The ecosystem of Greek start-ups and possible acquisitions, the difficulties in financing and competition abroad were discussed by executives of the sector with Tasos Zachos, CEO and Editor in Chief, Fortune, in the framework of the 9th Delphi Economic Forum.

According to Vassilis Petinis, Managing Director of RSM Greece, "despite the difficulties, the Greek Stock Exchange did very well last year, leading to M&A activity and providing €6 billion for over 120 major acquisitions. I predict that the future will be even better. One thing is for sure, a transaction is a conscious decision made by shareholders and management when you think you cannot succeed on your own. The word culture is the key element, and we need to see what is the right culture is to move forward with a merger," he said.

For his part, Apostolos Apostolakis, Founder and Partner, Venture Friends pointed out in relation to M&A processes that "it is right to see what safeguards are in place. We want to make win-win deals. Now is a good time for acquisitions, but it is not a good time to sell technology companies." In addition, he noted that risk appetite is necessary from investors as well as synergies with target companies, adding that money is available for Greek companies.

Anna Mantas, Partner at Karatzas & Partners, provided in her presentation the steps that a company should follow in order to be able to achieve a transaction that will have prospects in the future. "We are moving with what we have in front of us to leverage, with an out-of-the box approach, the long-term approach of an acquisition. It's important to have good advisors behind a company that wants to do something like this. Someone can have a great idea, but it's not worth it on its own, there has to be a strong team behind it. We also look at structuring the transaction correctly so that a company has a chance of getting funding," explained Manda. She added that, at this stage, unlike in the past, there is no shyness about a possible takeover or merger, especially on the part of younger entrepreneurs.

Theophilos Vassiliadis, CEO of Kariera Group, spoke about the special history of Kariera.gr but also about the initial difficulties in financing. According to him, while in the past there were difficulties in financing, now the system is more sophisticated for start-ups to raise money, and the fact that the companies that started to succeed have paved the way has contributed to this. Vassiliadis added that there are many good companies in Greece, but they cannot grow without acquisition, and referred to the re-acquisition of his own "child,"  Kariera, which he sold with 30 people and offices in Greece and bought again with 480 employees and offices in 8 countries. An example shows that now domestic innovative companies can do business with large companies abroad, even though they are considered small by international standards.