ENVOLVE AWARD GREECE 2018 WINNERS ANNOUNCED
8 winners chosen from a pool of 15 finalists will share interest-free funding, as well as mentoring and business support services
Athens, Greece, 11 December 2018 – On Monday December 10th, the annual Envolve Award Greece (formerly the Hellenic Entrepreneurship Award) ceremony for start-ups and early – stage businesses, took place at The HUB Events in Athens. The 8 winners of the competition, which was created in 2012 by Libra Group, on behalf of The Hellenic Initiative, will not only share interest-free funding, but also a dedicated mentor, as well as a wide range of business support services from Envolve’s network of partners, spanning legal, accounting, marketing, IT, HR and much more. In addition, Envolve’s team will help the winning start-ups to grow their business and expand their network.
Jimmy Athanasopoulos, Chairman of Envolve Entrepreneurship, mentioned: “For yet another year, Envolve Award Greece managed to receive and review hundreds of quality applications, which articulates the dynamic growth of the Greek entrepreneurial spirit. Congratulations to all applicants who dedicated their time and had the courage and self-belief to evolve their ideas into solid business plans. We are looking forward to working with the new teams and help them realize their business dreams.”
Starting this year, the winners will also leverage on enriched mentoring services; Envolve has built a great number of new partnerships with local and global organisations and professionals, which comprise the External Mentors Network, which rests under the mentoring contribution to the Winners.
Christopher Upperman, CEO of Envolve Entrepreneurship, mentioned: “Envolve’s mission is to offer a platform for start-up businesses to grow through its three main pillars of support, namely Education, Resources and Awards. Our international network is available to our finalists and winners and today we welcome all 15 start-ups to our family.
This year, Envolve Entrepreneurship encouraged public to vote for their favourite finalist by introducing the newly established “#GetEnvolved Award”. The public voted for their favourite finalist through Envolve’s social media channels (www.facebook.com/envolveGR and www.instagram.com/envolveGR) for a full week till Monday, December 10th.
The first two businesses with the most liked videos amongst the Envolve Award Greece Finalists were Geomiso and CollegeLink. These companies received the prizes of €3,000 and €2,000, respectively.
Alexandros Nousias, Country Director of Envolve Entrepreneurship in Greece, commented: “I would like to express my sincerest congratulations to both our winners and finalists. We wish each and every one success in their business ventures and, in this entrepreneurial journey, we stand by their side. Moreover, I also want to deeply thank all of our partners and winner supporters for their crucial and ongoing contribution to the implementation of Envolve’s mission, while sharing the same vision for Greek entrepreneurship and its potential.”
The Envolve Award Greece 2018 Winners are:
- apifon: apifon is a technology company that develops business messaging services for companies to grow their audience, create and send multichannel campaigns (SMS, RCS, Email, Viber and other chat apps), measure performance and enable marketing automation to increase revenues and improve customer experience.
Website: https://www.apifon.com
Applicant: Konstantinos Stroumpakis.
- BookingClinic.com: BookingClinic.com is an online platform that serves patients in need of treatment or an operation at a clinic, providing transparent information, ratings, costs and the option to book a treatment easily, while saving time and money.
Website: https://www.bookingclinic.com
Applicants: Vasileia Chatzistergiou, Liana Gouta, Thomas Chatzistergiou, George Hatzinikolaou, Konstantinos Chatzistergiou, Christoforos Moisiadis, Christos Tzelis, Niki Chatzinikolaou.
- CollegeLink: CollegeLink is an online entry-level HR Job Board that connects talented young adults with job opportunities. CollegeLink is a “Candidate 1st” service that offers each young candidate the right educational and self-development tools in order to pursue successfully their optimal career path. Through CollegeLink, companies can attract and recruit the best next generation talents that match their hard skill requirements and unique culture.
Website: https://www.collegelink.gr
Applicants: Stefanos Alkides, Imelos Yannis, Valerios Chatzigeorgiou, Elisavet Malo, Michalis Mavrommatakis, Anastasia Karagkiozoglou, Katerina Iliopoulou.
- Ferryhopper: Ferryhopper revolutionizes online ferry booking, providing a complete search and booking engine with a unique, customer-centric user experience. It is the only platform to provide users with indirect connections through corresponding islands, making ferry travelling in Greece easy and simple. Through Ferryhopper, ferry trips can be planned effortlessly by booking tickets quickly, comparing prices instantly and securing the cheapest fare.
