The Greek community of startuppers in the USA – The list of companies

Of George Lampiris

An extensive and detailed list, which presents 95 Greek start-ups operating in Silicon Valley – from Greek or Greek-American founders – is presented today by Capital.gr.

This is a record of the Greek government, which we have at our disposal with information and data for each of them.

The data we quote come from a special record of the Greek government.

In fact, in the near future, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, in charge of economic diplomacy in Greece, Costas Frangogiannis, is expected to travel to the United States with the ultimate goal of connecting and extroverting Greek companies operating there, through the SVHG team. which the Undersecretary himself has.

SVGH, short for “Silicon Valley Greek Hub” is a newly formed group consisting of reputable members of the Greek community, whose goal is to promote networking activities as well as liaison with Greece and other business organizations from the United States or other foreign countries.

The operation of SVGH envisages, among other things, the provision of know-how and guidance to start-ups, the organization of discussions on issues related to economic and technological interest, as well as the development of synergies with similar bodies of the Greek community, as well as the development of relations with similar business networks. third countries but also with universities.

Of the Greek companies that we present to you in the relevant list, some have already had a business route in recent years, while some others are at an early stage of business activity.

In fact, several of their founders have participated in business acceleration programs of international scope such as YCombinator, Plug & Play, 500 Startups.

Some of their founders presented an innovative product on Greek soil and then found themselves in Silicon Valley to raise funds from local VC funds.

Most of these companies are related to the technology sector, despite the generally diverse areas of activity of each.

Representative companies and key elements for each

Easy

Aisera is the fourth company founded in Silicon Valley by Christos Tryfonas, after the successful acquisitions of the previous three. Aisera was founded in 2017 and offers automation services for IT operations, sales and customer service through artificial intelligence applications. The company announced securing third-round funding of $ 40 million in April 2021 with total company funding of $ 90 million.

Arrikto

Arrikto offers tools for designing computer learning applications (ML, machine learning). It was founded in 2015 by Konstantinos Venetsanopoulos and Vangelis Koukis and has offices in San Francisco and a research and development department in Athens. In November 2020, the company secured first-round funding of $ 10 million from Unusual Ventures (investment venture Venture Capital in Silicon Valley).

BetterUp

BetterUp was founded by Alexi Robichaux (of Greek origin from his mother) in 2013 and is active in the field of mental health offering coaching to business executives. It employs about 2,500 mental health coaches and uses artificial intelligence tools for behavioral analysis. The company’s services are available to 370 companies in 90 countries. In the summer of 2021 the company announced its expansion in Europe with offices in London and Munich. In early October 2021, it secured fifth-round funding of $ 300 million.

Blueground

Blueground provides furnished apartments for rent for more than one month in 15 cities around the world. It is headquartered in New York, but also provides services in San Francisco. In September 2021, it announced that it had secured third-round funding of $ 180 million, the largest funding ever for a Greek startup.

Centaur Analytics

It is a company that develops sensors for recording the storage conditions of agricultural products. Based on the measurements collected by the sensors, parameters of crop storage are analyzed in order to avoid food loss. The company was founded in 2014, is headquartered in Volos and has offices in Southern California. Joined the network of Endeavor Greece in 2018.

Helic

Helic has developed software for simulating the operation of microprocessors, with activity that is part of the EDA Electronic Design Automation industry. It was founded in 2000 in Athens and in 2007 moved its headquarters to Santa Clara (Silicon Valley), maintaining its research and development department in Athens. The initial investment came from Atmel’s founder, Greek-American George Perlegos. The company was acquired by the American ANSYS, a leading simulation software company with offices in 45 countries, in 2019.

Matternet

Manufactures drones for transporting small packages in cities with founder Andreas Raptopoulos. It has offices in Mountain View, where it manufactures drones. The founder of Matternet attended the entrepreneurship program of Singularity University in 2011, the year the company was founded. Hospitals in Switzerland already use drones to transport drugs. The company has a continuous upward trend and in the summer of 2019 a large agreement was concluded with UPS. In September 2021, it announced its partnership with the Abu Dhabi Ministry of Health to set up the first drone medical supply network to cover the entire city.

Miraculus

Biotechnology company Miroculus has developed an innovative diagnostic machine, is headquartered in San Francisco and in March 2021 secured second-round funding of $ 45 million. It was founded by Faye Christodoulou who attended the entrepreneurship program of Singularity University in 2013 and joined the network of Endeavor Greece in October 2020.

Myrmex

It was founded in 2015 by Ioannis Canellos and Orestis Fenekos and has developed an automated order collection point, where motorized robotic vehicles collect products from the warehouse for delivery to consumers. The company is headquartered in Silicon Valley and the research and development department in Athens.

NovaCredit

A fintech company co-founded by Niki Goulimi who has offices in New York and San Francisco. NovaCredit has developed a credit passport for use by foreign professionals and students in the US in order to gain access to banking services (credit card, loans, etc.). Niki Goulimi participated in the business acceleration program of Y Combinator in 2016.

Orfium

Company of the music industry. Developed a copyright infringement platform. Its clients are music publishers and record companies. Maintains presence in Los Angeles and Athens. The research and development department based in Athens has 120 employees. At the TIF of 2021, it was distinguished with the first national award for start-ups by Elevate Greece, the National Register of start-up companies of the Ministry of Development.

Percent Solutions

Healthtech company with their founders George Eleftheriou and Harry Tsirba having an office in San Francisco and a subsidiary in Greece. It has developed the Feel product, a bracelet with temperature sensors, heart rate, etc., which allows the continuous monitoring of the user’s psychological state and the real-time delivery of personalized messages to deal with symptoms of anxiety and depression.

Yodeck

A company that has developed a digital signage platform that allows users to manage display screens remotely via the Internet or mobile phone. Founders are Vangelis Michalopoulos and Dimitris Tsigos (also founder of Epignosis and the Greek VC fund Starttech Ventures).

Time Medical

New company in the field of biotechnology that has developed a device for early detection of strokes. It is in an early stage of development. The founder is Orestis Vardoulis, a Stanford graduate. In 2021 it was accepted into the entrepreneurship program of the eponymous Silicon Valley accelerator, Y Combinator. The company secured $ 2 million seed round funding in October 2021.

Zumper

This is a fast growing company that has developed an online platform for searching apartments for rent using artificial intelligence tools. It is headquartered in San Francisco and was founded in 2012 by Anthemos Georgiades. The online platform and the corresponding application for mobile phones are used by 70 million users. It secured fourth-round funding of $ 60 million in March 2020.

Startup with Greek founders in the western US states (mainly in Silicon Valley)

Greek companies acquired

There were many cases of Greek startups, which raised funds from Venture Capital funds of Sillicon Valley and were eventually acquired by larger companies in each sector. After the acquisition, their founders either set up new companies (serial entrepreneurs), or are engaged in investments, or act as angel investors but also by establishing investment funds. Some of them also work as consultants in start-up technology companies.

Acquisitions of startup companies of Greek founders based in the western US States (mainly in Silicon Valley)