Greece’s tech ecosystem has spent the past decade rebuilding itself from a period of dramatic talent flight. Now, one of the country’s most active venture firms is launching a new initiative aimed at turning that former weakness into a strategic advantage. Metavallon VC has unveiled a five million euro Pre Seed Brain Gain Fund designed to attract global deep tech founders to Greece and encourage returning Greek talent to build advanced research teams at home.
A New Fund Designed to Reverse Brain Drain
The Brain Gain Fund targets early stage startups in deep tech and life sciences, with investment tickets ranging from two hundred thousand to four hundred thousand euro. What sets the fund apart is its geographic and operational focus. Startups may be based anywhere in the world, but to qualify they must commit to building research and development or product teams within Greece.
The name of the fund references Greece’s significant loss of skilled professionals during the country’s economic crisis, when more than six hundred thousand highly educated Greeks left in search of career opportunities abroad. In recent years this trend has begun to reverse as economic stability improves, living standards rise and the country introduces new R and D tax incentives.
Backed by Public and Private Capital
Metavallon VC now manages more than seventy million euro and has invested in over thirty five startups since 2018. The new fund is supported by EquiFund, a joint initiative of the European Investment Fund and the Hellenic Republic, as well as HDBI, the Hellenic Development Bank of Investments. Together, these partners are supplying a mix of public and private capital to power the fund’s early stage strategy.
The firm’s track record includes successful deep tech investments such as Think Silicon, acquired by Applied Materials, Seervision, acquired by Q SYS, and Purposeful, acquired by PharOS. These exits have helped establish Metavallon VC as a key early stage investor in the region’s most technologically advanced startups.
Attracting Global Founders Seeking Scalable Talent
While the Brain Gain Fund is expected to attract many Greek founders abroad, it is not limited to the Greek diaspora. Partner Demetris Iacovides notes that more global deep tech startups are looking to build significant R and D capacity in countries with strong talent pools and lower operating costs.
Greece, he says, is becoming an appealing destination for founders who want a technical base within Europe but without the overhead associated with ecosystems such as Boston, London or Berlin. Greece’s universities produce highly skilled researchers and engineers and its technology ecosystem has matured considerably in the last decade.
Iacovides highlights that this shift accelerated after the pandemic, when many professionals reevaluated quality of life and proximity to family. This has helped Greece evolve from a talent exporting nation into a more competitive centre for innovation.
A Platform With Built In Advantages
Although the Brain Gain Fund operates as a standalone vehicle, it benefits from Metavallon VC’s broader platform. This provides founders with strong deal sourcing channels, local network access, operational support and guidance from a team experienced in building and scaling deep tech ventures.
Metavallon’s connections across academia, research institutions and industry also create opportunities for founders to collaborate, recruit talent and integrate into the Greek tech landscape more quickly.
Welcoming Founders Ready to Build in Greece
The Brain Gain Fund team is actively engaging with Greek founders across the world and with international deep tech teams interested in establishing an R and D presence in Greece. The team offers weekly office hours to help founders refine ideas, explore new research directions and receive early validation from experienced investors.
As Greece continues its transition into a stronger innovation hub, the Brain Gain Fund represents a strategic effort to bring advanced technology development back to the country. By combining global reach with local opportunity, Metavallon VC aims to help create the next generation of deep tech companies built from the Mediterranean.