Co-Fund is proceeding with another financing round this year, the first since the recent revision of its internal regulations, which now provides for financing applications to be reviewed throughout the year.

On this basis, and following evaluation of the relevant application, Co-Fund’s General Assembly approved financing of 6,000 euros to the Social Cooperative Enterprise “Anaviosis“, an innovative Social and Solidarity Economy startup, active in the field of functional foods based on beneficial microorganisms. Co-Fund’s financing will serve as seed capital for carrying out the first production cycle of “Manjuni”: a natural product made through the fermentation of herbs, honey, and selected probiotic cultures, which helps maintain the balance of the gut microbiome as part of a healthy lifestyle.

Despite the high risk of the business proposal, since it concerns the production and marketing of a new product by a startup venture with no established market share, the productive nature and high social value of this activity, as well as the joint development of a realistic business plan by both parties, led to the final approval of the financing.

In the absence of other financing applications in recent months, there is no need to set financing priorities through a vote by the members of Co-Fund’s financing community. Also, the amount is more than covered by Co-Fund’s available financing capital, which allows the disbursement process to begin immediately. Nevertheless, as is standard practice, we publish the result of the second stage of the application evaluation, in order to ensure the greatest possible transparency and a clearer presentation of Co-Fund’s financing policy to community members and the wider public.

The detailed evaluation follows:

A. The business proposal is assessed as satisfactory, as it covers key figures such as production and distribution costs, includes a realistic estimate of revenue from product sales, and provides for a clear repayment plan for the financing (3.0).

B. The social utility of the proposal is assessed as high, as it concerns the production of a natural food supplement that is particularly beneficial for health (4.8).

C. The ecological footprint of the proposal is assessed very positively, as production is based exclusively on natural materials and fermentation processes (5.0).

D. The risk of the proposal is assessed as relatively high, since it concerns a new product with no established customer base, in the absence of supplementary revenue sources for the venture (2.5).

E. The ratio between fixed and working capital for which the requested financing is intended is assessed positively, as it mainly concerns the purchase of raw materials and the construction of a fixed asset (e-shop) (4.2).

F. The ratio of the requested financing amount to the venture’s turnover over the past year is assessed quite low, given the venture’s recent establishment and its purely trial activity so far (1.2).

G. The ratio of the requested financing amount to Co-Fund’s available financing capital (equal to 1/2) is assessed as below average, since it ties up a significant portion of the latter (2.2).

H. The proposal does not provide for the immediate creation of new jobs, and is therefore assessed with the lowest possible score (1.0).

I. Similarly, the criterion regarding the nature of the planned jobs cannot be applied, and is therefore assessed the same as the previous one (1.0).

J. The degree of partnership with other S.S.E. ventures is assessed as low, since the business plan does not stem from any joint planning, nor is it based on already established cooperative relationships with other S.S.E. ventures (1.8).

K. The requesting venture’s field of work is quite original, so the application scores very positively on the criterion of the geographic density of the field of work (5.0).

L. The venture’s time length of participation in Co-Fund’s financing community is very short, so it is assessed negatively (1.0).

M. The total amount of subscriptions paid by the requesting venture to Co-Fund’s fund exceeds the minimum solely due to the payment of the annual subscription, and does not exceed the contribution of most ventures participating in Co-Fund’s financing community. It is therefore assessed as below average (2.0).

N. The repayment timeframe of the requested financing is judged negatively, as it is expected to exceed three years (1.2).

O. The criterion of the number of financings the venture has received from Co-Fund in the past is assessed very positively, as the venture has not been financed before (5.0).

In accordance with the latest revision of our internal regulations, we announce the available financing capital of Co-Fund for the remainder of 2026, amounting to 12,000 euros.

This amount was determined on the basis of the financial report for H1 2026, which we are also publishing today.

Following the disbursement of four financings totaling 25,000 euros at the beginning of the year, Co-Fund achieves a cash reserve of over 15,000 euros as of June 30, 2026. This gives us the ability to provide additional financing in the coming months, and marks a new stage of growth for Co-Fund.

