FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

We are a Venture Capital fund based in Athens investing in Early-Stage technology startups with a strong innovation element. We provide pre-seed and seed capital, coupled with market acceleration boosting in the pre-seed stage, adding hands on value where needed.
The terms Pre-Seed and Seed are widely used to refer to stages of startup development and equivalently of investment. There is hardly an objective definition, and depending on the market, each fund may define it slightly differently. For us, Pre-Seed investment relates to the first institutional capital that comes in as an investment in a company that is at the early stages of its development. At Metavallon VC we combine this investment of initially € 200K with one-to-one support, a number of additional perks and connections to the market, to service providers and follow on investors. Seed investment is also initial capital but refers to a company founded by a team of experienced entrepreneurs that have already achieved some market traction with their product. At Metavallon VC we support those startups to scale with capital of initially € 400K, expert support, a number of additional perks and connections to the market, to service providers and follow-on investors.
For the Pre-Seed stage the minimum requirements are: a) a functional prototype initially tested in the market of a technology company (meaning owning IP or as a minimum using technology as an enabler) and b) a team of committed founders. Here we look for and invite first-time entrepreneurs with the drive to execute and the zeal for product excellence. Our upcoming Pre-Seed submissions' review cut-off date is November 29th, 2020. Note: Meanwhile our team reviews Pre-Seed submissions in our pipeline on every cut-off date, entrepreneurs can submit their company through our platform at any point in time, even after a given cut-off date. This practically means that the closest the cut-off date following your submission the sooner you will hear from us. 
In the Seed stage, we aim to engage and enable experienced technology entrepreneurs, who have a proven track in business management and achievement. Minimum requirements, apart from the founder’s background, is the existence of a successful pilot in the market. As part of our work together with the entrepreneurs, we build on two elements that we recognize as critical for success at this stage: corporate alliances that facilitate market traction and access to an international network of businesses and investors that catalyze expansion.
Initially €200k at Pre-Seed Stage and €400k at Seed Stage. We also reserve a substantial amount of funding for our follow-on investments, of initially €2.5 million.
We are sector agnostic and welcome applications and technologies across industries. We are particularly keen about the sectors and technologies outlined in our landing page and more explicitly - in early-stage startups within high-growth future-setting industries, including Fintech, Energy, Manufacturing and Cybersecurity, and working on state-of-the-art exponential technologies, such as Machine Learning/Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, Microelectronics and Robotics. Even if your company is not on one of our prefered industries, please submit your company and we’ll be happy to read about your game-changing solution.
We are sector agnostic and welcome applications and technologies across industries. We are particularly keen about the sectors and technologies outlined in our landing page and more explicitly - in early-stage startups within high-growth future-setting industries, including Fintech, Energy, Manufacturing and Cybersecurity, and working on state-of-the-art exponential technologies, such as Machine Learning/Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, Microelectronics and Robotics. Even if your company is not on one of our preferred industries, please submit your company and we’ll be happy to read about your game-changing solution.
Follow the Submit Now links on our website and submit your company in 30’ or less. You may submit all year round and our upcoming cut-off date for submissions' review by our investment team is on November 29th, 2020.
Follow the Submit Now links on our website and submit your company in 30’ or less. We review Seed funding Proposals on a rolling basis all year round.
Our Pre-Seed investment process runs with cut off dates. Our upcoming Pre-Seed submissions’ review cut-off date is on November 29th, 2020. After this cut off date, we start our internal evaluation process and contact shortlisted applicants to ask for deeper information on their business. This step may be followed by an online interview. Before our final investment decision, teams selected are invited to a weeklong face-to-face collaboration in our Athens head office. Our investment selection is completed within 6-8 weeks from each final cut off date. Our Seed investment process is ongoing and runs throughout the year. We aim at completing the evaluation within 8-10 weeks from proposal submission.
It means that we will provide you capital in terms of equity financing in exchange for a minority percentage of your company. We expect to make our return through the company’s increased value over time.
We strongly believe that there is a lot more to your success than just funding so we’ll support you with training and mentoring from our global network of advisors, international market access and expansion, pilot alliances, recruitment, targeted networking on a global scale, €100K+ in Perks from our partners and much more.
Term Sheets are available to the teams to which we will make an offer of investment and will act as the basis for our formal agreement.
Absolutely. We will participate in follow-on financing rounds ourselves and help you find additional international investors.
If you have developed a functioning prototype and are a talented and committed first time entrepreneur, the Pre-Seed stage is right for you. Our Pre-Seed investments include boosting, which is there to help you reach the market faster, not to help you design business models or MVPs. Applications to our Pre-Seed funding run all year round and are assessed by our team approximately 3 times a year following our cut-off dates. Our upcoming cut-off date is on November 29th, 2020. If we select to fund your team, we could be working together for the next good 4-7 years, which requires long term commitment – we see our initial involvement as an opportunity to assist you in your long-term success.
Yes, of course you are. Only thing to consider is whether the funding you have received is significant (indicatively over €100K), in which case we may be inclined to work with startups that appear to need us more at a Pre-Seed level. If you have progressed since your last funding round and experiencing market traction, you may qualify for Seed investment. 
We like investing in technology companies with a strong innovation element. Ideally, we want to see intellectual property and projects with a defensible competitive advantage. Our targets need to be growth-oriented and globally minded from day one. Founders must have domain expertise coupled with passion and the ability to communicate their business ideas and their product to different stakeholders. We enter into long term partnerships with our portfolio companies, so we want commitment. Above all, we need a demonstrated ability to execute; without that even an excellent idea is void.
At this early stage of company development, financial valuations are very theoretical. If you focus on your product and business development, financial validation will come in the next financing round and eventually your exit.  Overall, our investment terms are founder and growth friendly, at the market standard across our European target audience, and fixed exactly so that we focus on what matters at this stage, market validation, and for fairness across our portfolio companies. So, fair terms and a solid funding amount: this is the epitome of a good deal.
Working on more than one company or project? It sounds like you are creative and ambitious - strong ingredients of a business founder! Do keep in mind, though, that a prototype and some initial traction are prerequisites for evaluating a company submission; and that each submission may take quite a bit of your valuable time. Also, at Metavallon VC we have seen that the founders who succeed are the ones who focus on one company and give it their all. That said, if you select to invest your time and effort in building more than one businesses and the subsequent submission for investment, we assure you that we shall put the time and full attention to review how you have built prototypes and executed, even if this is on more than one fronts.

