On Wednesday, December 10, Deree’s Entrepreneurship Management Program, in collaboration with the Office of Innovation and Industrial Collaborations (OIIC) at The American College of Greece, proudly hosted the 3rd New Ventures Creation Dragon’s Den.
New Ventures Creation is one of Deree’s most dynamic entrepreneurship courses—where students turn early-stage ideas into viable business concepts through teamwork, creativity, and hands-on learning. Over the semester, each team develops a full business plan and a pitch. Dragon’s Den is their moment to step into the spotlight and present under real investor-style conditions.
This year’s top-performing teams, taught by Professors George Kokosalakis, Maria Pallidou, and Yannis Vikas, pitched to a distinguished panel of judges:
- Ioniki Poulaki, Investment Associate, Evercurious VC
- Melina Mai, Investment Manager, BigPi VC
- Nikos Markakis, Founder, Mood
- Angelos Vasileiou, Tech Lead, MantisBI
- Dr. Katerina Voutsina, Area Coordinator, Entrepreneurship Management
The teams
- Brazilian Bakers — A food venture introducing Pão de Queijo, a traditional Brazilian cheese bread, to the Greek hospitality market.
Presented by Ioannis Tsoukalas & Isidora Psarrou (Team members: Christos Kotronis, Charalambos Destounis) - DESMOS — A platform connecting SMEs and entrepreneurs with essential professional services (accounting, legal, consulting, marketing, ICT), reducing uncertainty through verification and quality checks.
Presented by Pavlos Antonioudakis, Georgia Papagianni, Eleni Sanikidze & Nikolaos Fasoulas - UniWise — A digital platform offering personalized, affordable university studies consulting for students aged 16–24.
Presented by Vasileios Thanasoulas & Nicolaos Toccos (Team members: Foivos Bantekas, Alexandros Georgiou)
Following a highly engaging pitching session and insightful Q&A, the judges awarded UniWise the 1st Prize as the most developed venture concept and the closest to market launch. That said, all three teams performed exceptionally, demonstrating strong progress and receiving targeted, actionable feedback to strengthen their execution plans.
We are truly grateful to our judges for their time, rigor, and mentorship. As a next step, all participating teams will receive access to the ACG Innovation Hub at Demokritos, enabling them to further develop their ideas within a vibrant technology park and startup ecosystem—along with tickets to major innovation and entrepreneurship events.
Congratulations to all teams for the professionalism, courage, and growth they demonstrated. The future is being built in classrooms like these—and on stages like Dragon’s Den.
