# Marco Veremis

> Athens-based entrepreneur and investor Marco Veremis co-founded Upstream with Alex Vratskides, served as its CEO until June 2017 and later as chairman, and is a founding partner at Big Pi Ventures. His work connects mobile marketing, international expansion, early investment in technology companies, and support for Greek founders.

- **Role:** Founding Partner at Big Pi Ventures
- **Organizations:** Big Pi Ventures, Upstream, Persado, Endeavor Greece, Hellenic Federation of Enterprises (SEV), Junior Achievement Greece, Foundation for Economic and Industrial Research (IOBE), diaNEOsis
- **From:** Athens, Greece
- **Nationality:** Greek
- **Education:** BA in Politics and International Studies, University of Warwick, MPhil in European Studies, University of Oxford
- **Known for:** Co-founded Upstream and led it as CEO until June 2017., Co-founded Persado, which originated in Upstream research., EY Greek Entrepreneur of the Year, 2013.

## Career timeline

- **1996** — Began a marketing-strategy career with Omnicom, WPP and IPG.
- **Early 2000s** — Co-founded Upstream with Alex Vratskides in Athens; company and personal biographies differ between 2001 and 2002.
- **2008** — Upstream opened its Rio office and began African operations.
- **2012** — Persado was spun out of Upstream as a separate company.
- **2013** — Named EY Greek Entrepreneur of the Year.
- **2014** — Actis invested in Upstream; Veremis continued as CEO.
- **2017** — Served as CEO until June; later served as chairman.
- **2018** — Became a founding partner at Big Pi Ventures.
- **2024** — Credited as an executive producer of the documentary Unclickable.
- **2025** — Big Pi announced a growth fund with a €130 million first close and €200 million final-close target.

## Achievements

- Co-founded Upstream and led it as CEO until June 2017.
- Co-founded Persado, which originated in Upstream research.
- EY Greek Entrepreneur of the Year, 2013.
- Early investor in Workable, Hellas Direct, SoftOne, Softomotive and Accusonus.
- Founding partner at Big Pi Ventures, established in 2018.
- Executive producer of Unclickable (2024).

## Latest updates

- **2026-06** — Listed as a Big Pi Ventures partner and speaker for the Growthfund Investor Summit panel on AI, deep tech, digital infrastructure and innovation capital; the listing establishes the scheduled role.
- **2025-12** — Hosted an Innovative Greeks conversation with Mistral AI CEO Arthur Mensch.
- **2025-09** — Big Pi announced Growth I, reporting a €130 million first close in June and a €200 million target.
- **2025-03** — Interviewed Dialectica co-founder George Tsarouchas for Innovative Greeks.

## Links

- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marco-veremis-03356/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/marco-veremis
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-21