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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.

Cyprus Government Surplus Rises To €1.61 Billion In First Nine Months Of 2026

Cyprus recorded a general government surplus of €1.61 billion in the first nine months of 2026, equal to 4.0% of gross domestic product, as revenue growth outpaced the rise in public spending. Higher receipts from income taxes, social contributions and value-added tax (VAT) drove the improvement, while lower capital expenditure helped restrain spending.

Preliminary figures released Tuesday by the Statistical Service of Cyprus show the surplus rose to €1.17 billion, or 3.0% of GDP, up from € 442.1 million in the same period of 2025.

Total government revenue increased 6.5% to €12.09 billion, while expenditure rose 2.9% to €10.48 billion.

Key Fiscal MeasureJanuary–September 2025January–September 2026
Total revenue€11,353.9 million€12,091.8 million
Total expenditure€10,186.2 million€10,482.1 million
Government surplus€1,167.6 million€1,609.7 million
Surplus as a share of GDP3.0%4.0%

Income Taxes And VAT Lead Revenue Growth

Taxes on income and wealth made the largest contribution to the increase in revenue. Receipts in this category climbed by €442.2 million, or 15.3%, to €3.34 billion, compared with €2.89 billion a year earlier.

Social contributions rose by €235 million, or 6.6%, to €3.78 billion. Taxes on production and imports increased by €251.5 million, or 7.2%, reaching €3.77 billion.

Net VAT receipts, after refunds, totalled €2.64 billion, up €293.1 million, or 12.5%, from €2.35 billion in the first nine months of 2025.

Some Revenue Streams Decline

Not all revenue categories moved higher. Capital transfers fell by €74.6 million to €96.7 million, while current transfers declined by €71.6 million, or 20.5%, to €278.2 million.

Revenue from services slipped 1.0% to €743.5 million. Interest and dividend receipts dropped by €37 million, or 28.6%, to €92.4 million.

Social Benefits And Personnel Costs Increase

On the expenditure side, social benefits rose by €199.6 million, or 4.9%, to €4.27 billion. Compensation of employees—which includes imputed social contributions and public-sector pensions—increased by €108.3 million, or 3.8%, to €2.99 billion.

Intermediate consumption, covering goods and services used in the delivery of public services, rose by €114.3 million, or 11.0%, to €1.16 billion. Interest payments increased by €8.7 million, or 2.6%, to €340.7 million. Current transfers were up €68.7 million, or 10.6%, at €714.7 million.

Lower Capital Spending Limits Expenditure Growth

The overall increase in spending was tempered by a decline in capital expenditure. Capital-account spending fell by €189.9 million, or 16.9%, to €936.2 million from €1.13 billion in the same period last year.

Investment in fixed capital declined by €94.1 million, or 12.1%, to €686.4 million. Other capital transfers fell by €95.8 million, or 27.7%, to €249.8 million. Subsidies also decreased, dropping by €13.9 million, or 15.5%, to €75.8 million.

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