Vespucci Partners succeeded in transforming Hungarian startups into world leaders

The two companies are Poliloop with a revolutionary method of biologically degrading petroleum products and Haris Digital with an affordable machine digitalization system. the former taking second place and the latter taking third at the SelectUSA Investment Summit. 

This is one of the most prestigious startup events in America where companies that set their sights on the world’s most important market are invited. Following this, the decision-makers rate the preparedness of startups in entering the U.S. market.

“We are especially happy with the exceptional results of Poliloop and Haris Digital as this validates the effectiveness of our hybrid model," said Júlia Sohajda, the co-founder of the Budapest based venture capital fund.

At the 2021 SelectUSA Summit over one hundred virtual companies were founded, through which over 3,000 startuppers from all around the globe were able to meet their future investors and partners. Some two thousand investors from 80 countries represented themselves at the event and were joined by leading economic experts from the United States.

Distinguished awards for the teams of Hungarian startups Poliloop and Haris Digital

The greatest appeal of SelectUSA lies in the fact that they supply up-to-date information and strategic advice to companies that are worth investment, while also providing a suitable platform for increasing their attractiveness for investment.

This is confirmed by Liz Madaras, one of the founders of Poliloop, the company which came in second place this year in the Cleantech category: “We gained several new experiences at the event where there were representatives from all around the world. We are especially delighted to have achieved an outstanding result in a sector where every participant had a very good project. We will try to implement the judges’ observations into our future plans.”

Both startups supported by Vespucci Partners deal in plastics

Poliloop’s innovation is a biotechnological procedure that breaks down lightweight, single-use plastics into organic sludge and compost in 6-8 weeks. In addition, no harmful substances are released during the procedure.

Interestingly there is another link between Poliloop and the other award-winning startup Haris Digital aside from them both belonging to the portfolio of The Vespucci Partners, as stated by Péter Perecz: “Our company employs digitalization of production. We focus primarily on the plastics injection molding industry and help companies operating in this segment to become more effective which not only results in economic benefits but also environmental benefits as well, as our partners operate more effectively and thus use fewer resources. It is possible however that a surplus may be accumulated during production. If this happens, Poliloop can help get rid of the excess.”

There was a great deal of oversubscription in Haris Digital’s category

The oversubscription rate was sixfold in the Software category where Haris Digital came in third place. They stated that it is important to note that Hungary is a smaller country based on the population ratio and two local teams still placed high.

"Our primary goal is to enter the American market. Our placement in this competition is an excellent driving force. Even the act of being able to participate brought us great joy as there were several EDO-s (Economic Development Organization) present. We had discussions with several such organizations so hopefully, we were able to establish an indirect or even direct channel to our target market," said Perecz.

Vespucci Partner’s two startups achieved outstanding success at one of America’s greatest investment events

SelectUSA offers different sized companies help in acquiring the necessary information for decision-making so that they may contact the appropriate individuals on a local level. They also offer guidance for participants on the federal regulatory system. A major goal of the event is to help the economic development organizations of the United States to compete globally for investments, therefore alongside useful information they also provide an international marketing platform and a high level of advocacy.

The Vespucci Partners venture capital fund that was founded during the fall of 2019 made it its mission to build a bridge between the Central-Eastern European region and the United States. Therefore they decided to enter two startups from their portfolio into the competition.

Júlia Sohajda, the co-founder of the capital fund mentoring Hungarian-American hybrid startups highlights: “Startups were evaluated in nine categories. All in all, several hundred successful businesses were represented from all over the world and we at Vespucci Partners had two companies from our portfolio on the podium. I believe it is not a stretch to state that this result validates the success of our hybrid model on an international level. Nowadays Hungarian startups are capable of competing with the global startup market in every practical way."

(Author: Júlia Sohajda co-founder, Vespucci Partners)