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Cyprus Startup Funding Nears 2025 High As Investment Momentum Accelerates

Cyprus startups have already raised €112.8 million across 28 funding rounds in 2026, putting the island’s venture market within reach of its full-year total for 2025 with three months still left on the calendar.

A Market Gaining Depth, Not Just Volume

The latest analysis, compiled by Dionysis Partsinevelos, an associate at venture capital firm 33East and an analyst at G4 Ventures, shows that Cyprus continues to build momentum as a regional startup hub.

In an update published Tuesday on his Substack newsletter, Partsinevelos said 21 additional rounds had been announced in the five months since his previous review in May. Seventeen of those disclosed their size, collectively adding €100 million to the year’s tally.

By Partsinevelos’s methodology, which counts deals by announcement date, uses each company’s reported currency and converts figures at a year-to-date average exchange rate of roughly $1.16 per euro, 2026 funding now stands at $131.9 million. The median investment is $1 million. For comparison, Cyprus startups raised about €120 million in 2025.

Omilia Leads The Year’s Largest Round

The biggest funding event of 2026 so far belongs to Omilia, which raised $67 million, or €57.8 million, in a Series B announced on August 6 and led by Expedition Growth Capital.

The company develops artificial intelligence voice agents for enterprise contact centres and is now headquartered in Larnaca, after originally being founded in Athens by Dimitris Vassos. Its first external backing came in 2020, when Grafton Capital invested $20 million. The latest transaction ranks as the fourth-largest Cyprus-based startup round in Partsinevelos’s records, which date back to 2020.

Two crowdfunding campaigns run through Crowdbase also exceeded expectations, raising a combined €835,706 from 213 investors.

Retail Investors Join Early-Stage Bets

Nicosia-based AI recruitment platform Cleedee raised €300,000 from 117 investors at a pre-money valuation of around €1.7 million, closing its campaign on May 31. Founded by Michalis Georgiou and Stavros Kasinos, the company has also received support from the Research and Innovation Foundation’s SEED call and joined the first Plug and Play Cyprus cohort.

Student housing platform MyStudentFlat raised €535,706 from 96 investors between May and July, surpassing its €500,000 target at a pre-money valuation of €1.8 million. Founded by Demetris Economou and Elena Orfanidou, it leases verified flats from landlords and sublets them to students.

Venture Capital Continues To Back Scale-Up Ambitions

Several other startups secured institutional backing. AI game-development tools company Code Maestro raised $720,000, or €620,000, in a summer seed round involving Davidovs Venture Capital, Mount Venture Capital Fund, 33East and angel investors.

Founded by Alexander Goldybin and Max Slobodyanyuk, the company first built an AI copilot for Unity before shifting focus to a Playable Ads Creator that turns screenshots or briefs into playable advertisements designed to meet network requirements.

Piney, which provides short- and medium-term rental operations software and services, raised €1.6 million in September in a round led by existing investor Uni.fund, with 33East participating. The deal lifted its total funding to €2.8 million.

Founded by Cypriot entrepreneur Nicolas Chrysostomou, Piney supplies cleaning, laundry, linen and amenities through its platform and in-house teams, and operates in the United States with a Cypriot team.

Robotics testing company Positronic Robotics raised $2 million, or €1.72 million, in September in a pre-seed round led by 33East, with RTP Global, Davidovs Venture Collective, Orion VC and angel investors also participating.

Founded by Sergey Arkhangelskiy, who is based in Paphos, the company tests robotics models on physical robot rigs in Cyprus and delivers video recordings and test scores on the same day.

Funding Spans More Sectors Than Ever

Other announced deals included Limassol-based travel eSIM app eSIMo, which raised $10 million in January from an unnamed UK investment fund, and Neofleet Capital, which secured $4 million in a pre-seed round combining equity and debt, announced on October 8.

Neofleet Capital finances taxi and ride-hailing fleets in Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire and Peru. DMTech VC participated in the round, and some members of the team previously worked at inDrive.

Limassol-based AI mental wellness app SOULA raised $750,000 in February, following founder Natallia Miranchuk’s €500,000 investment win on Shark Tank Malta in 2024 and support from the Research and Innovation Foundation’s DISRUPT programme.

Paphos-based telecoms operator Intergo Telecom raised €600,000 in an angel round in April, having operated since 2016 under founder and chief executive Marios Italos.

Restaurant payment startup DigitalFox raised €350,000 in a pre-seed round earlier in the year and joined the first Plug and Play Cyprus cohort. Founded by Bane Patchev, the company integrates QR-code table payments with restaurant point-of-sale systems.

AI companion startup Nooah secured $100,000 in May. Its assistant uses long-term memory through Telegram and WhatsApp and delivers daily morning briefings. Co-founder and chief executive Andrey Belozerov is based in Cyprus.

Cyprus gaming studio F*Bastards secured a seven-figure investment in June to expand its portfolio of more than 50 slot and casino games, with Laedan Bridge advising on the transaction.