Website: https://www.ferryhopper.com
Applicants: Christos Spatharakis, Vasileios Lahanas, Panagiotis Sarafis, Aiden Short, Maria Chatzistavrou
- Geomiso: Geomiso is the world’s first ‘isogeometric’ analysis and 3D design software. The company develops, markets and supports 3D design and engineering simulation software used to design products and predict how they will behave in real-world environments, without having to build test products or conduct crash tests. This is the world’s first two-in-one 3D design and isogeometric analysis software, which merges computer-aided design with computer-aided engineering into a single procedure, thus empowering engineers to deliver faster more accurate results with no geometric errors.
Website: https://www.geomiso.com
Applicants: Panagiotis Karakitsios, George Karaiskos, Athanasios Leontaris, Panagiotis Kolios, Stella Skrivanou, Alexandros Karakitsios.
- MyJobNow: MyJobNow is a ‘mobile-first’ hiring marketplace for the blue-collar sector. Leveraging mobile technology, MyJobNow is a recruitment tool that offers improved matching for Employers and Job Seekers with parameters such as interests and job seekers’ physical location (via GPS).
Website: https://www.myjobnow.com
Applicants: Stefanos Katsimpas, Agamemnon Papazoglou, Alexandros Papaspyridis.
- PD Neurotechnology: PD Neurotechnology develops Wearable Medical Devices and overall solutions for continuous monitoring and supporting treatment of Movement Disorders. The first application is PD Monitor, a sophisticated expert eco-system for patients with Parkinson’s Disease, being the only solution globally that holistically monitors the disease and all nine of its symptoms. The second phase of the technology will address Multiple Sclerosis. PD Neurotechnology is led by globally recognized Greek scientists, with an R&D team located in Greece, and along with the design and production base, it aims to boost the human capital and innovation capacity of the country.
Website: http://www.pdneurotechnology.com
Applicants: Dimitrios Fotiadis, Anastasios Manos, Nikos Moschos, Spiros Konitsiotis.
- Think Silicon: Think Silicon is developing and licensing one of the most power efficient graphics technology in the world. The company specializes in designing extremely small, ultra-low power, high-performance Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) for smart IoT display devices and Artificial Intelligence (AI) inference accelerators for machine learning vision applications for IoT/Edge end nodes. With this technology, the battery life of wearable devices is extended from days to weeks.
Website: http://www.think-silicon.com
Applicants: George Sidiropoulos, Iakovos Stamoulis, Georgios Keramidas, Ulli Mueller.
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About Envolve Entrepreneurship:
Envolve Entrepreneurship is an entrepreneurship support organization, founded by the Libra Group; it provides education, resources, and award programs for start-up businesses globally. The organization encompasses the former Hellenic Entrepreneurship Award (HEA) and the American Entrepreneurship Award (AEA) – programs which have declared 43 winners since 2012, supporting job creation and economic growth in Greece and the USA. Striving for a global society where all business owners can prosper and grow, Envolve is committed to developing and cultivating entrepreneurial ecosystems, by ensuring business support services are more readily available to diverse entrepreneurs.
To learn more about Envolve, please visit http://envolveglobal.org.
Past Envolve Award Greece Winners
2017 Winners: Allcancode (www.allcancode.com, Fresh Strips (www.freshstrips.com, NOMADA Honey Soda (www.nomadahoneysoda.com), Tech Talent (www.techtalent.jobs) and Quizdom Education
2016 Winners: blueground (www.theblueground.com), bubbllz (www.bubbllz.com) and Raymetrics (www.raymetrics.com)
2015 Winners: Heliix (www.heliixinc.com, Smart Guide and Yoleni’s (www.yolenis.com)
2014 Winners: Anassa Organics (www.anassaorganics.com), e-satisfaction (www.e-satisfaction.gr), Open Circle (www.opencircleproject.com) and RTsafe (www.rt-safe.com)
2013 Winners: Casa Parlante (www.casaparlante.gr), Different & Different (www.differentanddifferent.gr), rabt (www.rabt.co) and Stella Mare (www.stellamare.gr)
About the Libra Group:
The Libra Group is a privately-owned international business group that is active in 35 countries across six continents. It is focused on six core sectors: aviation, energy, hospitality, real estate, shipping and diversified investments. The group is wholly-owned by the Logothetis family.
For more information, visit the website: www.libra.com
About The Hellenic Initiative:
Our Mission: Investing in the future of Greece through direct philanthropy and economic revitalization. We empower people to provide crisis relief, encourage entrepreneurs, and create jobs.
We are The Hellenic Initiative (THI) – a global movement of the Greek Diaspora.
Visit our website: http://www.TheHellenicInitiative.org/
Like us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/thehellenicinitiative
Follow us on Twitter: @THI_OneGreece
For further information, please contact:
Giannis Syrmopoulos
V+O Communication
Τηλ: +30 2107249000 (247)
Email: gsy@vando.gr
