EATE – Mubadala: After VentureFriends come other joint investments in 2022

By Matina Harkoftaki

VentureFriends Fund III was selected to be the first co-investment of Mubadala Investment Company and the Hellenic Development Investment Bank (EATE). The move comes after the co-investment co-operation agreement signed for the first time in 2018 between Mubadala and EATE, which was even expanded during the recent visit of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis to the United Arab Emirates. “The funds of this cooperation amount to 400 million euros, with an equal share of 50-50 between the two parties”, notes in capital.gr the president of EATE, Haris Lambropoulos and adds: “The goal is investments in equity and venture funds, which in turn invest in Greek innovative and rapidly growing companies, which are active in cutting-edge industries with added value to the economy “.

The co-investment in the VentureFriends Fund, which amounts to a few million euros, “unlocked” after the completion of the evaluation process of the fund, in which Apostolos Apostolakis and George Dimopoulos participate, among others. “One of the strong points of this fund is that it consists of an experienced team while it had to show in its assets a recent success, the acquisition of Instashop by Delivery Hero. It is, after all, a fund that so far manages funds of the class. of 100 million euros “, points out to the capital the managing director of EATE, Antigoni Lymperopoulou. This will not be the only joint investment that the two sides will make for this year as according to Mr. Lambropoulos there will be moves to other venture funds in 2022. “For the last four years we have not had an agreement in the drawer but “We were working on various investment opportunities”, notes Mr. Lambropoulos with Ms. Lymperopoulou adding that “EATE and Mubadala have an excellent cooperation with both sides to exchange investment proposals”.

EATE as a state-owned entity has signed a co-investment agreement in cutting-edge sectors such as innovation, technology, health, food and energy. On the other hand, the business environment of our country is not unknown for Mubadala, the state investment arm of the United Arab Emirates based in Abu Dhabi as, a few years ago, it entered the domestic fisheries industry. Private institutional investors, such as Mubadala, also have the opportunity to invest directly in a company in which the venture fund that has already been funded has already invested, thus paving the way for transactions and collaborations that cross the borders of Greece. . According to the leaders of EATE, in recent years there is a strong interest in Greece and the Greek business talent. “The important thing is that foreign institutional investors need a local partner, a role that we have taken on in this case, in order to feel that there is a reliable interlocutor with whom they have a common understanding in order to be able to penetrate a foreign market,” she explains. Mr. Lymperopoulou. Finally, it should be noted that the specific model of cooperation, which Mubadala has adopted with our country, was initially implemented with France and on this basis was developed in our country.