Endeavor Greece

At the end of the day, we are all .

And there was no better way for .festival 2026 to close.

What started as the vision of a student-led organization became something that brought together an entire city. Founders, investors, operators, creators, students, partners, friends, families, and thousands of people who chose to be part of it.

Because behind every stage, every conversation, every speaker, every light, and every moment, there were people. People who believed, worked tirelessly, took risks, solved problems, and poured their hearts into making this happen.

Events like this are not built overnight. They are built with countless hours, endless effort, passion, and a community willing to show up for one another.

That night was a reminder of what can happen when a city comes together around ideas, ambition, and generosity.

To the Panathēnea team: thank you for dreaming big.
To everyone who attended: thank you for believing in it.

Athens showed up.

And that is what made it so special.

More moments coming soon. 💙

StrictlyVC lands in Athens. Again.

📅 Wednesday, 27 May 2026
🕒 14:30 - 18:00

For the second year running, Endeavor Greece and TechCrunch bring StrictlyVC - TechCrunch’s flagship series of unfiltered conversations with the investors and founders shaping global tech - back to Athens as part of Panathēnea 2026, co-organized with Νational Bank of Greece.

One afternoon. Three conversations. One thread running through them: how the next generation of category-defining companies actually gets built, from the capital backing them, to the founders redefining industries, to the teams turning bold products into global adoption.

🔹 Building and Backing Companies Across Markets
The macro is shifting, AI is rewriting the playbook, and the definition of a “good bet” is changing in real time. Three of the most active investors across Europe and the US sit down to talk about where smart capital is moving now, and what they’re looking for in the founders of the next decade.

Moderated by Connie Loizos (Editor-in-Chief & GM, TechCrunch), with Ben Blume (Atomico), Niko Bonatsos (Radical Ventures), and Andreas Stavropoulos (Threshold Ventures).

🔹 How Breakout Companies Actually Happen
Some companies don’t just ride a wave. They create one. The founders on this stage are building the tools reshaping how the world creates, communicates, and tells stories. A conversation about what it actually takes to go from a wild idea to a category-defining company and what they’ve learned scaling at the frontier of AI.

Connie Loizos in conversation with Anastasis Germanidis (Runway) and Anatolii Kasianov (Holywater).

🔹 From Product to Adoption
Building a great product is only half the story. The harder part is getting the world to use it and keep using it. Two Greek diaspora founders scaling fast in the US share the unglamorous truths behind traction, distribution, and the long road from launch to category leadership.

Hosted by journalist Iliana Magra, with Johannes Galatasanos (Diffraction) and Victoria Toli (Finny).

See you there.

. .

Behind every iconic Greek brand, and every family business that successfully passes from one generation to the next, there are people who made hard calls, doubled down on bold ambitions, and built something bigger than themselves.
The strategic bets nobody saw coming. The succession conversations that reshaped a company overnight. The quiet decisions, made far from the spotlight, that turned good businesses into lasting ones.

At Panathēnea 2026, two panels bring those stories into the open. Not as polished case studies, but as honest conversations about what it really takes to build in the real economy.

🔹 Panel 1: Building Iconic Greek Brands That Last
What does it take for a Greek brand to enter people's everyday lives and stay there for decades? Four leaders who've done exactly that share the strategic bets, the hard-won lessons, and the quiet discipline behind brands built to endure.
→ Thomas Douzis, Founder & CEO of | Endeavor Entrepreneur
→ Achilleas Aggelopoulos, CEO of KYKNOS
→ Anna Maria Mazaraki, Founder of Anna Maria Mazaraki
→ DIMITRIS KOLETTAS, CEO of Attrattivo
Moderated by Peter Economides, Brand Strategist at Felix BNI, who has shaped the stories of iconic companies from Apple to Coca-Cola.

🔹 Panel 2: The Next Generation of Family Businesses - Succession, Leadership, and Change
Some of Greece's most enduring companies were built by one generation and entrusted to another. How do you honor what came before while reshaping a business for what's next? Four next-generation leaders open up about succession, transition, and the quiet reinventions that keep family businesses thriving.
→ Gianna Tzika, CEO of KONVA SA | Endeavor Entrepreneur
→ Yorgos Trakakis, CEO of ENDLESS EC
→ Armodios Yannidis, CEO of VITEX
→ Thodoris Skagias, CEO of S**G
Moderated by Stelios Morfidis, Business Editor at Proto Thema.
Two panels. One conversation about what it means to build, and rebuild, in the Greece of today.

🗓️ Reserve your spot 👉 link in bio

Mr. Grigoris Tassiopoulos, Consul General Of Greece in San Francisco, is opening Greeking Out SF with welcome remarks on May 21st.

