Source: European Investment Bank
Ioannis Kasinopoulos and his friend Yiannis Zambas set up Electryone AI in 2023 with a “strong belief and no outside financing.” The belief was in their software, which uses artificial intelligence to make batteries that store renewable energy more efficient and profitable. They also believed in the importance of the transition to a clean, green economy. Without external funding, however, belief could only get them so far.
The two young Cypriots, who had previously been at Meta, McKinsey and Palantir, worked hard to find pre-seed financing and some angel investors from their bases in London and Spain, including Genesis Ventures, a Greek venture capital firm backed by the European Investment Fund. Then they got an unexpected surprise—venture capital financing from their home island, where support for startups has been limited. 33East Venture Capital, a Nicosia-based venture capital fund supported by the Cyprus Equity Fund, started making investments from its €26 million fund this year, and it backed Electryone AI with €400 000 in January.
“We were very happy to have people from Cyprus being part of this,” says Kasinopoulos, who was born in Nicosia. “We had tried to raise money in Cyprus, but we didn’t really get anywhere. There are companies in the energy space, but they didn’t understand software or venture capital. They wouldn’t take that much risk.”
For technology and innovation startups in Cyprus, 33East’s new fund could be a gamechanger, reversing a brain drain that has seen talented Cypriots leave, largely for London. Though the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor ranks Cyprus seventh in the European Union for early stage entrepreneurial activity, venture capital investment in Cyprus is scarce, according to a report by the University of Cyprus’s Centre for Entrepreneurship.
“There has been no formal path for startups to follow, so either companies died or left Cyprus to seek financing,” says Yiannis Eftychiou, one of two 33East cofounders. “There has been a drain of quality talent from Cyprus. But we see a lot of opportunity in Cyprus.”