The intensive schedule for the selection process of the 40 ventures that applied to Etohum during the past year is nearing the end. The selected ventures and entrepreneurs will be announced on Saturday February 28th, 2012 during the full-day program of the Etohum Entrepreneurship Summit. Many successful entrepreneurs had participated in the summit that will be organized with the attendance of expert entrepreneurs and professionals.

The application process for eTohum that started in August was finalized in December 2011. Final interviews are being conducted in the first week of January. The selection of the 15 ventures will be completed by the Etohum Selection Panel in January. We will announce the first 15 ventures during the daylong program of the Etohum Entrepreneurship Summit to be held in February 28th, 2012 at Bahçeşehir University. The ventures that were selected last year will share their developments with us.

28 January 2012 Saturday Etohum Entrepreneurship Summit Program

08:00 – 09:00 Entrepreneurship Summit Registration – Networking
08:30 – 09:00 Tea – Coffee
09:00 – 09:45 Cengiz Ultav – Vestel Executive Board Member
09:45 – 10:00 Tea/coffee break
10:00 – 10:45 Enver Yücel – Bahçeşehir University Founder
10:45 – 11:00 Tea/coffee break
11:00 – 12:00 Stefano E. D’Anna
12:00 – 14:00 Lunch break
14:00 – 15:00 Turgut Gürsoy – Founder of Probil, TUBISAD chairman
15:00 – 15:30 Tea/coffee break
15:30 – 16:00 Talks by 2010 – 2011 Etohum / invested entrepreneurs

• Evidea.com (malzemem.com)
• Sinavo
• Gideros Mobil
• Pembepanjur
• Bombastik
• Pozitiftv / Keyground
• Gamester
• Oyuncakdenizi
• İndirdik.com

16:00 – 17:00 2012 Announcement of Etohum 15 ventures
18:00 – 18:30 Closure

Some of the candidates selected in 2012 will receive investment from Etohum and will later be invited to the Etohum Camp in February. Last year, the Etohum Camp was held at Rixos Antalya. Please fill out the form below to attend the summit. (Attendance is open to all and free of charge.)

Date: 28 January 2012, Saturday
Saat: 08:00 – 18:00
Yer: Bahçeşehir University / Beşiktaş / Istanbul Map

Briefly Stefano D’Anna

Stefano D’Anna graduated in Economics at the University of Naples with First Class Honors ( cum laude ), obtained a Master at the London Business School ( ITP Program ) and a Doctorate in Sociology of Communications with first class Honors at The Catholic University in Milan. He has been associate research fellow at The Science Institute in New York.

Has been a leading manager of multinational companies including Alfa-Romeo, Olivetti Corporation ( based in Milan ), Olivetti Corporation of America ( based in New York and Middle East ), and FIAT International ( Turin Headquarters and Jeddah ).

He is an international lecturer, a key-note speaker and guest of honor at over 100 major international Conventions and Forums, in Europe, USA and South America. Most recently the Forum Istanbul ( May, 2011 ) and The Greek Power Forum in Athens ( June, 2011 ).

In last years has started the cycle of the “Integrity Seminars” bringing to International Corporate Leaders his findings about leadership, Integrity and Corporate Longevity. His lessons on liberalism pertaining to concepts of freedom and individualism are considered revolutionary.

He has published one hundred articles in Italian, English and Turkish and scholarly papers about his studies and researches. Publications include the books “Berlusconi in Concert”. “The School for Gods”, already translated in the main European Languages, besides Russian, Chinese and Turkish. Since 2005 up today it is best seller in Turkey.

Since 1994, Prof. D’Anna has been the Rector of the International College ESE – The European School of Economics with headquarters in London and campuses in Madrid, New York, Rome, Florence and Milan.

But the School he dreamed, had no walls and no limits. On December 2nd, 2010, he has left his position as Rector, stepped down as Vice President of The ESE Foundation in New York, and reduced any other commitment in order to create a most advanced leadership Program to teach to specially selected students, who arrive to him from five continents, what universities do not teach: how to cultivate a sense of greatness, unlimited love for freedom, and an incorruptible integrity, in order to be the new cells – Future Leaders, and the hope of the World.

With the developments in recent years, internet startups in Turkey are becoming in demand investment companies. Each year hundreds of new startups join the new economy. Turkey has become an important market attracting attention with its young population and young entrepreneurs.

About Startup Turkey

40 startups are selected each year from among thousands of new entrepreneurs with the support of the leading players in this market. Following the selection process by angel investors, the number of startups on ecommerce, mobile, game, software is reduced to 15. These selected high potential entrepreneurs of Turkey attend a 3 day camp in February. The leading internet companies of Turkey along with investors attend Turkey’s Internet Startups – Etohum Camp, the fourth of which will be held this year.

Our Story

Etohum is the most important market place consisting of Turkey’s leading investors, entrepreneurs and internet professionals that both invests in and supports the new economy companies. Since 2008 it has selected hundreds of internet startups and in an effort to help these new startups succeed it has either made investments or brought them together with investors. The advisory and selection board consists of the founders of the leading internet companies in Turkey.