With a career that spans Tehran, Havana, Jakarta, Beijing, Guangzhou, Mariupol, and now San Francisco, he brings over two decades of experience in international relations, and a perspective shaped by some of the most complex postings in modern Greek diplomacy. A graduate of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and the London School of Economics, his current jurisdiction covers Alaska, parts of California, Idaho, Montana, North Nevada, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming, the corner of the world where much of the future is currently being written.

A fitting voice to open a night about Greece's place in it.

🔗 Register in the link in bio
📍 Gallery 308, Fort Mason Center | 📅 May 21, 2026 | 18:30-21:00
Co-hosted by Endeavor Greece, The Hellenic Initiative, and PPC Group.

The next wave of European tech will not look like the last one.

It is being built in AI, deeptech, and a new generation of scale-ups by founders rewriting the playbook in real time.

On May 29, they gather in Athens.

A curated Panathēnea 2026 side event by Sifted and Endeavor Greece, with Microsoft for Startups as strategic partner, bringing together three conversations at Aigli Cinema, Zappeion, around one question:

What does it actually take to build globally from Europe?

🔹 Outliers: From Europe to the World

A fireside chat with Hedda Båverud Olsson, Co-founder & CEO of Lassie, on breaking out of Europe and building companies that compete in global categories.

Moderated by Freya Pratty, Associate Editor at Sifted.

🔹 AI and the Opportunity for Emerging Markets

AI is reshaping every industry, but some of the biggest leaps may come from places the world still underestimates.

A conversation with:

• Philippa Brown, Founder & Co-CEO, Elyos AI
• Rania Lamprou, Co-founder & CEO, Simpler
• Alex Loi, Co-founder, Wayfor

Moderated by Myladie Stoumbou, Microsoft Regional General Manager & Board Member.

🔹 Scaling Deeptech and Emerging Technologies

Scaling is the part nobody romanticizes - and the part that determines whether a company truly matters.

A conversation with:

• Eirini Schlosser, Founder & CEO, Dyania Health
• Emilia Molimpakis, PhD, Co-founder & CEO, thymia

Moderated by Freya Pratty, Associate Editor at Sifted.

Outliers. AI. Deeptech. Scale-ups.

One room. One conversation about the founders reshaping what European tech can become.

If you are a Panathēnea ticket holder, reserve your spot here at the link in bio🔗
See you at Panathēnea.

10 years. 100 SMEs. 3,967 direct jobs. More than 24,000 indirect. €684 million in added revenue.

This week at the Athens Old Stock Exchange, Forward by Allwyn & Endeavor Greece marked a decade built on one belief: Greek SMEs do not grow in isolation. They grow when the right people, the right environment, and the right timing come together.

Jan Karas, Chairman & CEO of Allwyn Hellas, spoke about a future where AI sits at the center of how Greek SMEs grow, compete, and lead. Odysseas Christoforou, Deputy CEO of Allwyn, reflected on a decade that exceeded every expectation.

Costantza Sbokou-Constantakopoulou, Chairwoman of Endeavor Greece, UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for the Protection and Promotion of Culture, and Co-Owner & Chairwoman at PHĀEA, spoke about the extraordinary growth potential of Greek SMEs and the role Forward has played across industries.

In a fireside chat, Panagiotis Karampinis and John Josephakis, Global Vice President at NVIDIA, explored what AI really means for entrepreneurs building from Greece. The message was clear: the next decade will belong to the SMEs that move from interest to ex*****on.

Congratulations to this year’s standout founders:
Antonis Vezyroglou of Vezyroglou Farm, Nikos Moutsouroufis of Mailo’s The Pasta Project, Aristotelis Ignatidis of ARI Foods, Konstantinos Nikolaros & Konstantinos N. Vavliakis of Pharm24.gr, and Yannis Mandalas of mastihashop / Mediterra.

And to Miltos Kornaros, this year’s Top Mentor.

A warm welcome to the new Forward community members:
ACCESS Fashion, Alterra, Ask2Travel, AXF (Attrattivo), Design Pergola, Energiers SA, DTP Group (Ma Cherie), Mytilos, NEF-NEF Homeware, Plomari Distillery Isidoros Arvanitis S.A., PETROU NUTS S.A., REZOS BRANDS SA, RODOULA, Dough & Dessert Products, Sun of a Beach, Survey Digital Photovoltaics, TLT Services, Trikalinos Bottarga, Vassaltis Vineyards, and Zeo Bakers.

There's a version of AI that lives entirely in a browser tab. And then there's the version that touches your body, your factory floor, your supply chain, your hospital.

The second one is harder. It's where the real engineering happens. And it's where some of the most ambitious Greek founders in the world are choosing to build.

