Expert Investment Tips from 500 Startups’ Enis Hulli on Scaling in Emerging Europe

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In this interview, we speak with Enis Hulli, General Partner at 500 Emerging Europe, to gain insights into managing a fund, what he looks for in a startup, how to source deals, and more.

Enis Hulli – General Partner at 500 Emerging Europe
Enis Hulli – General Partner at 500 Emerging Europe

Enis shared his insights about navigating the startup landscape, from sourcing top talent to scaling globally. He highlighted the unique opportunities in Emerging Europe and the importance of a founder-first approach. His strategies provide a roadmap for turning early-stage startups into successful, globally competitive companies.

1. Investment Strategy

Our strategy is to source top founders from Emerging Europe at the inception stage, backing them with a significant lead investment. From day one, we connect them to the San Francisco ecosystem to accelerate their global growth.

2. Market Drivers and Opportunity

Emerging Europe has historically produced global unicorns due to limited local market potential. In 2022, the region produced eight unicorns, all global players. Founders from this region adopt a global-first mindset, often drawing on the region’s history as a top outsourcing destination for U.S. tech companies.

3. Sector Specialisation

Although we are a generalist fund, we prefer B2B startups, focusing on dev tools, AI, and infrastructure software targeting the U.S. market. Our unique advantage is our triple presence in Emerging Europe, Western Europe, and San Francisco, offering a truly global footprint for our portfolio companies.

4. Deal Sourcing

We excel at building deep connections in emerging ecosystems by hosting private events with key industry figures and using data-driven sourcing platforms like LinkedIn and GitHub. This approach allows us to identify under-the-radar talent and support potential founders as they prepare to launch.

5. Hands-On Expertise

We’ve supported early investments in unicorns like Carbon Health, BillionToOne, and Insider. Our team assists with later-stage funding and market expansion, providing strategic advice and introductions that have led to successful exits and global growth.

6. Team Culture

Our team operates with a “no rules” culture driven by ownership, inspired by Netflix. Team members are encouraged to take on responsibilities that add value to our portfolio, allowing us to scale dynamically.

7. Scaling the Business

Our goal is to expand our geographical reach, beginning with a focus on Southern Europe. We are also exploring venture debt options and considering the establishment of an evergreen fund in the future.

8. Key to Success

500 Emerging Europe is the region’s only global institutional pre-seed investor, adopting a founder-first approach and a global-first mindset. Our 2,600 global investments provide unique insights and access to downstream U.S. funding.

9. Biggest Challenge

Post-seed capital access is the biggest challenge for startups in Turkey and Eastern Europe. To address this, we’ve built a highly integrated fund, supporting our portfolio companies in raising $2B in additional capital, primarily from global investors.

10. Key Lessons

Facilitating value-chain arbitrage by introducing our founders to key figures in the U.S. market has been crucial to our success. Building and maintaining these connections is essential for scaling.

11. Advice for Readers

Your first customers will shape your business—they influence your vision, team, and product.

12. Notable Exit

Insider, a unicorn we invested in early, transitioned from generating minority revenue outside Turkey to becoming a top player in 25 countries, paving the way for other B2B SaaS companies from the region.

If you liked this article, you can read another interview with Enis here, his insights into the challenges of breaking into venture capital at a young age.