212.VC - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Investment Manager
- Investment
- Investment Growth Funds
Ali is Founding Partner at 212. Ali has spent his career focused on technology and communications investments. After graduating from the University of Michigan, in 1999, Ali joined Arthur Andersen in New York where he oversaw mid-market transactions in technology, media, and telecommunications. In 2002, he joined Morgan Stanley Capital International where he managed the North American and European finance teams. Ali spent a year from 2007-2008 at Deutsche Bank where he served on the bank's principal investments team. In 2008, he shifted his focus to the Middle East where he seized on the opportunity to work on helping companies go to scale. He worked with the Turkish government and private sector on finance and private equity projects. At 212, Ali serves on the boards of Avatao, App Samurai, Fazla Gida, Insider, Metrobi, Solvoyo, and Smartmessage. In addition, Ali sits on the Advisory Board of Endeavor and is a member of the Istanbul chapter of the Entrepreneurs Organization.
Basar started his career as a consultant with PwC before moving into investment banking at Oaklins. Afterward, he co-founded a mid-market investment banking boutique - providing mergers and acquisitions advisory services to private clients, corporations, and private equity funds. After attaining a certain level of success, he decided to take on a new challenge in a competitive international MBA program. Upon graduation, he joined IS Private Equity, a middle-market focused private equity, investing in Turkish businesses with a focus on technology startups. Throughout his career, he has advised startups on a professional and personal level on a wide range of issues. Yenidunya has a BS in Industrial Engineering from Bilkent University and holds an MBA from INSEAD.
Cagdas has spent his career in software, technology, and entrepreneurship. Upon graduating from university, he joined the global ERP company IFS as an ERP Consultant. He then served as a Senior ERP Consultant at MTN Telecommunications Group, the largest GSM operator in the Nigeria and South Africa regions in continental Africa. After gaining substantial experience, he took on a new challenge in an international MBA program. In 2004, he founded his first startup, Logiwa WMS, a leading DTC fulfillment SaaS company in the US. Besides his role as a Venture Partner at 212, he is also leading the US expansion of Trio Mobil, a 212 portfolio company. While spending 17 years as an entrepreneur, he also founded several other startups in supply chain management technology and partnered with global software giants. Cagdas holds a BS in Industrial Engineering from Istanbul Technical University and an MBA from John Molson School of Business at the Concordia University in Montreal, Canada. Cagdas is the Managing Director in Simya VC.
Job Titles:
- General Partner
- Investment
Caglar Urcan is a General Partner at 212 NexT. He brings over a decade of investment experience, including corporate banking, private credit funds, private equity, early-stage technology investments and fundraising efforts for 212 NexT, Türkiye's first vertically focused deep tech fund. A graduate of Robert College, Caglar holds a BA in International Trade from Boğaziçi University. He began his career at ABN AMRO Bank in Istanbul, later joining the Energy & Resources M&A team at RBS (Royal Bank of Scotland) in London. In Dubai, he became the first Turkish individual to join the Gulf Capital investment team, where he evaluated, executed and monitored growth capital and management buy-out transactions in the MENA region and Türkiye. Caglar transitioned to private equity at Abraaj Group's Türkiye private equity fund, focusing on e-commerce and other tech-related transactions. In 2019, Caglar joined Collective Spark, a Turkish venture capital fund specializing in early-stage technology investments. He actively participated in new deals and numerous follow-on transactions at pre-seed, seed and Series A stages. Caglar has held board membership positions in fintech, B2B SaaS and marketplace startups, actively supporting portfolio companies in executing growth and operational improvements, as well as contributing to fundraising and fund management efforts, providing support to the general partners throughout his tenure at the fund.
Dr. Batu Sat is the Cofounder & CEO or Mall IQ, Inc., a San Francisco based technology company serving Banks, Fintechs, Payment Apps and Retailers as a Location Intelligence & AI platform. Dr. Sat earned his Masters and Ph.D. at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as a Researcher at the Coordinated Science Laboratory.
