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Impact Report 2019 - Endeavor Greece
COMPANY
ENTREPRENEUR
YEAR SELECTED
Hellas Direct
Emilios Markou & Alexis Pantazis
2012
Hellas Direct is Greece’ s first direct-to-consumer online car insurance company founded in 2011 by Emilios Markou and Alexis Pantazis. With insurance fees rising by a third due to a series of company shut-downs, these entrepreneurs saw an opportunity for an innovative, affordable solution in the Greek market. In 2014, Hellas Direct completed an institutional funding round, led by Third Point LLC’s Hellenic Recovery Fund and joined by Endeavor Catalyst, an innovative co-investment vehicle that invests alongside qualified, lead investors in Endeavor Entrepreneurs through a rules-based process.
106
employees
€25M
run-rate GWP (80% year on year growth)
Acquisition of the largest road assistance company in Cyprus
Describe what makes your company unique. Hellas Direct is a next-generation, full-stack insurance company. Following the Amazon model and empowered by cutting-edge technology, Hellas Direct focuses on offering a better product, at a better price and better service to the Greek consumer. We are efficient across the value chain and compete head-to-head with global brands in our sector, such as AXA, Allianz and AIG. Hellas Direct is backed by a roster of all-star investors including Portag3, the IFC (World Bank) and world known family offices. We have raised EUR 23.8M to date and we are the first Endeavor Catalyst investment in Europe. Point out one of your biggest challenges or proudest moments. Launching a fully-regulated financial institution during one of the deepest recessions in history was challenging. We were the first insurance company to be licensed across the region in 15 years and faced a number of headwinds along the way. Finding investors who would trust first-time entrepreneurs in a contrarian, against-all-odds venture was difficult – we had to approach more than 2.5k investors in 14 countries to secure our first round of funding. Seven years from launch, Hellas Direct now operates in two countries, proudly serving more than 500K consumers across the broader mobility and home ecosystems (insurance, services, lead generation).
Bought out Third Point LLC
Strategic partner of world’s leading reinsurance company, Munich Re
Share a memorable story as a member of the Endeavor Network. A couple of years after joining Endeavor, the Athens office suggested that we had a conversation with Adrian Gore and Barry Swartzberg, two successful South African entrepreneurs and co-founders of Discovery. Adrian and Barry were not only Endeavor Entrepreneurs themselves, but they had recently joined the Board of Endeavor in South Africa. We set up a call and within two weeks we were invited to visit them in Johannesburg. These guys were rock stars, providing priceless feedback and solid advice, which helped accelerate our growth as a company. We are grateful to be a part of such an amazing global community. Describe what being an entrepreneur means to you. Resilience. Yes, most definitely, resilience. Tenacity. Sticking to your guns. Going through the worst of times and still being able to push forward, looking at the bright side and remaining focused on your long-term goals. Constantly challenging your own assumptions and being borderline paranoid about what will cause you to fail. Not many people can get comfortable with the uncertainty around setting up a new business. And not many people are able to convince themselves and others that their vision can actually become a reality. As Linda says, there is a bit of crazy in that.