Each year Etohum continues to make one-to-one interviews with entrepreneurs chosen from among 1000s of applications to select the startups that are most suited for investment (see 2008, 2009, 2010). To this end, Etohum organizes over 50 meetings, activities and conferences each year to help form the internet ecosystem. Etohum also plays a leading role in the development of new entrepreneurs by cooperating with universities, techno parks, university clubs and all other relevant companies.

Until today Etohum has broadcast over 500 videos (vimeo, etohumtv) and organized almost 150 meetings. It has organized entrepreneurship activities at various cities in Turkey. The activity that will take place at Antalya during February 17 – 18 – 19, 2012 will once again bring together the leading and developing internet companies of Turkey with investors.

Company Participants

• Intel Capital
• Accel Partners
• Facebook
• Hummingbird VC
• Pond Ventures
• Mangrove Capital Partners
• European Investment Fund
• 3TS Partners
• WSJ Europe
• Speedinvest
• Zad Capital
• Qualcomm
• Comscore
• Endeavor
• Nokia
• Turkcell
• Vodafone
• TTNET
• Bilyoner
• JPA – Arkan & Ergin
• TEPAV
• Microsoft
• Mynet.com
• Doğan Online
• Google
• 212VC
• Metutech BAN
• ODTÜ Teknokent
• Markafoni.com
• ipara.com
• Payolution
• Payu
• Magnet
• Marjinal Porter Novelli
• Mackolik.com
• Yemeksepeti.com
• Nokta.com
• Reklamz
• Sahibinden.com
• Gittigidiyor.com
• Enuygun.com
• Tasit.com
• Pozitron
• Put.io
• Eksisozluk.com
• Inventram
• Innovent
• Startosphere
• Girişim Fabrikası
• Webrazzi
• Sadecehosting
• Peak Games
• Nokia
• Sporx.com
• Uzmantv
• Gelirortaklari
• Sendloop
• Reklamstore
• Tatilsepeti.com
• Yonja
• Medianova
• Dakick.com
• Selected early stage startups
• Etohum seed startups

Participants

• Feroz Sanaulla - Intel Capital
• Adam Valkin – Accel Partners
• Ben Rooney – WSJ
• Amina Belghiti – Facebook
• Charles Irving – Pond Ventures
• Frank Maene – Hummingbird VC
• Pamir Gelenbe – Hummingbird VC 
• Hans-Jürgen Schmitz – Mangrove Capital Partners
• Jozsef Kover – 3TS Partners
• Oliver Holle – Speedinvest
• Khaldoon Tabaza – Zad Capital
• Omar J. Sati – Dashventures
• Abdul Malik Al Jaber  - MENA Apps
• Ozgur Altan - European Investment Fund
• Fırat Ozpınar – European Investment Fund
• Sait Kayahan – Bilyoner
• Burak Şimşek – Bilyoner
• Ussal Şahbaz – TEPAV
• Orhan Göksal – DOL
• A.Yenal Gökyıldırım – DOL
• Cenk Bayrakdar – Turkcell
• Bülent Yılmaz – Turkcell
• Arda Özgün – Vodafone
• Metin Barut – Vodafone
• Murat Eren – TTNET
• Stefan Kalteis – Payolution
• Melek Pulatkonak – Microsoft
• Doğan Taşkent - JPA / Arkan & Ergin
• Sinan Erözlü – JPA / Arkan & Ergin
• Ahmet Damgacioğlu – Comscore
• Asuman Bayrak – Marjinal Porter Novelli
• Emre Kurttepeli – Mynet.com
• Cem Sertoğlu – Young Turk Ventures
• Dilawar Syed – Yonja Media Group
• Burak Ertaş – Sahibinden.com
• Kazim Yalcinoglu – ODTU Teknokent YK
• Mustafa Ihsan Kiziltas – ODTU Teknokent GM
• Sinem Uluturk – Communication Coordinator.
• Numan Numanbayraktaroğlu – 212VC
• Ali H. Karabey – 212VC
• Emre Ekmekçi – Doğan Online
• Barış Ruacan – Qualcomm
• Mustafa İçil – Google
• Burak Divanlıoğlu – ipara.com, founder of Gittigidiyor.com
• Serkan Borançlı – ipara.com, founder of Gittigidiyor.com
• Aydonat Atasever – ipara.com, founder of Gittigidiyor.com,
• Tolga Kabataş – ipara.com, founder of Gittigidiyor.com,
• Ersan Özer – Uzmantv, İstanbul.net, Magnet
• Melih Ödemiş – Yemeksepeti.com
• Nevzat Aydın – Yemeksepeti.com
• Erdem Yurdanur – Maçkolik.com
• Tarkan Onar – Maçkolik.com
• Fatih İşbecer – Pozitron
• Fırat İşbecer – Pozitron
• Burçin Didinedin – Nokta.com
• Tümay Asena – Nokta.com
• Sina Afra – Markafoni.com
• Tolga Tatari – Markafoni.com
• Ahmet Sarı – Markafoni.com
• Burak Hatipoğlu – Grupfoni
• Y. Emre Güzer – Payu
• Orkun Tekin – Reklamz
• Dr. Haluk Elçi – Yatırımcı
• Kerim Türe – Youthrepublic
• Sidar Şahin – Peak Games
• Arda Kutsal – Webrazzi.com
• Birol Kabakoğlu – Tasit.com
• Hasan Yalçınkaya – Put.io
• Yunus Güvenen – Gelirortaklari
• Bülent Tekmen – Startosphere
• Ömer Yücel - Startosphere
• Cem Soysal – Inventram – Koç Holding
• Kerim Baran – Turkish Spark
• Ertuğrul Belen – Business Networking Akademi
• Çağlar Erol – Enuygun.com
• Tuna Orbay – Nokta.com
• İlkan Gökyılmaz – Sporx
• Serkan Sevim – Medianova
• Salih Özkan – Nokia
• A. Selim Aytuna – Nokia
• Cem Hurturk – Sendloop
• Yusuf Esenkal
• Serkan Ünsal – Dakick.com
• and more …