Batu leads Company's long-term vision by streamlining operations, leveraging innovative and emerging technologies, and maintaining a strong focus on client imperatives. He is an expert in Machine Learning, AI, Distributed & Real-time computational systems as well as Location Intelligence. He held Technical Leader and Software Architect roles at Cisco Systems, Microsoft Corporation, and Fuze, Inc. in Silicon Valley where he had the opportunity to experience the startup ecosystem and combine this experience with his expertise in technology. In 2015, he co-founded Mall IQ, Inc. with his Co-founder Ferit Ozan Akgul, Ph.D. with the mission to empower financial institutions and merchants via Purchase Intent-based Actionable Insights.
Job Titles:
- Partner
- Chief Advisor of Innovation and Enterprise at Qatar 's Research
- Investment
- Investment Growth Funds
Maher is Partner at 212. Dr. Maher Hakim is the chief advisor of innovation and enterprise at Qatar's Research, Development and Innovation Council and the executive director of the CITRIS Foundry - UC Berkeley's tech innovation hub. Maher is an ecosystem builder, tech investor, startup coach, mentor and educator. Before joining QRDIC, Dr. Hakim was the executive director of Qatar's Science and Technology Park. Maher's past experience, accumulated over the past 25+ years, included launching and building several tech startups, leading product innovation groups for large software companies, teaching innovation, entrepreneurship and investing in tech startups at universities and accelerators such as Carnegie Mellon University, UC Berkeley, and the European Innovation Academy, supporting and leading efforts to build innovation ecosystems around the globe, and mentoring and coaching startup founders and investment professionals. Maher is a technologist by education and holds a PhD in Computer-Aided Engineering and Management from Carnegie Mellon University. He muses on topics of innovation, entrepreneurship and leadership on his LinkedIn Blog.
Emre combines a successful corporate career with serial entrepreneurship as a co-founder of multiple companies. Currently, he is the CEO and Co-founder of both AppSamurai, a venture capital-backed startup with mobile growth as its passion and featured in Europe's Top 100 Hottest Startups, FT500 and Inc5000 lists, and Storyly, the first mobile user engagement platform that brings the well-known, mobile native Story format into mobile apps and websites.
Before AppSamurai and Storyly, he co-founded Netvent (2013), a digital marketing agency that still operates today, and Growth Tower (2015), a mobile marketing agency. Previously, he worked in finance, sales, and business development roles at PwC, Inta Spaceturk, Enerjisa, and Oracle. His educational background includes a degree in Business Administration from METU (in Turkey) and an Executive Leadership degree from UC Berkeley.
Co-founded DataRow (acquired by Amazon) to give data scientist superpowers to every person at every company.
Ezabel has an extensive background in asset management. Ezabel began her career at Price WaterHouse Coopers in 2003 as a Certified Public Accountant. In 2005, she moved into the fund management industry at TPG Axon, first in New York and then in London. In 2012, she moved into the venture capital space as a financial controller with Accel Partners. Throughout her career, in her spare time, she has assisted charities and start-ups. She advises on a wide range of financial issues from budgeting, accounting, financial modeling to profitability analysis and valuations. Ezabel is a graduate of Boston University where she has a BA in business administration and received an MA in theoretical psychoanalytic studies from University College London.
Job Titles:
- General Partner
- Investment
Gizem Yagiz is a General Partner at 212 NexT. She brings over 20 years of experience in international leadership across equity and debt financing, mergers and acquisitions advisory, and venture capital investments, with a recent initiative on fundraising efforts for 212 NexT, Türkiye's first vertically focused deep tech fund. Her extensive career has spanned various regions, including Europe, Turkey, the Middle East, and Asia, contributing to a comprehensive understanding of global markets. Gizem holds an MSc in Management of Information Systems from the London School of Economics and Political Science and a Bachelors in Economics from the Middle East Technical University in Turkey. Her early career at RWE Thames Water contributed to significant transactions and business development initiatives in water and wastewater treatment PPPs. She then managed cross-border M&A and PPP equity advisory projects as the M&A Manager at Pragma Corporate Finance, the largest advisory firm in Turkey. At the International Finance Corporation (IFC), Gizem managed debt and equity transactions, oversaw client and syndicate bank relationships and negotiations, and monitored IFC's project portfolio across Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and Turkey. She then launched and led an early-stage global technology venture initiative, focusing on startups within industry 4.0 manufacturing technologies, sustainability, logistics, supply chain, mobility, and enterprise technologies as Head of Venture Capital at MEXT Technology Center. Her expertise spans diverse sectors, including manufacturing, ports, airports, waste management, energy, technology, healthcare, and chemicals.
