Nikos Papathanasis, the Deputy Minister of Economy and Finance, emphasized the significance of the creation of a new private equity fund called the EOS Hellenic Renaissance Fund II ("EOS II Fund").

The main investor is the Hellenic Development Bank of Investments, with capital from the Recovery and Resilience Fund under the National Plan "Greece 2.0" through the "Q-Equity" programme. Institutional and private investors, including Greek and foreign banks, are also participating.

The EOS II Fund is aimed at Greek SMEs with high growth potential, an annual turnover of up to EUR 100 million, and up to 500 employees. It is expected to further strengthen entrepreneurship in strategic and outward-looking sectors of the Greek economy.

The initial investment capital of the EOS II Fund amounts to €219 million (the first closing) and is expected to reach €250 million. The Fund will build on the success of the EOS I Fund, whose investments have created around 1,500 new jobs since 2018 to date.

The Deputy Minister of National Economy and Finance, Mr. Nikos Papathanasis, said: "We welcome the establishment of the EOS II Fund, the largest growth fund in the EATE portfolio, established through the "Q-Equity" programme of the Recovery and Resilience Fund's equity platform, as part of the National Plan "Greece 2.0.". This action, which follows on from EATE's actions to strengthen the Greek start-up ecosystem with capital totaling EUR 2.1 billion, creates guarantees for more successful investments, mainly for the benefit of Greek SMEs, in strategic and outward-looking sectors of the economy.".