Marathon Venture Partners, 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 accordance with associate Panos Papadopoulos.

The car brings the agency’s complete property beneath 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 building tools in a cash 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 even embody a deep dive with Greece’s prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis. What we wished to know — and what the central questions shall be Thursday evening — is: why Greece, and why now?

Greece has traditionally seen much less enterprise funding than different European nations. What, if something, has modified domestically that enabled you to lift a €75 million fund when world fundraising has turn into tougher?

For starters, Marathon I is a high percentile performer globally in [realized returns]; we constructed a portfolio that captured the present zeitgeist properly 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 arduous in vital markets. It may be arduous as a result of it requires distinctive data, like a analysis PhD, or excessive company, that means understanding of a regulated or missed trade 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.

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 speedy enlargement?

I encourage to vary. Greek startups leverage native expertise to serve main world prospects and markets from day one. Throughout our portfolio there may be nearly no income coming from the home market. However they’re serving the most effective a part of Fortune 500.

On the identical time, capital effectivity and group grit are second nature to our group.

We’re seeing fewer IPOs globally and prolonged holding intervals for venture-backed corporations. 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 varied alternatives for significant returns, together with secondaries and strategic M&A, properly earlier than an IPO. We did secondaries again in 2021 when a lot of the market was promising infinite holding instances. In our tradition, money is king. Evidently many others forgot it.

Many European VCs are emphasizing deep tech and AI. Is Marathon taking the same strategy, 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 alternative issues to totally different folks. We aren’t specializing in any particular sector per se – as an alternative, we’re specializing in folks altering their sectors. We have been maybe the primary generalist VC to put money into protection earlier than the Ukraine struggle.

Greek founders have traditionally acquired much less funding than counterparts in Berlin, Paris, or Stockholm. Are you seeing valuations for Greek startups that mirror 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 may sound like desk stakes; they nonetheless aren’t.

Given the difficult world exit setting, how are you advising your portfolio corporations about strategic alternate options like secondary gross sales or acqui-hires?

We work with our portfolio corporations towards default alive situations. Ranging from there, all choices are on the desk. We see founders actually wish to run their corporations for the long run. We consider a secondary sale can truly assist in direction of that, and most frequently we’re supportive of such situations.

The EU has emphasised supporting startups by means of varied funding mechanisms. How vital is non-dilutive capital from these sources to your portfolio corporations in comparison with 5 years in the past?

We welcome any such initiative. We advise, nevertheless, 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 all the time good when you’re not making the press headlines, however what we do is much less related to native macro. In terms of the expertise entrance, I’d say actually based mostly on naive empiricism that, if there may be 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 tougher?

It’s undoubtedly a special market but in addition creates elevated alternative for European traders. I don’t suppose the flood of capital in 2021 actually modified the chance for European corporations. We should all the time rely on ourselves and be aligned with founders for the long run.