Hakan is an experienced marketer, FMCG veteran and entrepreneur. Driven by his purpose of "bringing summer forward", he takes pride in transforming outdated, inefficient, unreliable processes with human-centric, productive solutions. As the Co-Founder and CEO of Bolt Insight, his goal is to transform the old-school market research industry, change the way businesses connect with their consumers, and bring to life the vision: "Instantly, sit next to your consumers".
Hakan is based in London-UK and holds a master's degree in business management from the University of Warwick, and a bachelor's degree in industrial engineering from Koc University.
Idil began her career at the leading Istanbul-based financial services group, Ünlü&Co. During her tenure in Corporate Finance, she acquired insight into business dynamics for several industries by partaking in roles at various stages of M&A transactions. After her start in Investment Banking, İdil's intellectual curiosity, dynamic thinking, and appetite for calculated risk-taking motivated her toward the startup ecosystem. She embraced the Program Manager role at the startup accelerator Hackquarters, based in İstanbul and London. She led several programs with Fortune 500 companies, connecting promising startups with innovative corporate decision-makers. Her position also involved working closely with founders on business development, financial planning, fundraising, and digital marketing. She holds a B.Sc. in Political Economy from King's College London. Her aspiration to help female founders started during her university years through her work as a Campus Lead for female business entrepreneurs. Her thesis reflected her interest in a regression analysis of the conditions affecting the gender wage gap. At 212 she is responsible for Investor Relations, supporting the fundraising process, and representing 212 at various industry events.
Idriss Al Rifai's dynamic career journey spans from being a professional basketball player in Paris to serving in the French Special Forces. After his few years in the Special Forces, he became part of the personal team advising the French Minister of Defense on worldwide conflicts. He then pursued his MBA at the University of Chicago-Booth and ventured into entrepreneurship, successfully building and selling his first company. He then spent a few years at BCG in the UAE before moving to e-commerce, and shortly after that, he built his second company, one of the very first large-scale startups in the region. Al Rifai then exited the business and played a crucial role in Glovo, a food delivery scale-up that later sold for 2.2B euros to Delivery Hero. His latest venture, Flow48, addresses the capital availability gap for SMEs in the region and beyond, aspiring to evolve into a full-fledged SME bank. Al Rifai's diverse experiences have profoundly shaped his entrepreneurial approach and leadership style.
Mehmet Uygun's entrepreneurial journey began as a university student with the Groop App. In 2018, alongside his sibling Zeynep Uygun, Mehmet embarked on an ambitious venture by founding Getmobil. What started as a modest phone repair shop swiftly evolved into a pioneering marketplace for second-hand electronic products in Turkey, underscoring Mehmet's visionary leadership and unwavering commitment to innovation in the entrepreneurial landscape. Continuing his entrepreneurial odyssey, Mehmet Uygun remains steadfast in his pursuit of excellence, striving to redefine industry standards and empower businesses.
Melih is one of the pioneer Internet entrepreneurs in Turkey. Born in Istanbul, Turkey (1976), he studied Computer Engineering (99) and MBA (02) at Bosphorus University. After one year of professional experience at Citibank, Melih founded yemeksepeti.com with his partners in 2000. Yemeksepeti.com became the online food delivery giant first in Turkey, and then in the Middle East and Eastern Europe. As a co-founder, Melih acted as CTO of the company until June 2013 and as Board Member until May 2015, when the company was acquired by Delivery Hero. Melih has been selected Endeavor Entrepreneur in 2007. Since then, he has been actively engaging with Endeavor Ecosystem. Melih is an active Angel Investor in Internet and technology companies. He is one of the co-founders of Galata Business Angels, which is one of the first business angel networks in Turkey. He has more than 50 investments in internet and mobile software companies across the globe, where he mostly acts as a mentor. He also is an active technology VC investor. He is a founding member of EO Turkey. Since 2017, Melih lives in London with his family and continues to invest in the tech ecosystem at every scale globally.