Being a participant of StartupTurkey – Etohum Camp

• Includes the participation to the conference program that is open to all and attending lunch and dinners along with other participants.
• Being an investor participant of StartupTurkey – Etohum Camp
• Includes the participation to the conference program that is open to all and attending lunch and dinners along with other participants.
• Includes the participation to presentations that are exclusive to investors and arranging one-to-one meetings with entrepreneurs.
• The executive summary documentation of all presenting and participating entrepreneurs
• Participants will rapidly meet each other at the Speednetworking event

Venue: Rixos, Antalya

Etohum Rixos Camp February Program

February 17, 2012 Friday – Meeting- Conference -

7:00 – 9:00 Welcome Breakfast

9:00 – 11:15 Opening – Speednetworking

11:15 – 11:30 Tea & Coffee break

11:30 – 12:30 Conference

12:30 – 14:00 Lunch

13:30 – 14:30 Conference

14:30 – 15:00 Tea & Coffee break

15:00 – 16:00 Conference

16:00 – 16:30 Tea & Coffee break

16:30 – 17:30 Conference

17:30 – 19:00 Free Time

19:00 – 21:00 Dinner with Entrepreneurs

21:00 – 00:00 Networking

February 18, 2012 Saturday – Entrepreneur – Investor

7:00 – 9:00 Breakfast

9:00 – 10:00 Entrepreneur – Investor Presentations

10:00 – 10:15 Tea & Coffee break

10:15 – 11:15 Entrepreneur – Investor Presentations

11:15 – 11:30 Tea & Coffee break

11:30 – 12:30 Entrepreneur – Investor Presentations

12:30 – 14:00 Lunch

13:30 – 14:30 Entrepreneur – Investor Presentations

14:30 – 15:00 Tea & Coffee break

15:00 – 16:00 Entrepreneur – Investor Presentations

16:00 – 16:30 Tea & Coffee break

16:30 – 17:30 Entrepreneur – Investor one-to-one meetings

17:30 – 19:00 Free Time

19:00 – 22:00 Closing Dinner

22:00 – 00:00 Networking

February 19, 2012 Sunday – Entrepreneur – Investor

07:00 – 9:00 Breakfast

08:00 – 09:45 Etohum Investment  Co. Meeting

09:45 – 10:00 Tea & Coffee break

10:00 – 11:45 Etohum Camp Evaluation

11:45 – 14:00 Lunch

14:00 – 16:00 Entrepreneur – Investor one-to-one meetings

14:00 – 16:00 Networking – Check out

16:00 – 18:00 Airport Transfer – Hotel checkout

18:00 – 22:30 Plane departures

Participation: Invitation only

Emre Kurttepeli: 1986 Robert College alumni, graduated from Columbia University, New York Industrial Engineering department in 1990, born in 1967. Started his career at Ipragaz A.Ş., one of the industrial group companies of the family and in 1996 he founded Fornet, one of Turkey’s first corporate Internet Service Providers. Fornet quickly became the largest ISP in Turkey. Following the acquisition of Fornet by Koçnet, a Koç Holding company, he founded Mynet in 1999. Today, Mynet is the leading internet portal in Turkey with 18 million unique visitors per month along with 48 different products and services. Emre Kurttepeli is currently working as the Chairman of the Executive Board at Mynet group of companies and has invested in various companies in his sector.

Burak Divanlıoğlu: Burak Divanlıoğlu was born in Istanbul on May 6, 1973 he graduated from Ankara Ataturk Anatolian High School in 1990 and from I.T.U. Faculty of Architecture in 1994. During 1994-1998 together with Serkan Borançılı he worked as a freelance architect, contractor and took part in various construction projects. In 1999 he founded ARK Information Technologies Company with Serkan Borançılı. GittiGidiyor was managed by ARK until the beginning of 2004. Burak Divanlıoğlu, founder of GittiGidiyor Information Technologies Inc., the busiest online shopping mall of Turkey, is also one of the founding partners of Magnet Information Services (uzmantv.com, istanbul.net, ankara.net, izmir.net) founded in 2005 and Cimri Inc. (cimri.com).

