The most important part of investing is knowing how to judge people. Ideas are a dime a dozen, business models come and go, but great teams rarely disappoint ― even if they need some time to reach their proper stride.
Case in point, the guys and gals behind Elorus. With laser-sharp focus, the Elorus co-founders, with the support of a great team, took their startup idea and made it a reality. Then, after testing the waters in Greece, they built a whole new and improved version targeting the global market.
Today, we are proud to announce that they have been chosen by Viva Wallet SA as their first startup investment under their new Viva Nest acceleration program.
That’s not just a huge opportunity for Elorus, but also a great return of investment for StartTech Ventures, whose bet on the Elorus team and on the potential of its platform, (one of the safest bets we ever took, to be honest) came to pay out handsomely.
We are very proud to be part of this success, as we have been actively working with the Elorus team from the very first days, and not just as early investors, but across the board, following our trademark “entrepreneurial ecosystem” methodology.
Namely, StartTech Ventures offered Elorus early stage funding and mentorship, and worked with their team to design and solidify their business plan, and assist in its realization through our full assortment of incubation services, ranging from design and digital marketing, to business and legal advice, online content and SEO.
To quote, George Stratakis, Elorus co-founder:
“On 2014 StartTech Ventures helped us make our idea into a startup. Thanks to their mentorship and incubation services we avoided most of the administration overhead needed to get a startup off the ground, and were able to focus on our business. StartTech’s support helped us with smaller things, like providing us with a unique logo and brand identity, to helping us setup and run our marketing efforts in Greece, prepare a global marketing strategy, and develop our business further through STV’s network of acquaintances. In fact, StartTech Ventures and especially [STV’s CEO] Dimitris involvement and passionate evangelism for Elorus was crucial in closing the Viva deal“.
Viva’s investment in Elorus, amounting to €200.000 for 20% of the company (based on an one million euro valuation), already represents an excellent multiple of StartTech’s initial investment, especially as its accompanied with an exit option tied to an even larger premium. However, based on our faith on Elorus service and the team’s long term vision, we are opting to keep our investment in the company looking forward to even greater returns.
Viva’s investment will enable the Elorus team to progress on their business plan faster and further, expanding their international marketing strategy (beginning with the US market), and doubling up their team to build and support more product features.
Or, as mr. Stratakis put it: “StartTech made this journey come true and Viva Nest will take it off!”
ViVa Wallet Executive Advisor, Vassilis Trapezanoglou, added:
“Our investment in Elorus -the first company to be hosted in Viva Nest Accelerator- as well as the scheduled commercial synergies to be introduced in the next few months between Viva Group and Elorus, prove that we have a concrete and comprehensive plan for supporting promising startups and creating an innovative digital ecosystem. In addition to its Open Call for Fintech startups, Viva Wallet has launched the “Viva Nest – an IDEA in Fintech” program, in collaboration with ACEin / AUEB (Athens University of Economics and Business), to foster the creation of startup companies in the Fintech industry.“
With Elorus being the 2nd company after AbZorba Games (the “Best angel-invested exit in Europe” as recognized by EBAN) to graduate the Starttech Ventures incubator, we now have strong evidence that our “entrepeneurial ecosystem” scaling model really works, and can give great results even in a seemingly grim entrepreneurial landscape (as was that of post-crisis Greece).
On our part, we intend to continue trying to mobilize high-net worth individuals in Greece in our active angel group, and proceed to launch a fully-private seed fund by the end of Q2/2017.
“We are very proud to see Elorus turn a new page towards ever bigger success and innovation with the support of Viva Wallet, and wish them good luck in this next stage of their development! For us, it has been more than an investment: the further validation of our incubation model.“, said StartTech Ventures CEO, Dimitris Tsingos.