Job Titles:
- Founding Partner
- Investment Manager
- Investment
- Investment Growth Funds
Numan Numan is Founding Partner at 212. Numan has spent the past three decades focused on investments and technology in three continents. Numan got his start in 1994 at Credit Suisse in Tokyo before moving on to Goldman Sachs in 1996, first in Tokyo than New York City. Numan oversaw the firm's global engineering teams with an eye on identifying cutting-edge innovations. His main role was to ensure business growth. In 2010, Numan shifted his attention to Emerging Europe and MENA where he focused on scaling up startups. Numan is a technologist by education and holds B.Sc. in Computer Sciences from Ege University. He lives in Istanbul, Turkey where he is actively involved in building the entrepreneurial ecosystem in the region. At 212, Numan currently serves on the boards of Chooch AI, HotelRunner, Mall IQ, OMMA, and Trio Mobil.
Onur graduated from Robert College in 2015. Throughout high school, he was actively involved in extracurricular activities and took a diverse range of courses that were beyond the regular curriculum. He began his career in 2019 as a GCR intern in the Tax Audit department at Ernst & Young (EY), one of the largest professional services networks in the world. In 2019, Onur shifted his focus from the tax industry to finance and auditing, and joined PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Turkey as an associate in the financial audit department. Over the course of three years at PwC, he was able to gain a wealth of experience in a variety of industries, including real estate, wholesale, energy, and tourism, which often have complex structures such as holdings and joint ventures. Onur holds a bachelor's degree in Economics from Istanbul University and the University of Barcelona. At 212, he is responsible for fund management, financial reporting, due diligence, investment process, accounting, and auditing.
Orcun is a Fulbright Scholar studying International Affairs with a focus on economic and political development at Columbia University. His research and professional interests intersect in exploring how technology and innovation catalyze development in emerging markets. Prior to his graduate studies, he worked as a development consultant, advising various stakeholders in their projects aimed at advancing the United Nations' SDG agenda. Orcun holds a degree in Economics and International Relations from Koç University, Istanbul.
Job Titles:
- Investment
- Investment Growth Funds
Ozge is a graduate of Istanbul Technical University in Mechanical Engineering. She also holds an M.Sc in Finance from Sabanci University, where she graduated first in her class. Özge has an extensive technical background in industrial technologies. At the start of her career, Ozge took on a full-time internship at Bosch Turkey in corporate sales for the automotive industry and then joined General Electric Aviation as part of an accelerated leadership program in 2016. Throughout her leadership program at GE Aviation, she embraced multiple challenges in various departments, such as digital transformation, design, and manufacturing, focusing on jet engines. Upon graduation, she continued in GE as a design owner in military, industrial and commercial engines for the GE portfolio. She has an appetite for emerging technologies and thus made a shift and joined 212 to build a venture capital career.
Safak has an extensive background in finance and investment management. She began her career at Morgan Stanley, New York, in 2006 as a Financial Analyst in the Investment Banking Division, where she focused on equity-based transactions in the North American Healthcare space. In 2010, she started working for Citibank, Istanbul, and gained expertise in Corporate Banking by participating in debt and equity-based financing solutions available to Turkish corporates. After working there for four years, she joined Credit Suisse International Wealth Management division as a Relationship Manager responsible for assisting Turkey-based high-net-worth individuals and institutional investors with their investment decisions and portfolio management. Throughout her career, she has gained an in-depth knowledge of diverse financial instruments. Safak is a graduate of Brown University with a Magna Cum Laude and a B.A. degree in Business Economics and Psychology. She is the head of Brown University Alumni Recruiting in Turkey and is a member of the board of the Koc School. She currently lives in Paris, France.
Samet Ensar Sarı is a highly accomplished entrepreneur, marketer, and lecturer. He has an extensive background in marketing, having co-founded Dekatlon Buzz in 2009, Turkey's first social media-focused marketing agency. Under his leadership, the agency achieved an impressive 1900% growth and won multiple international awards, including the prestigious Cannes Lions.
In 2016, the majority shares of Dekatlon Buzz were acquired by Altavia, Europe's largest retail-oriented marketing group. Samet then became the General Director of Altavia Dekatlon, a new-generation marketing agency formed by the merger of Altavia Turkey and Dekatlon, and a senior consultant in the European Steering Committee.
After fully exiting from Altavia he got the responsibility of marketing in Yolcu360 for one year, and it was chosen as one of the fastest-growing technology companies in Turkey by Deloitte and additionally became the founding partner of Turkey's first personal branding agency That's Me!.
Now he is the fractional chief marketing officer of two scale-ups at the same time, Easycep, a leading marketplace for refurbished devices in Turkey, and Artboard Studio, a leading online design-focused software as a service tool globally.
