B4mar, the e-commerce marketplace implemented within in4startup, received an investment of ₺1.8 million over a ₺15 million valuation from businessperson Melih Borderci, just at the idea stage.
Founded by Ahmet Sefa Bir and Serafettin Ozsoy, in4startups, the platform that digitizes the commercialization and investment processes of startups, started its transformation into a venture studio after its second round of investment.
With the transformation of the venture studio, work began with the aim of creating new ventures from within itself. The first of these studies was the e-commerce marketplace project B4mar. This project received investment at the idea stage.
According to the figures announced, while b4mar was at the idea level, it received an investment of ₺1.8 million in return for a 12% share over a ₺15 million valuation. The investment was made by industrialist businessman Melih Limiti, who is in the investor pool of in4startups.
What is B4mar?
As it is known, the e-marketplace market is a market with giant “decacorn” players and fierce competition. That’s why b4mar has a more niche and clear game strategy.
In the statement given by the founders the following was stated;
“The most important advantage that the platform will provide to consumers is the affordable price. B4mar does not promise to deliver products to consumers within minutes. Because the high cost of such a promise is somehow reflected in prices and consumers in other market places. Reference sales will also be implemented in B4mar over time. In this way, you will have the chance to win special discounts and free products from the sales of the people you refer to as customers.
For the store owners and suppliers, there will be advantages to offer the products at a more affordable price. While hundreds of sellers of the same brand are trying to sell the same product in existing marketplaces, they have to pay serious advertising fees in addition to the high marketplace commissions they pay to stand out. As a natural consequence of this, they have to offer more expensive products to the consumer by reflecting these extra costs on their product prices. In b4mar, where there can be only one seller from each brand, the sellers are asked to be manufacturers whenever possible or to be able to supply products with “exclusive” rights from the manufacturer. Thus, it is aimed to reach producer prices without intermediaries. Thus, the store owner is able to offer more attractive prices to consumers, while paying lower marketplace commissions, as well as eliminating the profitability problem due to the economy of scale caused by being a sole seller in their own brands. For this reason, the supply selection to open a store is made with great care. And to reach better suppliers, it was initially negotiated with far fewer but nationwide reputable giant manufacturers.”
Big Goal: Opening the Doors of Anatolia to E-commerce
“Many manufacturers in Anatolia want to either supply products to national market chains or become a seller in existing known e-commerce marketplaces in order to increase their sales. However, since the number of brands that can sell in national market chains is very few, many manufacturers see the solution as selling in e-commerce marketplaces. But it is quite costly to sell in the well-known market places in the market. The first cost reason is that commission rates reach up to 30%. There is also a big race because of the competition between each other as there are thousands of sellers selling the same product. Moreover, it is not enough to just give a low price, you have to buy from the highlight ads they apply inside the marketplaces to stand out. For this reason, many manufacturers who want to enter e-commerce in Anatolia face a serious cost problem.”
B4mar’s Global Goals and 2nd Investment Round
Planning and preliminary contacts have started for many countries in B4mar’s globalization goal.
The first of these is Saudi Arabia. It is desired to develop special collaborations with the support of both Turkish and Saudi official authorities in order to facilitate the sale of especially Turkish food and textile products to Saudi Arabia, and Saudi petroleum-derived retail products to Turkiye. In addition, it is aimed to center participation banking, digital products and payment systems in payment systems.
Another country is Germany. There is a plan to expand to Germany-based European countries, especially by using the exchanges of expatriate Turkish citizens between the two countries as a catalyst power. While Uzbekistan is considered as the epicenter for the Turkic Republics, Israel is considered as the main country to take part in the sale of kosher certified products. For the expansion to the Caucasus, Georgia is aimed to be the center country.
B4mar is aiming to start its second investment round in the near future. The projected date is July 2022. As an investor profile in the second investment round, it aims to receive strategic investments from investors who are experienced in traditional retailing, market place management, supply chain management and international trade, whether they are individual or institutional investors.
Source: Egirisim / Prepared by Irem Yildiz