hiVC, which came to life 9 months ago with the gathering of experienced names of the business and entrepreneurship world and provides support to startups from the idea stage to exit, aims to find the Unicorns of the future at an early stage.
In Turkey, billion-dollar startups such as Peak, Trendyol, Hepsiburada and Dream Games pleased their investors who discovered them at an early stage. However, these initiatives are not easy to find. More investors are needed to invest in these startups at an early stage. Emphasizing that they have added 9 startups to their portfolio so far, Onur Topac, Chairman of hiVC, stated that they discovered the unicorns of the future at an early stage and said that they focused on growing their partner startups and gathered all the support they needed throughout their journey. Early-stage startups also receive support from institutions. Turk Telekom supports early-stage startups through its acceleration program Pilot. It also invests in venture capital funds.
₺25 MILLION STARTING CAPITAL
Founded on December 22, 2020 with a starting capital of ₺25 million to explore high-impact startups with rapid growth potential and focusing on early-stage startups, hiVC made a quick entry into the entrepreneurship ecosystem. hiVC, backed by the power of Inveo and Gedik Investment, which has 30 years of capital markets experience, With its management team consisting of influential names of the entrepreneurship world, which has made direct investments in nearly 70 startups in Turkey and abroad, and indirectly invested in more than 200 startups, as well as 3 exits, allows early stage startups to access the support mechanisms they need in all their processes, from the idea to the exit stage.
EXPERIENCED PARTNERS
Among his partners is the angel investor Ersin Pamuksuzer, one of the leaders of the technology world, hiVC is comprised of veteran names of the ecosystem, such as serial entrepreneur and angel investor Koray Bahar, who became the General Manager of Figopara, of which Foriba was a founding partner after exiting Sovos, and Onur Topac, who simultaneously led two publicly traded companies. Emphasizing that they have added 9 startups to their portfolio so far and that they have taken an active role in the entire growth process of the startups, hiVC Chairman of the Board Onur Topac said, “Our goal is to discover the unicorns of the future at an early stage.”
NEW STARTSUPS WERE ANNOUNCED
Investing in technology-focused teams with fast growth potential, hiVC has invested in VR Lab Academy, Git Cargo, HOP!, Aposto, helo!, Robomotion, Houston Bionics, hiBoost and Insumo among companies it has invested in so far. Among the ventures invested in, VR Lab Academy is positioned as a virtual training laboratory that enables experiments with real formulas in a virtual environment according to secondary school, high school, university curricula, while Git Cargo offers a new generation cargo transportation service. In addition to Robomotion, which develops RPA solutions for companies to automate repetitive and error-prone jobs among hiVC’s invested companies. There is also HOP!, a technology startup focused on shared mobility, posto! offers unbiased content to its users through mobile applications, podcasts and newsletters by combining original news content with technology, there is helo!, a collaboration platform designed to empower entrepreneurs, spread the culture of entrepreneurship, and create tools that touch the lives of investors and entrepreneurs. Complementing its investment in hiBoost, hiVC’s most recent investment is Insumo, which works with data to create personalized habit journeys and helps you create habits.
WE WILL EXPAND THE ECOSYSTEM
hiVC Chairman of the Board Onur Topac emphasized that hiVC, which closely follows the initiatives that create value in Turkey and globally, and has created a large pool of initiatives to date, aims to increase the number of exits in Turkey by supporting the startups according to their needs with a holistic perspective and said: “We are discovering the unicorns of the future. While creating business models that win hand in hand with entrepreneurs, we prepare the startups for the investment process and continue to actively support them in post-investment development processes. In addition to bringing startups together with national and international investment partners in the next investment rounds, we share the same table with people who have supported the ecosystem for many years, and we carry out transparent and reliable processes under the leadership of ecosystem leaders. We will continue to support initiatives and further expand our ecosystem with our new “world” that we will launch in the coming months.”
OBILET PURCHASED BILETALL FROM KAYSERI
Biletall.com, one of the Erciyes Teknopark companies, which is among the leading technology development bases of Turkey, was acquired by Obilet and became the first technology venture to emerge from Anatolia. Kayseri-based Biletall.com, which established the most widespread ticket sales and distribution system in Turkey’s intercity travel industry, became the first technology startup that succeeded in exiting after its establishment and operations in Anatolia. The online ticket sales platform Biletall.com, which has pioneered activities in shaping Turkey’s online travel understanding and improving travel standards, was acquired by obilet.com and successfully completed its exit agreement.