Melih Ödemiş: Born in Istanbul in 1976. Graduated from the Austria High School in 1995 and went on to Bosphorus University Computer Engineering department. After graduating in 1999 he worked at Citibank Treasury for 1 year. In September 2000 he quit his job at Citibank and founded Yemeksepeti.com with his partners. For a long time he worked as the only person responsible from software development and IT at yemeksepeti.com. In 2002 he graduated from Bosphorus University MBA program. In October, 2005 he completed his military service. Currently he is working as the founding partner responsible from IT at Yemeksepeti.com.

Nevzat Aydın: Nevzat Aydın was born in Istanbul in 1976 and he graduated from Bursa Anatolian High School. After graduating from the Bosphorus University Computer Engineering department he went to the University of San Francisco at the Silicon Valley region for his MBA studies. During his time in the States, Nevzat Aydın closely followed the developments regarding e-commerce and returned to Turkey in 2000 to actualize the yemeksepeti.com project. Nevzat Aydın has brought a new dimension to the e-commerce understanding in Turkey and he is currently working as the General Manager of yemeksepeti.com.

Erdem Yurdanur: Erdem Yurdanur was born in 1968 and he graduated from the Bosphorus University Computer Engineering Department in 1990. His professional work life started at the IT Department of Arçelik and in 1995 he quit his job as the System Operation Manager to found Coretech Inc. with his friends. At Coretech he developed software mostly for international projects in over 20 countries. Starting from 1999, he developed projects for the internet sector and in 2002 he founded Kokteyl Inc. with his partners. He developed many internet projects such as Mackolik.com, Sahadan.com, Beygir.com, T-market.com, Tonlakazan.com, and Markmost.com. Apart from software sector, he is the manager of a restaurant named Mackolik Complex and deals with his race horses.

Serkan Borançılı: Serkan Borançılı was born in Ankara on June 22, 1971 and he graduated from Ankara Yükseliş High School in 1990 and from I.T.U. Faculty of Architecture in 1994. During 1994-1998, together with Burak Divanlıoğlu he worked as a freelance architect, contractor and took part in various construction projects. In 1999 he founded ARK Information Technologies Company with Burak Divanlıoğlu. GittiGidiyor was managed by ARK until the beginning of 2004. Serkan Borançılı, founder of GittiGidiyor Information Technologies Inc., the busiest online shopping mall of Turkey, is also one of the founding partners of Magnet Information Services (uzmantv.com, istanbul.net, ankara.net, izmir.net) founded in 2005 and Cimri Inc. (cimri.com).

Aydonat Atasever: Aydonat Atasever; founder of Cimri.com, Founding Partner of Cimri Inc., GittiGidiyor Information Technologies Inc. Executive Board Member. He was born in Ankara on 8th July 1973. In 1990 he graduated from Izmir Atatürk High School and in 1994 he graduated from I.T.U. Faculty of Architecture. Starting from 1994 until 2005, he took part in many important projects in the architecture sector with his own company. In 2003, Aydonat Atasever became a partner of Turkey’s largest e-commerce platform GittiGidiyor Information Technologies Inc. and in 2005 he became an Executive Board Member at GittiGidiyor Information Technologies Inc. and also became a partner of Magnet Information Services which was founded that same year. Aydonat Atasever is the founding partner of Cimri Inc. founded in 2008 by the creators of GittiGidiyor and he is currently working as the Cimri.com project leader and the company general manager.

Sina Afra: An experienced personnel from eBay was appointed as the CEO and Executive Committee Member of Turkey’s largest e-commerce platform, www.gittigidiyor.com. Born in Ankara in 1968, Sina Afra was working at eBay since 2006. Sina Afra graduated from the Faculty of Business Administration at the University of Münster in 1993 and in 1992 started working at the KPMG Corporate Finance and Consultancy Division. Afra worked for 13 years at KPMG and he became the leader of the 75 people in the Strategy, Process & Transformation group along with the 800 people in the EMEA Consumer Industrial and Technology group. Afra was transferred to eBay in 2006 and worked as the General Manager at Afterbuy GmbH; Executive Board Member at GittiGidiyor.com and eBay Germany Executive Committee Member. Afra has over 25 publications to his name and besides his native languages of Turkish and German he also knows English very well and he is at an intermediate level in French and Dutch.

Orkun Tekin: Born in Istanbul in 1976. Completed his MBA studies at Yeditepe University. His career started in 1999. In 2001 he quit his job in search of new developments; after a backpacking/brainstorming period of 3 months he founded Reklamz in 2002, SEM in 2006, Linkz in 2007 and Site Inc. in 2009. Site Inc. successfully completed a unique project named Qaraoke and is also the major share holder of Fizy. All the founded companies are still operating under their respective sectors and Orkun Tekin is currently working as the Chairman of the Executive Board. He is also one of the Founding Partners of S-mple and Candas Arin Photography established in 2007. Orkun Tekin is a member of the Association of Administrators and Businessmen Supporting Galatasaray and the Galatasaray Sports Club Congress Member as well as one of the Founding Members of IAB Turkey.

