Newsletter : Sep’18
Newsletter : Sep’18 Turkey’s economy dominated global headlines for much of August. The country’s currency, the Turkish Lira, lost value, a lot of value, in the course of two weeks. It, along with Turkey’s economy, had been struggling all year. Inflation has become a beast in Turkey. Trump’s comments about raising steel and aluminum tariffs on Turkey […]
givin // Social Impact Startup
Social enterprises (SE) are spreading around the globe rapidly. A remarkable example for them in Turkey is a beautiful new-born ‘givin’ which combines growing online shopping with social impact trends. Through givin mobile app, users can sell any unused items and donate the proceedings to NGO projects that they choose, very easily. givin, a for-profit SE, […]
Tahterevalli bize ortaklık hakkında ne öğretebilir
Efendim, ben küçükken oldukça ‘gürbüz’ bir çocuktum. Hatta annemler övünerek (…) anlatır; çarşı pazarda benimle gezerken, insanlar durdurup hangi pehlivanın oğlu olduğumu sorarlarmış. O derece bir irilik. Çocukluğumdan hatırladığım tahterevalli sahneleri var. Hepiniz binmişsinizdir; iki çocuk karşı karşıya geçer, yukarı aşağı iner çıkarlar. Benim bindiğim durumlarda bu olmazdı; zira ben ağır olduğum için bir süre sonra […]
Warning To Digital Entrepreneurs: Regulated Industries Can Bite…
by Fevzi M. TOKSOY, PhD EU Law, Partner at ACTECON The suspension of Booking.com’s services in Turkey has been seen as an attack on individuals’ online freedom and digital entrepreneurship as a whole. Such claims seem to be inaccurate because undertakings, irrespective of their legal form, location and mode of operation (digital/ ‘traditional’), are equally subject […]
Looking Back — Part II : Resilience & Culture
Looking Back — Part II : Resilience & Culture Reflections of a Turkish VC, seven years on In my last post, I reflected on trust and the pioneers of the Turkish startup ecosystem. Here are a few more “lessons” I’ve taken away in my seven years as a Turkish VC. Resilience. When the unexpected is the norm, resilience becomes second nature. […]
Looking back — Part I: Trust & Pioneering
Looking back — Part I: Trust & Pioneering “Statue of Liberty, New York” by tom coe on Unsplash Seven years ago, I boarded a plane at JFK bound for Istanbul. In 2010, in the wake of the global financial crisis, moving to Turkey didn’t seem like the wisest decision. Emerging markets, most pundits predicted, would shrink. Imagine, then, trying […]
Egypt at an Inflection Point
The pounding heart of tech in the regionby Karim Hussein Egypt has been buzzing with entrepreneurial activity in recent years with ever expanding new businesses and a rich set of supporting institutions and communities. Egypt offers some unique opportunities within the region driven by a large online consumer population, a highly competitive core technology talent pool, […]
500 Startups invests in Insider
Insider, a digital experience delivery platform for marketers, secured investment from 500 Startups to fuel its global expansion. 500 Startups is a leading global Venture Capital and Start-up Accelerator with investments in more than 1,600 start-ups in more than 60 countries. As an innovative marketing platform at the junction of ad-tech and mar-tech, Insider provides […]
Beyond Payment
Innovation has been, without question, one factor behind the excitement about entrepreneurship worldwide. From the microchip to the iPhone, the personal computer to virtual reality, new technologies have pushed progressed forward — and transformed our lives. Among the biggest transformation: social mobility. Millions across the globe have moved out of poverty into the middle class. That is certainly […]
Fund II — First Closing
Fund II — First Closing Photo by Braden Collum on Unsplash The first rule of VC club is don’t believe all the negative press. Yes, economically Turkey and the wider MENA region haven’ been doing as well as they had been. But the sky is not falling. In fact, the sky’s the limit. We’re thrilled to announce the first […]