The 5th Circle of the ScaleUp program announced the Endeavor, the international non-profit organization that fosters the development of innovation ecosystems in more than 40 markets. The organisation is active in the Greece in the last 10 years. ScaleUp is the first international programme for Greek Innovation. It brings together and selects the most promising entrepreneurs from around the world who either have ties or want to have ties with Greece. Over the past two years, 59 fast-growing companies, with total revenues of $622 million and over 4,000 employees, have received critical support from the programme. The organisation welcomes 13 fast-growing companies and their innovative founders to its network.

Startups entering the 5th cycle of the Endeavor ScaleUp Program have managed to raise approximately $100 million in funding. At the same time, they have recruited a total of 470 people. 38% come from the financial technology sector, following the general trends, while 23% are related to smart cities, construction and energy. Learn more about the entrepreneurs and their companies here.

The entrepreneurs were carefully selected from 40 protagonists of the global technology scene, mentors of Endeavor's international network, such as Evan Kotsovinos (AmEx), Rob Genieser (ETF Partners), Lars Rasmussen (Google Maps, Facebook), Markos Veremis (Upstream, BigPi), Yannis Papadakis (Pollfish).

Maritina Grelloni, Head of Portfolio Growth at Endeavor Greece, is optimistic that the ecosystem will continue to produces innovative, fast-growing companies. This is evidenced by the companies participating in the program this fall, and he also expects that investment appetite will diminish for some time and a down market will occur. This is where Endeavor takes action. The Greek branch of the international non-governmental organization, with presence in 43 emerging markets worldwide and ten years of activity in Greece, offers through the ScaleUp program exposure at local and global level, information and access to capital and markets to young, promising founders, a contribution more necessary than ever for their growth and expansion beyond the boundaries of local markets.

Marianthi Nika, Entrepreneur Selection & Growth Manager, welcomed the 13 companies and underlined the importance of great inspiration drawn from identifying visionary founders, when their businesses are small, support throughout the whole period of thetheir extension procedure using global resources and the satisfaction of becoming a global business. The organization then helps them to contribute, in turn, to their community with new ideas, new technology, investment and the creation of new jobs in Greece. In this way, through its exclusive services, Endeavor strengthens the Greek Innovation Ecosystem. At the same time it creates real value for Greek society.

The companies of the new cycle of Endeavor ScaleUp

Department of Financial Technology

Plum - Plum has developed a money management app based on artificial intelligence and behavioural finance, which has already helped its users save and invest £1.3 billion.

Flexfin - Flexfin is transforming the factoring industry. It provides financing and cash management services to small and medium-sized businesses through a modern and user-friendly platform.

Natech - Natech is a European fintech company that has been developing banking systems for prestigious financial institutions for 20 years and is creating the first Digital Bank outside of Greece to support end-customers, financial and non-financial institutions by offering real-time digital banking.

Finclude - Finclude has developed a unique pan-European system credit rating. It allows businesses to assess consumers in a universal way, based on their transactional behaviour. The assessment is made regardless of whether they have a history of credit products. It assesses creditworthiness based on the actual ability to repay and the consumers' intention to repay their obligations. The assessment uses artificial intelligence models based on the daily transactions and on consumers' purchasing behaviour in real time. Finclude's models evaluate the future, they do not discriminate. They are able to serve all Europeans. Including the 200 million euros. which have no credit history and 58 million who do not have access to credit products.

Smart Cities Sector

Ariadne Maps - Ariadne Maps is building a highly accurate real-time customer analytics platform. It provides physical organisations with comprehensive and detailed analysis of their customers and visitors. The aim is to optimize the operation of their stores and provide better customer service.

TigerAire - TigerAire offers revolutionary airflow technology for football and other hard hats. This technology increases the performance and productivity of their users.

Perceptual Robotics - Perceptual Robotics provides a new, cost-effective inspection tool. With it, it increases the number of inspections and their quality, while minimizing health and safety risks, for some of the world's largest wind turbine companies.

Health Technology Division

Dyania Health - Dyania's clinical algorithms use natural language processing to read and extract data from chaotic free text found in physician notes from electronic medical records. Resulting in faster and more accurate predictions of patient compatibility for clinical trials in oncology and autoimmune diseases.

Thymia - Thymia uses cutting-edge technology to detect signs of depression and fatigue. Facial micro-expressions and speech patterns are analysed through specially designed video games.

Agricultural Biotechnology

Embion Technologies - Embion's biomass processing technology enables the upcycling of food and agricultural by-products into high value-added ingredients and solutions used in the food, feed and cosmetics sectors, among others.

Real Estate Technology (PropTech)

Protio - Protio aims to solve the the problem of the housing and environmental crisis created by the 200 million euros in housing costs. buildings in Europe that are more than 20 years old and energy costly - through the apartment investment platform, private investors can invest in "Rebuild-to-Rent" apartments without hassle, securing income, and homeowners can receive an offer for their apartment within 24 hours.

Travel and Hospitality

Welcome Pickups - Welcome Pickups is redefining the way people travel. It offers the most personalised and comprehensive travel experience. An experience that starts from the moment you plan your trip until you return home.

Agrotechnology

Wikifarmer - Wikifarmer has grown into a global B2B platform for buying and selling agricultural products. Mission to empower and educate farmers around the world. At the same time, connecting them to the open market, to sell their products at fair prices.