Elevate Greece — Greece's National Startup Registry

Elevate Greece is the Hellenic Republic's official National Startup Registry, run by the General Secretariat for Research and Innovation (Ministry of Digital Governance). Any legal entity up to eight years old, with fewer than 250 employees and annual turnover below €50 million, can apply for certification if it demonstrates genuine technological innovation in its product, service or business model. Certified startups gain visibility to investors and access to state benefits and incentives.

The registry's own figures show real growth: the number of growth-stage startups and scaleups has more than tripled since 2018, and the registry had recorded 789 startups by October 2024. Investment activity accelerated alongside it — 70 Greek startups raised €485 million in 2023, rising to over €732.2 million raised by more than 90 startups in 2024 (a 35% year-on-year increase), with 78% of that capital coming from outside Greece. Independent ecosystem trackers value the Greek startup scene at roughly $8.2 billion, ranking it 49th globally and 19th in Western Europe. Startups cluster heavily around Athens and Thessaloniki (Attica 64.8%, Central Macedonia 14.7% of registrants), with Life Sciences, Environment & Energy and Enterprise Software the leading sectors.

Caveat: registration is voluntary and self-reported, so the figures describe a certified subset of the ecosystem rather than a randomly sampled or audited population, and no independent study isolates the registry's own causal effect on the investment growth it tracks.

Read the full analysis: https://elevategreece.gov.gr/