On May 21st at Greeking Out in San Fransisco, three of them sit down together:

→ Theofanis Karaletsos, Co-founder Achira.ai | Prev. Head of AI, CZI Science
→ George Kalligeros, Co-founder & CEO, Aseon Labs
→ George Favvas, Co-founder & CEO, Clara

moderated by Yannis Dosios, VP Global Client Solutions, Pinterest

When AI Leaves the Lab: Building where the stakes are physical, the second panel for Greeking Out SF. Book your spot here in the link in bio 🔗

📍 Gallery 308, Fort Mason Center | 📅 May 21, 2026 | 18:30-21:00
Co-hosted by Endeavor Greece, The Hellenic Initiative, and PPC S.A.

🇬🇷🇬🇧 That's a wrap on the first Greeking Out of 2026, and the 5th edition in London. Safe to say, the city has become a second home for this conversation.

Earlier this week, London became the meeting point for the people building, backing, and championing Greek innovation: founders scaling globally, investors with a front-row seat to Europe's next chapter, and a community that keeps showing up for one another across borders.

Hosted at Globant UK HQ and co-organized with The Hellenic Initiative, the evening brought together 100+ founders, investors, executives, and ecosystem leaders for a night about ambition, scale, AI, and the borderless nature of the Greek story.

We opened with "Europe's AI Moment: From Innovation Potential to Global Scale", a timely discussion on what it will take for Europe to compete on the global AI stage. A huge thank you to Laura Modiano (OpenAI) and Vojtech Horna (Index Ventures) for joining Panagiotis Karampinis for a candid, forward-looking conversation on Europe's innovation opportunity.

We then moved to "Building Global Companies from Europe": three founders, three different journeys, one shared conviction, that category-defining companies can be built from this side of the Atlantic. Thank you to Alexandra Loi (Co-founder, Wayfor), Panos Stravopodis (Co-founder & CTO, Elyos AI), and Omar Ebeid (Co-founder & CEO, Zeal) for sharing the real founder perspective with Felix De Grey on what it actually takes to scale beyond a home market.

The night ended the way the best ones do: over drinks, conversations that ran long, and new connections forming across the room.

To everyone who joined us, thank you for being part of the movement. The Greek innovation story is being written across borders, and last night was another powerful chapter. 🤍

Every country is asking the same question right now: are we going to build AI, or are we going to import it?

Greece is choosing to build.
But choosing isn't enough. You need the policy. The energy. The power. The infrastructure. And the people willing to align all of them, fast.

On May 21st in San Francisco, we're putting four of those people on one stage:

→ Alexandros Paterakis, Deputy CEO and Head of Digital & Advanced Services, PPC Group
→ Afroditi Sevasti, CEO, Pharos AI Factory
→ Vassilis Koutsoumpas, Digital Policy & AI Applications Adviser to the Prime Minister of the Hellenic Republic
→ Eliso Kotsieva, Portfolio Director, Endeavor Greece

Greece in the AI Race: Aligning Policy, Energy, Power & Infrastructure, the panel for Greeking Out SF. 📍 Gallery 308, Fort Mason Center | 📅 May 21, 2026 | 18:30-21:00

Co-hosted by Endeavor Greece, The Hellenic Initiative, and PPC Group. Save your spot in the link in bio 🔗

Last week, Athens belonged to beautiful people.

The House of Beautiful Business landed in the city, and for a few days, the rooms felt full of the kind of humans you want to build the future with.

Warm. Luminous. Curious.
The kind that remind you why this work matters in the first place.

It began with the Speakers Dinner, hosted by Endeavor Greece, an evening among speakers that, by the end of the night, felt much closer to friends. Old and new.

Tim Leberecht, Melina Dunham, and Panagiotis Karampinis opened the Forum with words on beauty, meaning, work, and why business needs more humanity now than ever.

And then, the conversations took over.
Into the night. Into smaller circles. Into the kind of exchanges you cannot really schedule.

The next evening, the dialogue moved to the Athens Stock Exchange.

Four leaders. One honest conversation on AI, organizations, and what we still have the chance to build.

Kristen Bennie shared the view from Barclays, how a 300-year-old institution thinks about innovation in a moment that rewards neither caution nor speed alone.

Giorgos Tsetis reflected on building Nutrafol from idea to Unilever exit, and on what must stay human when a company scales.

Lars Rasmussen, the mind behind Google Maps and Panathēnea, offered the long view of someone who has seen more than one technological wave reshape how we live and work.

Paulo Pisano, Chief People Officer at Booking Holdings and Booking.com, brought the cultural lens, what AI is really doing to people, teams, and the organizations that hold them together.

Hosted by Panagiotis Karampinis, Regional Managing Director for Europe, Endeavor | Managing Director, Endeavor Greece, the conversation returned to the question underneath all the others:

How do we use this moment to build more beautiful businesses that last?

What stays with us is not only the ideas.

It’s the faces.
The smiles.
The light in the room.

Thank you to everyone who showed up, and especially to the ones who made it beautiful.