Haluk Elçi: After graduating from METU Mechanical Engineering department as the highest ranked student, Haluk Elçi completed his Ph.D. studies on robotics and learning control systems (ILC-Iterative Learning Control) at the Columbia University and NASA. Following his MBA on finance and entrepreneurship at the University of Texas at Austin he returned to Turkey in 1996. He worked as Senior Executive and Partner at various national and international companies active in the Private Equity, Mergers & Acquisitions, Project Financing and Privatization. His current interests are focused on three areas; special fund management for USA and Turkey finance markets, contributing to the development of the internet and technology entrepreneurship in Turkey and his academic studies on ILC at the Columbia University.

Ersan Özer: Internet Entrepreneur, MagNet Information Services Founder, Uzmantv.com Founder. He was born in Istanbul in 1969. He graduated from the Anatolian University Advertisement and Public Relations Department. He worked as a reporter, writer (Aktüel, Akşam) for the press and as a director, screen writer and reporter (Şok, Beyaz Show, Televizyon Çocuğu, and NTV News Center) for various TV channels. He is the author of a book titled Urban Legends. At the end of 1999 he founded itiraf.com. After the web site gained popularity in a very short time he decided to quit his job in the television sector and to work in the internet sector. He sold itiraf.com to EBİ in 2004. In 2005 he founded MagNet Information Services with the partners of Gittigidiyor.com partners. As part of this company he completed the projects of istanbul.net, ankara.net, izmir.net, uzmantv.com.

Kerim Baran: Since 2009, Kerim Baran has been working as the founding partner, executive board member and general manager of CivicSolar. CivicSolar, which is one of the leading and most innovative solar energy distributors in North America, is working closely with solar energy contractors and developers. Baran worked as the founder and general manager of Yonja.com during 2003-2009 and after transferring his shares at Yonja to a team of investors among which Mynet and Tiger Global are also present, he started operating as an angel investor and advisor to technology entrepreneurs working at Silicon Valley and developing markets. Among his investments are companies such as DoktorSitesi, Wikimart, FlowPay, PresenceTelecare, Proven, Chart.io, and CloudTelecomputers. Mr. Baran is married, has one child and he has completed his MBA at Harvard in 1998. Kerim Baran graduated from the Northwestern University Industrial Engineering Department in 1993.

Ertuğrul Belen: After graduating from University of Wisconsin, Ertugrul consulted many years for General Motors’ and PricewaterhouseCoopers’ corporate treasury departments. Ertugrul is active Board Member of his family company Sihir Mobilya – Turkey’s largest Italian style furniture stores. Ertugrul Belen is an entrepreneur:  Founder of Business Networking Akademi where he pitched and networked more than 20 thousand entrepreneurs, startups and angel investors through speed networking activities and seminars. Ertugrul Belen is an investor: Co-Founder of Divas Diamond, Turkey’s leading online diamond jewellery startup. When happy and relaxed, Ertugrul enjoys writing at Sabah Iste Insan newspaper. Ertugrul is the Board Member and Ambassador of several organizations such as Startup Week 2011, Global Entrepreneurship Week, XING Turkey, ISGID, MARGIF and GYIAD.

          Tolga Kabataş        Tolga Tatari                  Kerim Türe

ipara.com,                      Markafoni.com           Youthrepublic

Tarkan Onar              Burçin Didinedin            Tümay Asena

Maçkolik.com                  Nokta.com                    Nokta.com

               Arda Kutsal                 Dilawar Syed                  Cem Soysa

            Webrazzi.com                     Yonja                         Inventram

           Ertuğrul Belen        Numan N.bayraktaroğlu       Ali H. Karabey

        Business N.  Akademi             212VC                             212VC

               Çağlar Erol                  Cem Sertoğlu                Tuna Orbay

            Enuygun.com         Young Turk Ventures            Nokta.com

                 İlkan Gökyılmaz        Serkan Sevim                    Salih Özkan

                        Sporx                           Medianova                      Nokia

All Etohum applicants are valuable for us. Hence we do not reject any candidate. We just want to talk face to face with candidates who are more suited to our investment criteria and we get in touch with them. Besides, we find the opportunity to spend more time with entrepreneurs who attend the biweekly etohum café meetings and monthly etohum camps. Etohum is not a contest. Thus, it is an important criterion for the entrepreneurs to display their entrepreneurship skills.

During the 2010 – 2011 time frame, the Etohum fund along with 18 angel investors made investments to Pembepanjur.com and Gideros Mobile. In the following year we are planning to increase this number and either be a partner to or find investments for all the candidates selected to Etohum 40. To this end, we are continuously striving to increase the investment fund and include more investors into our ecosystem. We will give more detailed information to you about this issue in the following months.

