How close or distant could the goal of entering the American stock market be for a company with purely Greek “roots”, excluding Greek shipping magnates, was demonstrated a few years ago by Advent of Dr. Vasilis Grigoriou from the energy sector.
Next in line is an internationalized Greek startup, FlexCar, which operates in the flexible vehicle leasing space, founded and led by George Desyllas. A few days ago, Mr. Desyllas and the Chief of Staff, Irini Loupasaki, spoke to newmoney about a “serious, yet ready, with over 60 million euros in ‘signed’ new capital proposal for immediate listing on the Nasdaq in New York,” which the management of FlexCar has received and added, “the whole team, deeply analyzing such a move, concluded that it was worth approaching Nasdaq within 24-36 months, but not yet.”
Two completely different stories, for Greek companies that are scheduling meetings in New York, one coming from Patras, the other from Athens, where it maintains its headquarters.
“An example for other companies”
In February 2021, on the 4th of that month specifically, the journey of Advent Technologies Holdings Inc began on the American organized market, with its listing on the Nasdaq, based in Boston, Massachusetts, and offices in California, Greece, Denmark, Germany, and the Philippines.
The pioneering company, which hails from the Achaean capital (ed. is considered one of the most successful “tech shoots” from the research centers of Greek Universities), became known for its activity in the production of next-generation fuel cells and now holds a leading position in the industry internationally, with a multitude of major agreements and top projects recorded in its portfolio.
Its listing on the New York Stock Exchange was carried out through a merger with AMCI Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) aiming, at that time, to raise over $130 million for the implementation of its business plans.
As Dr. V. Grigoriou stated in his first interview after the developments to newmoney, as Co-founder, Chairman of the Board, and CEO of the Nasdaq-listed company: “…we want to be pioneers in a world where everything will change. Cars, trucks, fuels, ships, airplanes, everything we use daily will change radically in the next 20 years. This is not far away. Companies like us that develop the main technology must have development now to have new vehicles in 10, 20 years. We want the top fuel cell in the future to have Advent Inside technology.”
He also showed the way to others, explaining, among other things, the purposes of the move made by Advent:
“Nasdaq is the way to raise capital directly and to declare to customers and partners that we are ready to compete at the highest level. We hope to set an example of success and flawless operation that will bring other companies from Greece to international stock exchanges.”
Recently, Advent signed two new agreements with the US Department of Defense, the second during 2023, and the clean energy company Volta Energy in the Netherlands, while maintaining strategic partnerships for the use of Ion Pair technology with “giants” like Airbus, Hyundai Motor Company, with Siemens Energy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the shipping sector, and more.
It has developed strong intellectual property with more than 150 patents in next-generation fuel cell technology, HT-PEM, which allows various fuels to operate at high temperatures and extreme conditions and leads in research and development of technologies for “green hydrogen.”
For 2024, Advent aims to transfer a significant part of its production to the Kozani area through the implementation of the European Union-approved Green HiPo project. It also maintains a structure that employs 50 scientists in Patras.
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Setting the horizon at 24-36 months
On its part, FlexCar sets a time horizon of 24-36 months for its Nasdaq listing (the process of term sheet & binding LoI/Letter of Intent has already been initiated).
The Greek scale-up aims for greater growth in the coming years, both in markets where it entered the previous period, such as those in Italy and Mexico, and in those where it will seek future presence. The management of the fledgling company believes that this will better prepare it for its major financial leap into the US.
It is worth noting that FlexCar has raised funds exceeding €300 million since its inception (2018-2024), even setting a record in a funding round with €210 million for the Greek ecosystem and is among the candidates for “unicorns,” aiming for a valuation ceiling of $1 billion.
It has received votes of confidence from international investors, such as the American fund Data Point Capital, Fasanara Capital, Seaya Ventures, Arena Investors, VentureFriends, Uni.Fund, and Frontline Ventures.
In its business plans, it considers the possibility of acquisitions and doubles its target for increasing its fleet of cars to 100,000 within the decade.
In recent years, there have been other efforts by Greek projects with a backdrop of the American stock market. One of these is the creation of the SPAC ITHAX in 2020 by the founders of Axia Ventures Group, Antonis Achilleoudis, Dimitris Athanasopoulos, George Linatsas, and their associate Alexandros Argyro, along with the founder of Ithaca Capital Partners in Miami, Orestis Phintiklis.
By making its presence felt in the Nasdaq market, ITHAX raised significant capital and subsequently initiated the processes for its merger with the innovative company (AI) Mondee, which develops technological solutions in the transportation and tourism sectors (in the fields of leisure and corporate travel), also known as the “Uber of tourism.”
Along the way, another investment was secured in this scheme by Elliott Management and Siris Capital, and based on the new agreement, Mondee’s valuation exceeded $1 billion.
On July 19, 2022, the public trading on Nasdaq began, and today Mondee, with Orestis Phintiklis as Executive Vice President and headquarters in Austin, Texas, operates 17 offices in the United States and Canada, with key activities in India, Thailand, and Greece.
Its platform processes over 50 million daily searches and handles a significant volume of transactions annually.
The Mondee Marketplace includes access to Abhi, the most powerful and unique fully integrated AI travel planning assistant on the market, with a network of 65,000 travel advisors, 500+ airlines, 1M+ hotels and rentals, 30,000 rental car pickup locations, and 50+ cruise lines.