For financing applications, contact us at info@co-fund.gr

Following the successful completion of the 3rd financing call, Co-Fund continues to seek ways to improve its operations, always aiming at the greatest possible benefit for the Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE) sector in Greece. In this direction, our team is already working on and preparing a set of measures and initiatives for the coming months.

In this context, Co-Fund announces a new framework for the submission and evaluation of financing applications. The main feature of this change is the ability for interested SSE ventures to submit a financing application at any time, as Co-Fund is abandoning the model of fixed financing calls that it has followed until now. From now on, each approved financing application will proceed directly to implementation, provided that Co-Fund’s available financing capital at that time allows it. In case of a temporary lack of funds, the existing procedure remains in place, according to which approved applications will be implemented once the required amount has been raised, following the order of priority determined by the members of Co-Fund’s funding community.

In this way, Co-Fund reduces the response time to the actual financing needs of SSE ventures, while at the same time enabling the ventures seeking funding to contribute to the growth of our funding community and, consequently, to the faster accumulation of the funds they require.

All details of the new framework for submitting and evaluating financing applications can be found in the revised Rules of Procedure of Co-Fund.

For further clarifications or financing applications, please contact us at info@co-fund.gr

We are publishing Co-Fund’s financial report for 2025, as we do every year, with the aim of ensuring transparency in the operation of our venture.

2025 was the year of our 3rd funding call, which also marked the beginning of our valued collaboration with the Karditsas Cooperative Bank. The resulting operational workload did not allow us to dedicate sufficient effort to attracting new subscribers.

Nevertheless, during the course of the year we received two significant one-off donations. As a result, Co-Fund recorded a 54% increase in total revenues, expanded the total amount disbursed under the latest funding call to €25,000, and raised its cash balance to over €36,000.

2026 finds us more optimistic than ever, and ready to work towards greater outreach and the growth of Co-Fund’s funding community — a community that, despite all adversity, gains ever more momentum with each passing month, driving forward the vision of a solidarity-based, cooperative, and green economy.

Keep on going!

CO-FUND_FINANCIAL-REPORT_2025

Following the pause of 2024, Co-Fund is issuing a new funding call for SSE ventures (existing or being established) in Greece.

This is the first funding cycle in which Co-Fund’s new financing instrument, developed in collaboration with the Karditsas Cooperative Bank, will be activated, enabling access to funding on preferential terms. At the same time, the total amount available for funding is doubling compared to the previous call, once again.

The full terms of the call are set out below:

General call information

The total amount available for funding is €20,000, with a maximum of €10,000 per venture.

Funding is provided through a loan agreement with the Karditsas Cooperative Bank to each funded venture.

The nominal annual interest rate on the loan is 2.5%. Co-Fund absorbs a significant portion of the cost of each loan agreement on behalf of the funded venture.

The application deadline is 15 June 2025. In the event of an insufficient number of applications, Co-Fund may extend the deadline to 30 June.

Application process

Each interested venture is invited to submit a funding application by completing the corresponding form available at this link, and to send Co-Fund the documents described in its internal regulations — specifically in section (2.2) «Eligibility requirements for funding applications» — by email as attachments.

For an application to be accepted, the applying venture must become a Co-Fund subscriber, at a subscription level commensurate with its size and capacity.

Co-Fund reserves the right to request from an applying venture any additional information or document it deems necessary.

Assessment process and criteria

The assessment and final selection of ventures is carried out according to the criteria and process described in Co-Fund’s internal regulations, specifically sections (2.3) «Funding application assessment criteria» and (2.4) «Stages in the review of funding applications». At the first stage of assessment, each application also requires approval from the Karditsas Cooperative Bank.

Terms for the implementation of funding

The details of how funding will be implemented are communicated to the ventures whose applications are approved during the assessment process.

