At the “Corporate & Ventures Day” event organized by Turkcell, technology entrepreneurs, leaders of the corporate world and representatives of venture capital came together to evaluate new technologies, the development of the investment ecosystem and venture capital investment funds under current topics.
Turkcell brought its venture capital activities, which enable new ventures to grow and develop in its sector and technology-oriented fields, to the wider public with the “Turkcell Corporate & Ventures Day” event. In the event held with the cooperation of Endeavor Turkiye, one of the important stakeholders of the entrepreneurship ecosystem in Turkiye, and the support of Re-Pie Portfolio, KPMG Turkiye and Unsal Attorney Partnership; While the current trends and developments in the fields of fintech, blockchain, cyber security, artificial intelligence and mobility in Turkiye and in the world with the leading names of the entrepreneurial ecosystem were discussed, the support that the private sector can offer to new ventures and the role of venture capital investment funds were also discussed.
Turkcell General Manager Murat Erkan stated the following in his opening speech:
“With the developments in the field of technology and the access of large masses to the fast internet, the number of technology-oriented initiatives has also increased. Although the resulting funding need could be met to a certain extent by the founders, startups for larger resource-intensive businesses interacted naturally with corporate companies and funds in order to access finance. With the recent acceleration in our country, corporate venture capital investments have come to the fore. The increase in the number of qualified and scalable technology start-ups has also increased the domestic and foreign interest in this area. Because our local engineers and entrepreneurs have very high problem-solving skills and innovation skills.
We established the ‘Turkcell New Technologies Venture Capital Investment Fund’ with Re-Pie Portfolio Management Company to position ourselves in this ecosystem. While we primarily support technology-oriented enterprises with high growth potential in order to achieve their goals in local and global markets, we create synergies between these enterprises with our group companies through different cooperation models. In the next period, as Turkcell, we will focus on technologies with significant opportunities such as artificial intelligence, virtual reality, internet of things, mobility and financial technologies. Likewise, we see the gaming industry as attractive, especially to the extent that it connects with NFT and digital assets. Leading the development of technology, Turkcell will continue to evaluate cooperation and investment opportunities with scalable-level initiatives that include technology elements.”
Kushal Shah, the CEO of e& Capital, the venture capital company founded by the global telecom and investment group e& (Etisalat), and Togg CEO Gurcan Karakas also took part as keynote speakers at the event. In his speech, Kushal Shah touched upon the innovative technologies in our region and the world, talked about the developments in the venture capital ecosystem and conveyed his views on the contributions that corporate companies can provide to entrepreneurship.
On the other hand, Togg CEO Gurcan Karakas evaluated the mobility, which he discussed on the axis of “Smart Device”, within the scope of the technology shaped around it and the ecosystem it will create. At the event, the leading names of the ecosystem shared their views on current topics in the panels organized under the headings of fintech, blockchain, cyber security, new technologies, especially artificial intelligence and mobility, investment ecosystem in the world and venture capital investment funds. Mehmet Ali Ergin, Deputy Chairman of the Board of Re-Pie Portfolio, who took part in the panel where developments in the global investment ecosystem were discussed, said, “We plan to close this year with an investment of $50 million and invest up to $60 million next year. Institutional venture capital is of great importance, for example, Turkcell both expands and benefits from this growth when investing in startups through venture capital investment funds. Venture capital that corporate companies and holdings can grow in their own ecosystem will be valuable.”
Source: Webrazzi / Translated by Irem Yildiz