In Etohum applications we analyze projects at idea stage along with incorporated projects that have reached a certain turnover. The investors can sometimes be more interested in incorporated projects that have started issuing invoices. This should not demotivate applicants with strong ideas; however it should enforce them to bring their ideas to a demo / beta stage.

Ventures may be ecommerce, game, mobile, software and all projects that fit in the new economy concept. It is estimated that in the following years the usage of internet and mobile devices will increase in Turkey. Thus, there are opportunities for many sectors. We are positive about the Turkish adaptations of projects which have become successful abroad. We do not have such prejudices. No matter how creative the idea is, the most important factor for the investors is the team. Besides, the scalability and market size data for the project are points that should be taken into consideration along with the team.

Planned Etohum Process for August 2011 – February 2012

• The selection process of Etohum will continue from August 2011– December 2011. Between the months of August – December Etohum meetings and etohum camps will be organized especially in Istanbul along with Ankara and Izmir.
• After online applications are taken, the selection process of the right candidates will continue between August – December 2011 by face to face interviews, telephone / video interviews, e-mail and other methods.
• In January 2012, the short listed Etohum 40 candidates will be selected and the applicants will be informed.
• On January 7th, 2012 Saturday, communication with investors training will be given to the Etohum 40 ventures.
• During the January 14th – 15th, 2012 weekend, Etohum 40 candidates will make their short presentations to Etohum angel investors.
• On January 28th, 2011 Saturday, Etohum 15 internet ventures selected for investment will be announced during the weekend meeting.
• Between February 15th – 19th, 2012 Etohum Antalya Investor – Entrepreneur camp will be held together with Etohum ventures of the last year and those that are selected this year.

Different from the past years at Etohum, in 2011 we decided to make investments in Pembepanjur.com and Gideros Mobile from the fund that we established with Turkey’s leading internet entrepreneurs / angel investors. We enabled the finalization of seed investments to 3 ventures, Gamester, Alisverisrobotu and Animalwars from the support fund that we established together with Nokia. I am guessing that investment interviews for some of the ventures from last year’s etohum 40 are still continuing and that we will read news about these at webrazzi in August – September timeframe. Bilyoner, one of our business partners, decided to invest in a daily deal website: Grupca. After the finalization of the partnership, the venture moves on as Bombastik.

At the end of January we announced the E15 and E40 ventures during the Entrepreneurship Summit. Following the selection of the ventures we went to a 5 day Etohum camp at Rixos Antalya together with entrepreneurs who were selected in previous years. Leading experts in the sector attended this camp as speakers.

During the Presentation Day entrepreneur – investor meeting organized for internet ventures outside of etohum which took place on Saturday, April 9th, Saturday, 10 internet companies had the opportunity to present their ventures to investors. On December 11th, Saturday we went to Izmir along with about 40 entrepreneurs within the scope of Entrepreneurs are Flying.

In February we joined EBAN, a network that brings together angel investors, seed funds and business angels that support start ups in Europe. Thus, in the following period we will be more active in developing relations with foreign networks.

We started “The Search for 10 Software Developer Entrepreneurs” in February. We are continuing to look for software developer entrepreneurs for the Microsoft Innovation Center. We organized Etohum camps at Ankara in March and at Izmir in April. We arranged a Speed Networking activity in April 7 with Ertuğrul Belen. We made live etohumtv broadcasts with Pozitiftv in March, April and May. We organized an Entrepreneurship summer camp in June with Özyeğin University and provided entrepreneurship training and internships at internet companies for university students. In July, we organized company visits to Markafoni, Mynet, Yemeksepeti and Ebebek within the scope of the summer camp program.

We made the broadcasts for etohumtv and about 30 meetings that took place since January with pozitiftv which is the company of Can Ateş, Cem Evren Ateş, the founders of keyground which was another etohum 15 project. Besides, all meetings that took place at Özyeğin University and elsewhere were organized by KTH Congress founded by an Özyeğin University student, Efe Kethuda.

We organized about 30 meetings. There were 100 speakers in these meetings. In May Faruk Eczacıbaşı and in June Hüsnü Özyeğin were the invited guests of Etohum coffee meetings. We reprinted with Tasarti.com the Entrepreneur Sperm T-Shirt designed by Can Oktay Heper and put it up for sale.

We thank our business partners Nokia, Reklamz, Yemeksepeti, Gittigidiyor, Bilyoner, Maçkolik, Rixos, Mynet, Markafoni, Nokta, Sadecehosting, Sendloop, Sporx, Marjinal Porter Novelli, Uzmantv, Microsoft, Gelirortakları, Özyeğin University, İzmir University of Economics, Bahçeşehir University, Bersay Institute of Communication, Bilkent Cyberpark, Networking Academy and Kurumsalhaberler for making all this possible.

Pembepanjur.com (detailed information), a website presenting scientific match-ups to its members for “long term and serious relationships” which was founded in 2010 by Haluk Akın and Seda Berber and Gideros Mobile (detailed information), a development platform enabling game developers to code their games once and release it simultaneously in more than one platform which was founded by Deniz Aslı Soykurum Çetin and Atılım Çetin were the two ventures that Etohum Fund invested in during 2011.

