Impact assessment: HIIN releases first impact report on Greece's progress
Growing Impact Investing Ecosystem in Greece: €10bn Mobilized in 2024
The Hellenic Impact Investing Network (HIIN) has released The Hellenic Impact Report 2024, offering a comprehensive look at the impact investing landscape in Greece. The report reveals a thriving market with over €10 billion mobilized in impact investments across the country[1].
Capital Sources
Direct, unlisted investments from the domestic market have almost doubled from €1 billion in 2022 to €1.8 billion in 2024. When including capital from the European Union and foreign investors, the total impact investment exceeds €10 billion annually[1]. This growth underscores an increasing interest from both domestic and international investors in impact ventures within Greece.
Impact Ventures
The report consolidates data from over 100 start-ups and more than 80 investors interviewed during 2024. The Greek impact ecosystem spans diverse sectors, including agriculture, youth employment, and sustainable economic development[1][3]. These ventures often focus on social and environmental goals, such as alleviating unemployment, empowering youth, supporting regional development, and fostering economic resilience.
Themes
Key thematic areas in Greece’s impact investing landscape include:
- Youth employment and skills development: addressing high youth unemployment through training, paid internships, and vocational education (e.g., ReGeneration, THI funds)[3].
- Sustainable agriculture and rural development: initiatives like New Agriculture New Generation contribute significantly to the economy and social inclusion in agrifood sectors[3].
- Economic growth and entrepreneurship: programs and investments to foster innovation, startups, and sustainable business models are expanding[1][3].
Future Opportunities for Growth
The report identifies gaps and areas needing further development to scale the ecosystem, encouraging a stronger pipeline of ventures, improved access to finance, and policy support. Continued alignment with EU green and social policies offers further capital inflows and development potential. Greece’s strategic approach includes leveraging conferences, market building platforms, and partnerships (e.g., the 2nd Hellenic Impact Investing Conference in September 2024) to stimulate collaboration and awareness among investors and entrepreneurs[1][5].
Challenges and Opportunities
Responsible consumption is the most common area of focus for Greece's impact start-ups. However, there is a lack of dedicated Greek impact funds and accessible financial products in Greece, which limits options for capital deployment. Pension funds and insurance companies have shown limited engagement in impact strategies in Greece.
Sustainable cities, waste management, and green energy are also common areas of focus for impact start-ups in Greece. It's worth noting that only 4% of investment is directed at pre-seed and 4% at growth-stage companies, while real-assets and project finance receive a 19% share of capital. The majority (57%) of impact ventures in Greece are in the ideation, pre-seed, or seed stage[1][2].
Supporting the Ecosystem
The HIIN plans to provide training on how to use a reporting framework to start measuring outcomes for impact, starting with seven Greek impact fund managers[1]. This initiative aims to strengthen the impact investing ecosystem by promoting transparency, accountability, and continuous improvement.
In summary, the Hellenic Impact Report 2024 depicts a rapidly expanding and increasingly sophisticated impact investing ecosystem in Greece, powered by a combination of domestic, EU, and international capital focused on social and environmental themes like youth employment, sustainable agriculture, and economic development, with significant opportunities ahead for scaling impact investments further through enhanced ecosystem support[1][3][5].
- Given the thriving impact investing landscape in Greece, there is an increasing influx of private equity and venture capital, contributing to the pool of over €10 billion annually for impact ventures across various sectors such as agriculture, youth employment, and economic development.
- Pension funds and insurance companies in Greece have shown limited engagement in impact strategies, creating a gap in accessible financial products for the deployment of capital in impact ventures.
- To foster the growth of the impact investing ecosystem in Greece, the Hellenic Impact Investing Network plans to provide training on a reporting framework to start measuring outcomes for impact, which aims to promote transparency, accountability, and continuous improvement.