After the disbursement of the funding, the funded project is initially required to disclose our collaboration through a post on its digital communication channels and subsequently maintain communication with Co-Fund regarding the funding results and repayment schedule.

For any further clarification, please contact us.

Co-Fund is pleased to announce the start of a collaboration with the Cooperative Bank of Karditsa, in a joint effort to provide financing solutions for SSE ventures.

As part of this collaboration, a new financing instrument will be piloted, under which the Karditsas Cooperative Bank offers loan agreements to selected SSE ventures on particularly favourable terms.

Through this collaboration, Co-Fund strengthens its operational capacity, actively leverages its available capital, and delivers even more reliable financing solutions within the SSE sector.

We were saddened to learn of the negative development in the SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation) case brought by a senior executive of the company “Ellinikos Chrysos” against the cooperative media outlet Alterthess. We did, however, learn that the Alterthess team will continue to fight for justice. To that end, they have launched a crowdfunding campaign to cover at least part of their legal costs.

For us, SSE — and, by extension, Co-Fund itself — is part of the struggle for a fair, democratic, and environmentally sustainable economy: one that moves in a direction entirely opposite to that of destroying our shared natural wealth in pursuit of monetary “profit.”

We have not forgotten our public commitment to the members of our funding community that we use the funds we collect to develop productive SSE projects and not for one-off donations. Nevertheless, we decided to support Alterthess with the symbolic sum of €200, in the strong belief that we are expressing the shared sentiment of all our subscribers. Because, above all else, SSE means solidarity.

We wish the Alterthess team strength and courage.

You can learn more about the case here.

If you would like to support the crowdfunding campaign for Alterthess’s legal costs directly, click here.

2024 could be described as a year of consolidation for Co-Fund. The effort to improve our operational model took considerably more time than we had anticipated, with the result that we did not proceed with any new funding disbursements and essentially remained stagnant on the revenue front.

2024 could be characterised as a year of consolidation for Co-Fund. The effort to improve our operational model took considerably more time than we had anticipated, with the result that we did not proceed with any new funding disbursements and essentially remained stagnant on the revenue front.

That said, the repayment of the bulk of the 2023 fundings, combined with 2024 revenues, creates the conditions for yet another significant increase in our funding capacity this year — thanks, of course, to Co-Fund’s funding community, which has maintained its strength despite the challenging backdrop of the cost-of-living crisis.

This strength, then, has pushed us even further. Something that will become evident very soon.

Keep on going!

Read our 2024 Balance Sheet

We are delighted to announce the formal admission of our new partner, Fotis Papastergiou, to Co-Fund.

For nearly two years, Fotis has been an informal yet invaluable member of our team. Having actively participated since May 2023, he has made a particularly important contribution to raising awareness of Co-Fund among more SSE ventures and cooperative organisations across Greece.

Fotis lives and works in Athens. With a background in Economics and initial professional experience in commerce, he has spent the last ten years working in the field of information technology, with a particular interest in the relationship between technology, society, and entrepreneurship — focusing on the harmonious and mutually beneficial interplay of all three areas. Beyond his studies in the SSE postgraduate programme at the Hellenic Open University, his interest in SSE specialises in the financing of SSE ventures and the emerging concept of Platform Cooperativism.

In reviewing the assessment process for applications received under our second funding call, we identified the need to revisit the evaluation criteria we apply when screening and prioritising funding applications.

After considerable reflection and discussion, we are announcing the completion of the revision of the relevant sections (2.3 and 2.4) of Co-Fund’s Internal Regulations for the forthcoming funding call, with the aim of establishing a more comprehensive and equitable process for assessing future funding applications.

The key features of the revision are:

• a greater emphasis on assessing the risk of a funding proposal
• more favourable treatment of ventures that have not previously received funding
• the addition of criteria relating to the duration and size of a venture’s contribution to our funding community

To view the new funding application assessment criteria in detail, please refer to Co-Fund’s Internal Regulations.