep dive with Greece’s prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis. What we needed to know — and what the central questions might be Thursday night time — is: why Greece, and why now?
Greece has traditionally seen much less enterprise funding than different European nations. What, if something, has modified regionally that enabled you to lift a €75 million fund when international fundraising has develop into more difficult?
For starters, Marathon I is a high percentile performer globally in [realized returns]; we constructed a portfolio that captured the present zeitgeist effectively earlier than, for instance, AI-assisted scientific analysis, robotics or protection turned the norm.
What’s your agency’s thesis and the way does this latest fund’s thesis differ given the prolonged timeline we’re seeing for exits globally?
We’re backing founders who do one thing exhausting in essential markets. It may be exhausting as a result of it requires distinctive data, like a analysis PhD, or excessive company, that means understanding of a regulated or neglected business like energy grid administration. And we’re going to proceed doubling down on our fast-growing group, which has been accumulating expertise and experience, together with ambition.
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Greek startups have historically confronted challenges scaling past the home market. How are you evaluating an organization’s worldwide development potential on this setting the place capital effectivity issues greater than fast growth?
I encourage to vary. Greek startups leverage native expertise to serve main international prospects and markets from day one. Throughout our portfolio there’s nearly no income coming from the home market. However they’re serving one of the best a part of Fortune 500.
On the similar time, capital effectivity and crew grit are second nature to our group.
We’re seeing fewer IPOs globally and prolonged holding durations for venture-backed firms. How did this have an effect on your conversations along with your restricted companions about anticipated timelines and returns?
We don’t want decacorns for our fund economics to work. We make investments early on, keep substantial fairness positions, and hold our fund sizes small. These present for numerous alternatives for significant returns, together with secondaries and strategic M&A, effectively earlier than an IPO. We did secondaries again in 2021 when many of the market was promising infinite holding occasions. In our tradition, money is king. Evidently many others forgot it.
Many European VCs are emphasizing deep tech and AI. Is Marathon taking an identical method, or do you see totally different alternatives particular to the Greek ecosystem?
After all all of us are, however the definition of deep tech is stretched and means many various issues to totally different folks. We aren’t specializing in any particular sector per se – as a substitute, we’re specializing in folks altering their sectors. We had been maybe the primary generalist VC to spend money on protection earlier than the Ukraine warfare.
Greek founders have traditionally obtained much less funding than counterparts in Berlin, Paris, or Stockholm. Are you seeing valuations for Greek startups that replicate this low cost, and does this create alternatives for higher returns?
In our expertise, this isn’t about geography or value. We’re backing founders in non-consensus alternatives that almost all VCs would ignore. We transfer quick with conviction and we don’t ask who else is investing. These would possibly sound like desk stakes; they nonetheless are usually not.
Given the difficult international exit setting, how are you advising your portfolio firms about strategic alternate options like secondary gross sales or acqui-hires?
We work with our portfolio firms towards default alive eventualities. Ranging from there, all choices are on the desk. We see founders really wish to run their firms for the long run. We imagine a secondary sale can really assist in the direction of that, and most frequently we’re supportive of such eventualities.
The EU has emphasised supporting startups by way of numerous funding mechanisms. How essential is non-dilutive capital from these sources to your portfolio firms in comparison with 5 years in the past?
We welcome any such initiative. We advise, nonetheless, our portfolio founders to not waste time on non-market associated actions.
How has Greece’s improved macroeconomic scenario affected each your fundraising course of and the standard of startups you’re seeing?
It’s at all times good if you end up not making the press headlines, however what we do is much less related to native macro. In terms of the expertise entrance, I might say really primarily based on naive empiricism that, if there’s any correlation, that’s inverse. Adversity is the mom of all invention.
Many American VCs have pulled again from European investments. Has this created extra alternatives for native funds like Marathon, or has it made syndicating offers more difficult?
It’s positively a distinct market but additionally creates elevated alternative for European traders. I don’t assume the flood of capital in 2021 really modified the chance for European firms. We should at all times rely on ourselves and be aligned with founders for the long run.
