European Venture Studio - The Flywheel to Kick Off its First Cohort in Q1 2026

The Flywheel, the Thessaloniki(Greece)-based Venture Studio, led by Kostas Fetfatsidis and Dimitrios Kourtesis, will start its first cohort in Q1 2026 with five paid Founder-in-Residence placements and up to €300k in funding, to build Europe’s next industrial AI champions.

A new venture studio, The Flywheel, offers professionals with deep industry or technical expertise a structured path to creating industrial AI companies in Europe. Based in Thessaloniki, the studio co-founds ventures from scratch in manufacturing, defense, and energy, providing co-founding support, operational resources, and up to €300,000 in initial investment per company. Five paid Founder-in-Residence positions are available for Q1 2026.

Unlike traditional early-stage venture capital funds, which invest after startups are founded and have initial customers, The Flywheel operates as a venture studio, co-creating companies around the technical or business expertise of selected founders. While dozens of venture studios exist in Europe, most are generalists; The Flywheel focuses specifically on industrial AI and sectors vital to Europe’s strategic autonomy.

In partnership with market stakeholders, the studio identifies pressing needs and validates product viability through primary data collection from customers, users, and strategic partners. Once the criteria are met, the company is co-founded and staffed, with core founders retaining up to 80% of equity.

The Flywheel will launch its first five Founder-in-Residence positions in Q1 2026. The six-month, full-time program in Thessaloniki (on-site or hybrid) offers competitive compensation and supports participants in researching and validating industrial AI venture concepts. Upon successful validation, the studio co-founds the company with up to €300,000 in investment, targeting first revenues within 12 months. The Flywheel plans to create two to three companies annually, building a five-year portfolio of 15 ventures generating substantial customer value.

The Flywheel is led by Kostas Fetfatsidis and Dimitrios Kourtesis, combining deep technical expertise and venture creation experience across Europe and the U.S. Fetfatsidis, with a PhD in mechanical engineering and an MBA from MIT, has led teams in aerospace, defense, and manufacturing, contributing to exits including Aurora Flight Sciences, Make Composites, and Desktop Metal’s $2.5B IPO. Kourtesis, a computer scientist and serial founder, co-founded Ideas Forward and multiple startups, invests as an angel, and has supported over 400 early-stage ventures. The studio is backed by a diverse group of tech founders, business angels, and European industrial enterprises.

The studio is named after the flywheel, a mechanical device that stores kinetic energy and builds momentum. In parallel, The Flywheel seeks to accelerate industrial AI in Europe, simplifying the creation of new companies in sectors critical to the continent’s strategic future.