STARTED IN KAYSERI
Speaking about the success of Biletall, which started to work in Erciyes Technopark for the first time in 2007, Erciyes Teknopark Chairman of the Board Prof. Dr. Recai Kilic said, “Biletall has been operating under the umbrella of Erciyes Teknopark for many years. They both created employment and attracted foreign direct investment to our country with the venture capital investment they received in the past. Finally, they joined Obilet, one of the leading companies in the sector, and realized the first technology exit of Anatolia. We are very pleased to host it.”
COLLABORATION TO SUPPORT WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS
70 women entrepreneurs accepted to the first phase of the iyzico Women Entrepreneur Support Program are offered many advantages from finance to education, from marketing and promotion to special discounts.
The number of women entrepreneurs in Turkey is insufficient. Institutions that felt this deficiency started to cooperate more. The application process for the “iyzico Women Entrepreneur Support Program” implemented by iyzico with its business partners Google, Good4Trust, IdeaSoft, Parasut, Mukellef and Webtures has been completed. Many advantages from finance to education, from marketing and promotion to special discounts will be offered to 70 women entrepreneurs accepted to the first phase of the program.
COMPREHENSIVE SUPPORT
The application process for the “iyzico Women Entrepreneur Support Program” implemented by iyzico, the leader of finance technologies in Turkey, together with its business partners Google, Good4Trust, IdeaSoft, Parasut, Mukellef and Webtures, has been completed. Many advantages from finance to education, from marketing and promotion to special discounts will be offered to 70 women entrepreneurs accepted to the first phase of the program. With the aim of “democratizing payment and making it accessible to everyone”, iyzico aims to support women entrepreneurs by making their lives easier this time. For this purpose, the company, which has implemented the “iyzico Women Entrepreneur Support Program” together with its business partners Google, Good4Trust, IdeaSoft, Parasut, Mukellef and Webtures, will offer 70 women entrepreneurs many advantages from finance to education, from marketing and promotion to special discounts after the application process. iyzico, which will include new women entrepreneurs in the program in 6-month periods throughout the year, will continue its comprehensive support to women entrepreneurs. Stating that they attach great importance to the entrepreneurship ecosystem, especially to women entrepreneurs, iyzico CEO Barbaros Ozbugutu said, “As iyzico, we think that projects that will benefit the society, environment and culture should increase even more. At this point, supporting women entrepreneurs is of great importance for us. In this context, we implemented the “iyzico Women Entrepreneur Support Program” with our partners in order to provide new resources to women entrepreneurs and to support the growth of the benefits they create. We will always continue to be there to support women who are struggling to produce and to increase the power of women entrepreneurs.”
ALOTECH RECEIVES ANOTHER $3 MILLION INVESTMENT
Turkey’s largest cloud-based call center platform, AloTech, received an investment of $3 million in a new investment round led by Collective Spark.
AloTech, Turkey’s largest cloud-based call center platform, received an investment of $3 million in a new investment round led by Collective Spark. With this investment, AloTech aims to strengthen its global operations, which have already reached 27 countries, and strengthen especially in the North American market. AloTech, which started its activities in 2012 with a team of five people founded by Cenk Soyak and Idris Avci, joined by Korhan Ercin in 2019, now serves more than 600 customers with 102 employees from different countries of the world. The leading names of the industry such as Nevzat Aydin, Ata Uzunhasan and one of the Mediterra Capital partners Cenk Coskunturk have invested in AloTech so far. TechOne Ventures and Angel investors Nevzat Aydin (for the second time), Alp Saul, Galip Selcuk and Kerim Kotan participated in this new round in which Collective Spark is the biggest investor. Closing 2020 with 100% growth compared to the previous year, AloTech plans to increase its effectiveness in global markets with the Call Center Studio brand, together with the investment it has received.
CLOUD BASED CALL CENTER
Providing information about the new investment, AloTech Co-Founder Cenk Soyak said, “As Turkey’s largest cloud-based call center platform, we have aimed to be a company that exports technology abroad and develops new generation solutions from the day we were founded. With this approach, we increased our strength in the global arena every year and started to serve in 27 countries. Now, with the $3 million investment we have received in our new investment round, we aim to increase our effectiveness and reach new geographies in the global markets where we currently operate, especially in North America. This investment is also a part of our vision to become a technology unicorn opening up to the world from Turkey. We would like to thank our customers, business partners and all our teammates behind our success, who have enabled us to come to these days as we move towards this goal.”
Source: Sabah / Translated by Irem Yildiz