StartersHub announces CEE startup investment program

Incubators

StartersHub, an early-stage tech investment fund, headquartered in Istanbul and San Francisco, has announced plans to back 60 promising Eastern European startups for the upcoming four years by offering an investment model that will allow to close the existing gap between pre-seed and seed funding, the fund tells the Budapest Business Journal.

StartersHub will also provide startups with a mentoring process that includes business optimization and vital managerial guidance.

According to the press release, the geography of future investments includes all countries in CEE, with the most focus on Baltic area, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Ukraine, Russia, and Greece.

"Despite the fact that a record EUR 0.7 billion was invested in CEE startups in 2018, there is still a predetermined gap between pre-seed and seed funding that yet detain a potential the market has," Arda Aşkin, managing director at StartersHub, explains.

"We address this issue by offering a beneficial investment model - it implies quick tranche investment along with the mentoring. It lasts for two-three months and includes business optimization, legal & financial assistance and networking support. This kind of full and consistent mentoring is highly needed and is really missing now in the whole CEE startup ecosystem."

StartersHub was founded in 2015 and for the first four years it has partnered with Startupbootcamp in Istanbul and San Francisco - one of the leading accelerators in the world.

Today StartersHubʼs portfolio counts more than 60 startups from all over the world with a total value of more than USD 250 million.

Among the startups that have worked with StartersHub are Turkish collaboration app for designers and developers Zeplin, mindfulness app Meditopia from Berlin, and cloud-computing startup Sixa. Zeplin and Sixa are both graduates from American seed accelerator Y Combinator.

Emphasis on mentoring

StartersHub puts a special focus on the mentoring phase of its investment model. It includes an investment ranging from USD 25,000 to USD 50,000 and allows startups to optimize business processes, polish their product. StartersHub says that it helps startups spot the gaps to clear the path for future growth during this phase.

After successfully completing the stage, startups might receive further investment in the amount of up to USD 250,000. StartersHub is also an Amazon Credit partner, meaning that every company the fund invests in can receive USD 100,000 AWS services credit.

Aşkin says, "CEE region is booming with over one million developers. The market proliferates with tech solutions where fintech enterprise software and SaaS are the leading categories. In this era of expansion opportunities, we are planning to increase our scope around CEE to promote business growth for uprising innovative startups of the region.

"Globally engaged mentor network together with StartersHub team in San Francisco allows to boost financial growth and promotes global expansion for CEE startups," he adds.

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