He has also been recognized for his entrepreneurial achievements, including being named a "Talent Champion" by the Adecco Group and included in the list of "Top CEE Entrepreneurs" in 2019. Samet is a sought-after speaker and has delivered keynote speeches at events such as TEDx and the Global Entrepreneurship Congress. Samet has a strong interest in blockchain technology and was awarded an MBA degree from Bahçeşehir University for his thesis on the subject. He is also co-founder of Başlangıç Noktası (Starting Point) platform in the Turkish Informatics Foundation.
Samet is a graduate of Istanbul High School and earned a high degree in Industrial Engineering from Bilkent University, where he was an honor student. Samet is a proud father to his son Can Atlas and a loving husband to his wife Billur.
Job Titles:
- Entrepreneur in Residence
- Member of Mikrogrup 's Executive Board
Sean is a member of Mikrogrup's executive board, which he joined after exiting his startup Paraşüt to Mikrogrup in 2019. Previously, Sean was CEO of Paraşüt, the leading SaaS bookkeeping software in Turkey, which he co-founded in 2013. Before Paraşüt, Sean was a research fellow in the Istanbul offices of Endeavor, an NGO whose goal is to create startup ecosystems as economic growth engines. Sean began his career in the United States, working in private equity at Gryphon Investors in San Francisco and investment banking at Lehman Brothers in New York. Sean holds a bachelor's degree in economics from Harvard University.
After receiving her BA degree in Political Science and International Relations, Selma received her MA degree on Modern Turkish History from Boğaziçi University focusing on Turkey-EU Relations in her thesis. She started her career in the media and publicity sector as a project coordinator and editor for various TV programs and documentaries broadcasted on different platforms. She was a project coordinator for significant international organizations on global political issues. For nearly ten years, she managed and executed entrepreneurship and incubation programs from idea to globalization, ITU Çekirdek, Innogate, and ITU Magnet Acceleration in Istanbul Technical University's Technology Park, İTÜ ARI Teknokent. Lastly, she managed a venture-building studio and worked with founders to ensure their scaling. Selma is the Managing Director in Simya VC.
Sercan started his career as a team member of "3Z", a biomedical engineering company that was established by the İTÜ Big Bang Start-Up Project and later evolved into "Respo Gadgets." He conducted marketing research at "3Z" by analyzing the states' health policies. In 2017, his focus shifted to finance and auditing, starting his position in Ernst & Young's Global Compliance and Reporting department. He had the invaluable opportunity to observe a wide range of sectors - from textile to mining, medical to automotive, as well as all of their operational backgrounds, financials, and accountings. As a graduate of Marmara University and the University of Warsaw, he obtained a BA in Political Science and International Relations. He also received a MA in Social Policy from Boğaziçi University. At 212, Sercan is responsible for fund management, financial reporting, due diligence & investment process, accounting, and auditing.
Sonat is a seasoned e-commerce and fintech professional passionate about serving unbanked communities. He started his career at Philips, Amsterdam in 2009 as a Key Account Manager for Amazon.com. He has developed local e-commerce solutions for over 20 countries across 5 continents. In 2015, he joined Midea, China's largest home appliance company, as Head of Global eCommerce Operations. He led the global launch of the Midea brand on major e-commerce platforms in more than 30 countries. In 2018, he founded Shox Rumahan, an AI-driven social commerce startup for 225 million unbanked Indonesians. He grew Rumahan to over 300 employees and 20,000+ rural agent partners in less than 2 years. He has raised over $10,000,000 from prominent regional & global VCs such as ACV, Partech, SGI, Sequoia Capital, Gobi, GSR, Ephesus/JDAC & Teja. He lives between GCC(KSA & UAE), Amsterdam, Turkey, Singapore, and the Bay Area.
Utku is an MBA student at Stanford Graduate School of Business. He has a passion for fintech and emerging technologies. He previously worked for 4 years as a management consultant at Mastercard's Advisors team in Turkey and other countries in the EMEA region. During his time at Mastercard, he was involved in projects related to business strategy and operations, product strategy, innovation, and digital growth, and gained deep expertise in the payments and fintech domains, including open banking, wallets, and financial inclusion. Utku holds a degree in Industrial Engineering from Bogazici University.