Angel investors comprised of Yemeksepeti.com founders Nevzat Aydın and Melih Ödemiş, Gittigidiyor founders Burak Divanlıoğlu and Serkan Borançılı, Cimri.com founder Aydonat Atasever, Magnet founding partner Ersan Özer, Nokta.com founding partners Tümay Asena, Burçin Didinedin, Mynet founder Emre Kurttepeli, Mackolik.com founding partners Erdem Yurdanur and Tarkan Onar, Reklamz founder Orkun Tekin, Markafoni founding partner Sina Afra, Youth Republic founding partner Kerim Türe, investor Dr. Haluk Elçi, Yonja.com founder Kerim Baran, Ari Keşişoğlu who is continuing his career in the internet sector abroad and etohum.com founder Burak Büyükdemir partnered in the 2 investments selected during 2010 to which Etohum fund will invest in.

Etohum which was founded to increase the number of internet ventures in Turkey, support entrepreneurs and to create a marketplace for entrepreneurs and investors thus creating and developing an internet ecosystem conducts detailed studies every year in order to determine the 15 internet ventures that will be invested in. In 2010 a total of 2.200 internet entrepreneurs applied to etohum and a shortlist of 40 ventures were selected from among the 200 candidates who were first selected for face to face interviews. In January, these short listed entrepreneurs made presentations to the founders of the etohum fund. Ventures which will be invested in were selected during the Rixos Etohum camp organized in Antalya during February.

2011 – 2012 etohum applications and interviews will continue during August – December. The 40 internet ventures that will be selected will make their presentations to etohum angel investors in January 2012. Following the initial partnering process for most of the etohum 40 ventures we aim to go for second round investments and increase the number of invested ventures in the following year.

Haluk Akın, PhD, has an internet project experience of over 5 years. He completed his bachelor degree at Yıldız Technical University and his doctorate degree on Operations Research and Simulation at the University of Central Florida. Due to his programming experience of over 20 years he has taken active roles in many social network, blog and e-commerce projects both in Turkey and America.

Seda Berber has an advertising and interactive design experience of over 6 years. After completing her university education in METU she attended certificate programs in America on marketing and advertising. During 2004-2010 she worked at Ryder Communications, a Los Angeles based company carrying out design and communication projects for many international and US based firms and in October 2010 started working as web director at another California based consumer electronics expert, Noyd Communications. She lives in Los Angeles and leads the creative team of dating and design projects serviced by Optima Group. Her portfolio can be viewed at sedaberber.com.

Deniz Aslı Soykurum Çetin studied at METU Electrics-Electronics Engineering department during 1994-1999. She worked as a software specialist and team leader for three years at the Tübitak Space Technologies Research Institute Internet Technologies and multimedia group. In 2002 she went to USA and lived in Maryland working at various video processing and 3D application projects. She worked on (mobile) embedded software projects and became a Project Manager at Vestek, the R&D company of the Vestel group of companies. During 2006-2010 she worked as the project manager in various simulation projects in KaTron Defense, Space and Simulation Technologies company in Koç Group. In 2010 she focused on mobile game market and founded her own company. She is a member of PMI® and holds PMP® and REP degrees.

Atılım Çetin: Studied at METU Computer Engineering department during 1996-2001. He worked as a software specialist at Makrosam Software, Tübitak UEKAE and Meteksan System companies. During 2006-2009 he worked as a specialist software engineer, technical group leader and three dimensional software group leader in various simulation projects at KaTron Defense, Space and Simulation Technologies company in Koç Group. Since 2009 he is working as a technical group leader at Huawai. In 2010 he founded Betikus and is the design architect and technical group leader of the Gideros IDE. He is the author of the book entitled Computer Graphics (ISBN: 975 347 104 0) published by Seçkin Yayıncılık. He is also one of the authors of “Three Dimensional Computer Graphics” and “Animation” titles in the Turkish Informatics Encyclopedia.

Etohum which plays an active role in invigorating the new economy by linking successful entrepreneurs with investors selected the 15 ventures in the new economy that might be invested in. Among the 15 ventures are Medra, Gamester, Betikus, Oyuncakdenizi, Gezara, Sinavo, we-decide.net, sepeteindir.com, pembepanjur.com, keyground, Gereko, Proje Shop, Smartnews, memlekettengelsin.com and uzmankirala.com. Founders of the 15 ventures will attend the 5 day Etohum camp that will take place at the Antalya Rixos Sungate Hotel in February.

The ventures that were announced during the Entrepreneurship Summit held at Bahçeşehir University with attendances by Index Group CEO Erol Bilecik, Logo BS CEO Tuğrul Tekbulut, Simitsarayı CEO Haluk Okutur, KOSGEB President Mustafa Kaplan and Berk D. Demir from StumbleUpon as speaker already started meeting with investors.

