Buh-bye 2020

Picture of Numan Numan

Numan Numan

To say you were a challenge is an understatement. And did we show you. Even amid lockdowns and social distancing, the entrepreneurship ecosystem kept going — working harder, exploring solutions, engaging with different stakeholders, and thinking bigger. It motivated us to all those things to — and to keep focused on the big hairy audacious goal of always doing better. Thank you for that. We are incredibly grateful.

Here is a summary of 2020 in numbers (you can download from here)

Our portfolio companies clicked into high gear as well. On all fronts, each stepped it up.

123 Form Builder

We ended 2020 with a new addition to the 212 portfolio family: 123 Form Builder. Data has been the new oil for a while. 123’s focus on helping businesses and individuals create forms and aggregate data is promising. How do we know? Even in 2020, revenues rose. 123’s online form-builder has allowed companies to create secure GDPR and HIPAA compliant forms in minutes. Wait, there’s more. 123’s forms integrate with more than 80 of the internet’s most popular tools, including WiX, Salesforce, Square, and Zendesk. What’s in store for 2021? Expansion into the U.S.

App Samurai

2020 tested App Samurai’s adaptability and resilience — not to survive but grapple with exponential growth. With all of us working from home and meeting over Zoom, mobile advertising has become even more vital — and valuable. How did the App Samurai team handle it? By focusing on culture, team structure, and strategy. Rather than chasing the bottom line, it focused on strengthening its core. App Samurai is poised for great things in 2021.

Chooch AI

$20M isn’t too shabby, right? That’s how much Chooch AI raised in an investment round in November. Hey, after a year of innovation with a powerful new AI models to fast edge AI deployment, that’s not a surprise. And there’s more! Chooch AI will work with the US government. What does 2021 hold for Chooch AI? Scaling up its team, focusing on customer growth, and making the business case for adopting its enterprise AI platform.

HotelRunner

2020 wasn’t kind to the travel industry. With flights grounded and borders closed, airlines and hotels suffered. HotelRunner thrived. Even as the company went remote, it continued to respond to the client’s needs. In fact, it expanded into new markets. One of the biggest developments for HotelRunner this year was the acquisition of RateFor, the hotel rate comparison platform. With the addition of RateFor founding partners and many other new members to the team, HotelRunner went to the next level. With the news of the vaccine, HotelRunner is poised to jump back into the travel economy — and looking forward to seeing everyone and the world again.

Insider

2020 was a year that Insider continued its non-stop growth journey. To start, the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Multichannel Marketing Hubs 2020 identified Insider as a category leader and the #1 leader on G2’s Mobile Marketing and Personalization Grids, 16 quarters in a row. Then there was the $32M Series C round the company raised, led by Riverwood Capital and joined by Sequoia Capital, Wamda Capital, Endeavor Catalyst, and 212. Operating in five continents, Insider’s accolades don’t end there. Endeavor chose Insider’s CEO as one of the top CEOs in the world. The SaaS Report also announced her to be #1 of the top 25 CEOs in Europe and Top 50 Female SaaS CEOs. What’s in store for 2021? Insider is looking to become the number #1 platform for marketers by bridging data through personalization and unique delivery over the messaging suite.

Mall IQ

Mall IQ is another 212 portfolio company that has accomplished a lot in 2020. It completed the Alchemist Accelerator of San Francisco as well as StartX of Stanford. FIS selected Mall IQ as the leading global provider for financial institutions and will extend investment and form a partnership with the company. For 2021, Mall IQ is set to expand geographically, delivering more value to customers, partners, and investors.

Martı

2020 was an eventful year for Marti, the number one transport app across iOS and Android in Turkey. The year began with Marti operating during the COVID lockdowns to serve healthcare, logistics, and government workers. As the lockdowns were lifted, Marti experienced an increase in demand. Makes sense since a lot of people shifted away from public transport. Marti finished the year as the dominant leader of micro-mobility in Turkey in terms of customer demand, service quality, and regulatory engagement. For 2021, Marti plans to forge ahead and build on its success.

Meddy

2020 was a fruitful year for Meddy as they scaled up their operations in UAE and launched a HIPPA client telemedicine solution for healthcare providers to provide remote care to the patients at the comfort of their homes. Meddy also launched Medical Records to allow patients to store all their medical records, prescriptions, tests, etc. in one place for free. In 2021 Meddy plans to improve its technology infrastructure to provide patients a more enhanced experience to help them make informed health decisions.

OMMA

2020 started with great news. Both Philips and LG invited OMMA to take part in the world’s largest audiovisual systems show, ISE ’20. In the spring, OMMA finalized and launched OMMA VQ. When the lockdown hit, OMMA focused on the Asia Pacific market. That led to a deal signing with A/V distributors Midwich & Video Factory. The summer brought rejuvenation as OMMA re-structured its IT team, developed a brand-new add-on infrastructure with eight ready-to-use add-ons, added two new platforms to its official support, and covered 70% of the digital signage market in terms of OS penetration. In the fall, OMMA participated in a virtual trade delegation between Turkey And the UK, along with doing numerous interviews. As the end of the year approached, OMMA focused on the post-Covid world and developing products with non-touch solutions — and to be among the top 10 in Eastern Europe that does so. It ended 2020 with a presence in Germany, Jordan, New Zealand, Ireland, Kenya, Lithuania, Bahrain, and the UK. For 2021, OMMA will keep on track to expand further and up.

SmartMessage

In 2020, SmartMessage continued showcasing and selling its solutions globally, presenting insightful content, and expanding to new geographies. SmartMessage delivered its solutions to Mongolia’s leading bank Khan Bank. The company sponsored a number of virtual events covering the Middle Eastern, African, and Southeast Asian markets. Visibility! In Turkey, SmartMessage held a very successful webinar with mega-retailer Migros focused on the retail space. Turkey’s leading research house, Bilisim 500, awarded SmartMesage “The Most Successful Business Solution Provider” for its excellence in servicing enterprises. In 2021, SmartMessage will take what it learned amid Covid and map out how to navigate the digital communications world.

Solvoyo

2020 was for sure a challenging year — but this did not stop Solvoyo and its customers from forging ahead. The pandemic made it more than clear that digital transformation could not be optional anymore. Solvoyo provided COVID-19 best practices to their customers to increase their supply chain agility and resilience in such a challenging time. Thanks to its input, Solvoyo achieved bilateral growth with its customers throughout 2020. In 2021, Solvoyo aims to not only bolster the power of automation and analytics but also help more organizations in their digital transformation journey.

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