Catch us on:

 

Earth

 
Greece
Europe
USA

Mars

      • Mars Center anytime and you’ll receive automatic Pre-Seed financing and unlimited office space while you’re there! Woop Woop..
 
You do not need to have established a company to submit your proposal, but in order to receive Pre-Seed and Seed financing you will need to be incorporated as a company. We hence suggest you start your incorporation research as soon as your funding proposal progresses to the interview stage.
Our mission is to work with the most talented founders on the most promising B2B tech startups – and these could come from anywhere in the world. We accept company submissions from across the globe while at the same time we are committed to investing in companies that do or will upon investment maintain an operating legal entity (headquarters or subsidiary) in Greece. Based on this we have identified the four types of companies below and we may only explore investing in those that can be classified under A, B, or C:
A. At least one of the founders (or executives) has a connection to Greece (origin, studies, work experience, etc.) and already manages or will manage the Greek entity.
B. The founders are an international team that has or intends to build a development/operations/sales team or part thereof in Greece in a way that makes sense for their business model.
C. The founders are an international team that considers Greece a target market.
D. None of the above - the company is fundraising internationally and may not maintain a Greek entity.
For Pre-Seed investment in particular, in addition to the above, we need to meet and work in person (for a couple of days) with at least one of the founders prior to making our investment decision. Following this, and provided that we decide to invest, we will need to work intensively and closely together with the founders during the first few months to give their companies the best chances for success!
As a minimum to seek pre-seed funding from us, you need a functioning prototype and a committed team. Not having an office or the actual legal structure of the company when submitting your investment proposal is not an issue, however, to invest in you, you have to develop a legal structure. That said, If you are pre-incorporation stage and want to apply for Pre-Seed funding, we strongly advise you to do your incorporation research early. That way, in the happy event that you are selected for funding, you can promptly register your business by to receive the investment.
The Pre-Seed acceleration call is aimed at startup teams that already have a functional product or service, even a prototype or beta, and are seeing some initial traction. The two core reasons for this are that: a) market traction is a primary indication of your proof of concept, which is necessary even for the very early funding stages, and b) only at this stage can teams advance at the pace required to reach the target market- and investment-ready level within just a few months. If you are still developing, you could take this opportunity to push your product to the market and receive your first results by our upcoming cut-off date - November 29th, 2020.
We are here to provide you with everything that is necessary for your success. If office space is critical to your team, we are able to provide solutions on a case-by-case basis through our Innovation Allies. That said, we are not in the real estate business; our time with you is best used towards business development and international market expansion.
You are the entrepreneur, which means you decide. We are here to enable you, suggest paths that could work, and open up opportunities in the paths you choose to take. We are also here to tell you what you need to hear, not necessarily what you want to hear. Eventually, you are accountable for your choices, their success and their failure.
All our discussions are covered by confidentiality adhering to our internal professional code of ethics. In early screening stages (i.e interviews, bootcamp etc.) though due to the large volume of the companies we interact with, we do not provide NDAs. In the exciting event that we decide to invest in your company, offer you a term sheet that has been signed by all parties and are about to kick-off our technical due-diligence, we are happy to sign an NDA. 
We expect you to be able to present a sound business model and an action plan to us. We only require a pitch deck that presents these and answers to our submission form; no written 100-page business plan. Please don’t hire someone else to do this for you. Know your technology and market. Do your research. Do the math. Come to us.
Give it another try. If you’ve done your best trying, we trust there might be a technical issue so please contact us.
If we have not covered your questions in our (frequently updated) FAQs and you are still unclear on our Pre-Seed or Seed financing, do not hesitate to contact us.
We’ve got a strong network of collaborators, partners and supporters so we’d like to hear more from you! Contact us with some basic information, making sure to include:
  1. Who you are
  2. What you do
  3. What do you have in mind and
  4. How we can help
and we'll put you through to the right person!