Cyprus entrepreneur proposes muflon as better startup symbol

The term unicorn entered business terminology in 2013, when venture capitalist Aileen Lee coined it to describe privately held companies valued at over $1 billion. Since then, the label has spread worldwide, appearing in pitches, policy debates, and political discussions—including in Cyprus. Yet one entrepreneur there argues the metric fails to capture the reality of an island economy. Instead, he advocates for a new symbol: the agrino, or Cyprus muflon.

Andreas Lambrou, founder of the nonprofit TechIsland, dismissed the $1 billion valuation as irrelevant to Cyprus’s economic context in a LinkedIn post. A company valued at €100 million, he argues, already delivers transformative effects by generating jobs, developing local talent, and attracting investment. “For a country of our size, a company reaching a valuation of 100 million euros (not even a billion) can have a massive impact,” he writes. His focus shifts from valuation to measurable impact.

Lambrou’s position does not diminish the ambition of reaching €1 billion. “We must recognize this achievement and at the same time aim higher,” he notes. The journey matters just as much as the destination, particularly in small markets where successful businesses leave behind skilled workers, capital, and confidence—key ingredients for future startups.

Why the agrino symbolizes Cyprus’s business resilience

The agrino serves as a more fitting metaphor. As Cyprus’s largest native land animal, it thrives only on the island, with populations recovering from fewer than 50 in the 1930s to over 3,000 today after conservation efforts began in 1939. The parallels to business success are intentional: survival depends on the right conditions, growth requires persistence, and the most influential companies, like the agrino, often operate with quiet resilience. “The right ecosystem raises them,” writes Lambrou: support them early and they multiply.

The uphill climb. It lives on steep slopes and in summer climbs up to 1,300 meters. Every company, he notes, is a steep uphill climb. Discretion. It is hard to spot, just like a good company. The best ones don’t make noise.

Cyprus’s cultural ties to the agrino extend beyond biology. The animal appears on the island’s 1-, 2-, and 5-cent coins and has been part of the Cyprus Airways logo for decades. Lambrou’s proposal goes beyond rebranding; it seeks to reclaim a symbol already deeply embedded in Cypriot identity. “No Cypriot needs an explanation of what an agrino is,” he writes, contrasting it with the Silicon Valley-centric unicorn term.

Rebranding success: Local roots over Silicon Valley buzzwords

This is not the first time Lambrou has challenged perceptions of Cyprus’s economic potential. In 2021, he launched TechIsland as a branding initiative to position the country as a hub where entrepreneurs could scale globally while remaining rooted locally. The agrino concept builds on this vision, redefining how the island evaluates its own companies. The analogy resonates because it is grounded in local reality, not imported concepts.

The idea has already gained visual traction. Reflect, Cyprus’s largest tech conference, updated its logo to feature an agrino in motion, its horns curved backward. The symbol now anchors the event’s branding, signaling a deliberate shift in how the sector identifies itself. A closing slide in Lambrou’s post depicts a white flag with an orange agrino and the challenge: “Cyprus’s next symbol could be an agrino company, built by a founder from here.”