Nicosia-based defence technology company Fractal Networx received an undisclosed strategic investment in August from Greek dual-use technology group EFA Group. Its products include ORION CX, a command-and-control system, and ALECTO EW, a modular counter-drone and electronic warfare system, both already in operational use.

Larnaca-based G6X7 also announced a reported $20 million private investment in September from unnamed investors in Japan and the United Arab Emirates, although Partsinevelos cautioned that the round was not fully verified. The company describes itself as a contemporary art and visual technology platform producing limited-edition works from layered aluminium and acrylic, with photography positioned between the layers.

Signals Of A Broader Shift

Partsinevelos also identified several additional funding developments outside his main list, including two undisclosed Series A extensions for Limassol-based education technology company Headway from Endeavor Catalyst in January and Horizon Capital in April.

Other deals included Limassol-based self-improvement microlearning startup RiseGuide, which raised a $2 million Series A in January according to VCBacked, and Integral AI, which secured a €250,000 seed round for machine-learning technology focused on mobile performance marketing.

Nicosia-based mobile puzzle game developer Burny Games also brought in Maksym Krippa, owner of NAVI, as a co-owner in March, though the size of his stake was not disclosed.

Despite the strong year-to-date figures, Partsinevelos warned that the three largest rounds account for roughly 75 per cent of total funding, limiting the extent to which the headline number reflects broad-based investment activity.

Still, he said the 28 rounds recorded so far, including undisclosed deals, point to a wider set of companies reaching investors—and a maturing ecosystem that is beginning to attract more attention beyond its most obvious names.

“Investors are starting to realise that the island can now produce and export technology and not just import it,” he said.

With three months remaining in the year and additional deals likely still to be announced, Partsinevelos expects Cyprus startups to finish 2026 with another record-breaking result.

LVMH Revenue Rises, But China Weakness Continues To Weigh On Luxury Giant

A Softer Quarter Exposes The Limits Of Luxury’s Recovery

LVMH, the world’s largest luxury group and parent of Louis Vuitton, Dior, Celine and Hennessy, reported revenue of €18.5 billion in the three months to the end of September, underscoring both the scale of its business and the pressure building across parts of the luxury market.

The company’s revenue rose 1.2% year on year in the third quarter, following a 0.1% increase in the second quarter and a 5.9% decline in the first. The trajectory points to stabilization, but not yet to a convincing rebound.

Organic Growth Misses Expectations

Organic sales growth, which strips out currency effects and portfolio changes, slowed to 1% in the third quarter from 3% in the previous quarter. That result fell short of market expectations and reinforced concerns that the luxury cycle remains uneven.

For the first nine months of the year, LVMH generated sales of €57.1 billion, with organic growth of 2%.

In its statement, the company highlighted the breadth of its portfolio, saying that diversification continues to provide resilience in an uncertain geopolitical and economic environment. That remains one of LVMH’s defining strengths: when one category weakens, another can help offset the downturn.

China Remains The Key Pressure Point

LVMH said sales performed well in the United States, Europe and Japan, but conditions in China remained less favorable. That matters because the country has long been one of the most important growth engines for global luxury brands.

The fashion and leather goods division, LVMH’s most closely watched unit, saw organic sales fall 5% as weaker demand in China weighed on performance. Deutsche Bank said the decline was steeper than the roughly 2% drop expected by analysts.

The segment had delivered its first organic sales gain in two years in the previous quarter, making the latest retreat a notable setback.

Brand Equity Faces A Test In China

The quarter also highlighted the reputational risks facing global brands in China. Louis Vuitton drew criticism after suing local tea company Molly Tea over logo copying. Although the company won the case, the dispute sparked social media backlash and boycott calls, adding another layer of pressure to an already fragile environment.

For a company built on scarcity, aspiration and brand discipline, perception is an asset as valuable as inventory. In a market as digitally connected as China, that asset can shift quickly.

Mixed Performance Across The Portfolio

Not every division weakened. LVMH’s selective retailing business, which includes Sephora, posted an 8% organic sales increase. Watches and jewellery, along with wines and spirits, both recorded 6% organic gains.

That broad mix is precisely what has historically given LVMH an advantage over rivals: it can absorb softness in one category without relying on a single growth driver.

Analysts See A Longer Recovery Ahead

Deutsche Bank analysts said the results could lead to further cuts in earnings forecasts for the second half of 2026 and 2027. They added that it is difficult to see what could improve investor sentiment in the near term.

Still, the bank framed the weakness as cyclical rather than structural. In its view, recovery is taking longer because Chinese demand remains subdued, but the problem does not appear to reflect a permanent deterioration in the brand franchise. Analysts said ongoing brand initiatives are beginning to show results, though improvements are likely to remain gradual.

Investor Pressure Continues To Mount

LVMH’s share price has fallen nearly 40% since the start of the year. In September, L’Oréal overtook the group as France’s most valuable listed company, a symbolic shift that captures how sharply sentiment has changed.

Shares in LVMH were down more than 1.6% in Paris around 10 a.m. CEST following the release.

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