Ideas Forward leads €120K pre-seed investment into Athletopia with HeBAN angels

Ideas Forward venture studio is the lead investor in the syndicated pre-seed funding round of Athletopia – the technology startup set to digitize the global running event industry.

The company raised €120K, its first external investment to date, backed by the Hellenic Business Angels Network (HeBAN).

There are approximately 1,000 endurance events happening in Greece every year. Ιn Europe and in the US there are more than 60,000 events annually. Nearly 55 Million Europeans and 60 Million Americans are participating. The running event industry is a global €30 Billion market.

Athletopia.com equips running event organizers with specialized digital tools that engage runners and empower sponsors. The outcome is turning a one-day-event into a 100-day data-rich journey, maximizing value for everyone.

In 2021, Athletopia had been through Next Stage Challenge, the startup accelerator of Ideas Forward. It presented to investors during the Demo Day and was voted #1 in the early-stage revenues category, winning €10,000 cash. Three of the business angels who met Athletopia at the Next Stage Demo Day joined the €120K round a few months later.

Athletopia (formerly SEAMX) was founded by Professor Dr. Nicholas Theodorakis and Swedish entrepreneur Petter Hederstedt. Years of sports management research at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki showed that running event organizers are lacking the right tools to grow their events.  Athletopia was launched in 2020 as a university spinoff to tackle this challenge.

We are excited to partner with Nicholas and Petter on Athletopia’s journey!

Read the full press release on Athletopia’s website.