Etohum which was founded to increase the number of internet companies in Turkey, support entrepreneurs and establish a marketplace for entrepreneurs and investors so that an internet eco-system can be formed and supported, carried out a thorough study for the selection of the 15 internet entrepreneurs that will receive investments. In 2010 the number of internet entrepreneurs who applied to Etohum was 2.200 and a short list containing 40 people was selected after face-to-face interviews with 200 participants who were selected in the first round. The entrepreneurs in this short list made presentations to the Etohum fund founders during January.

The 15 entrepreneurs selected to be suitable for investment amongst these 40 ventures were selected by an investment committee including Yemeksepeti.com founders Nevzat Aydın and Melih Ödemiş, GittiGidiyor.com ortakları Burak Divanlıoğlu ve Serkan Borançılı, Cimri.com Founder Aydonat Atasever, Magnet founding partner Ersan Özer, Nokta.com founding partners Tümay Asena, Burçin Didinedin, Mynet Founder Emre Kurttepeli, Mackolik.com Kurucu Ortakları Erdem Yurdanur and Tarkan Onar, Reklamz founder Orkun Tekin, markafoni founding partner Sina Afra, Youth Republic founding partner Kerim Türe, investor Dr. Haluk Elçi, Yonja.com founder Kerim Baran, Ari Keşişoğlu who continues his career in the internet sector abroad and etohum.com founder Burak Büyükdemir.

Etohum which introduces new economy entrepreneurs with investors who can make investments in this field will also be investing new entrepreneurs with the 250.000 capital funding set up in 2011.

The 15 ventures selected for investment in 2011 are:

Medra: The company named Medra was founded Burak Oğuz, H. Özgür Batur and H. Kerem Cevahir, 3 friends who graduated from METU Computer and Electrics-Electronics Engineering departments and their first product MyDLP is an open source coded project allowing people and companies to protect their private information.

Gamester: The social game company named Gamester was founded by Volkan Taban, Onur Karcı and Turan Yiğitbaşı; their first product called Townster is a city planning and real estate game in which players may set up their own cities and get rents or buy buildings from the cities of their friends to become a real estate king.

Betikus: The first product of the venture Betikus which was founded by METU graduates Deniz Aslı Soykurum Çetin and Atılım Çetin is Gideros; a mobile game development application. By using Gideros game developers may write the code for a game once and release it in more than one platform at the same time.

Oyuncakdenizi: oyuncakdenizi.com founded by ITU Geology Engineering and ITU MBA alumnus Serkan Hondur is a site where you can buy toys from.

Gezara: gezara.com founded by Onur Sencer, Hüsnü Babayiğit and Dağhan Ekmekçioğlu is a location-based exploration application. This application is a tool aiming to meet the needs of people when they are outside and to ease their lives. This application helps you find places, activities and discounts in your vicinity and may show and guide you to places that are of interest to you in any category.

Sınavo: sınavo.com established by M. Murat Demir and Özgür Erten who graduated from Izmir University of Economics Computer Engineering department is developing a service that transforms solving problems on the internet into a game thus increasing students’ efficiencies by tracking their performances.

We-decide.net: We-decide.net founded by Berkeley alumnus Erdem Ovacık and Stanford alumnus Kutlu Kazancı enables users to create, purchase and sell ideas and develop them via a virtual idea market that will help corporations in their decision procedures.

Sepeteindir.com: sepeteindir.com founded by Kocaeli University graduate Kaan Veral is an e-commerce site which sells different products alongside a different discounted product for each day.

Pembepanjur.com: Pembepanjur.com founded by Haluk Akın and Seda Berber in 2010 is a service providing scientific matching to its service for “long term and serious relationships”.

Keyground: Keyground founded by Cem Evren Ateş and Can Ateş is a video platform that decreases broadcasting costs while enabling a fast and quality broadcasting opportunity for corporations in need of video broadcasting over the internet.

Gereko: Gereko.com founded by Ayşe Biçer, a METU 2010 Industrial Engineering alumna is an internet platform for everyday cases such as “I will move, I need a carrying company”, “I need a nanny for my baby”, “I need an organization company for my wedding” in which people and companies that give such services may sign up to communicate with you and give quotation for your needs.

Proje Shop: Proje Shop founded by Yıldız Technical University Computer Engineering graduate Yüksel Eminoğlu is developing software enabling B2C and B2B ready e-commerce infrastructures and online shops.

SmartNews: SmartNews founded by Çukurova University Industrial Engineering graduate Erdem Özkan is a system developed to enable users to reach news that are and will be popular in social media. An algorithm that mathematically models the social media presence of users in order to statistically predict which news will be popular forms the foundation of SmartNews.

Memlekettengelsin.com: Memlekettengelsin.com founded by three young entrepreneur partners Veysel Karakaya, Ali Can Akkaş and M. Emre Gül sells Turkey’s local tastes and products via the internet.

Uzmankirala.com: uzmankirala.com founded by 22 year old Murat Turan, currently a student at Bahçeşehir University Software Engineering department is an e-commerce platform that links expert freelancers with employers who wish to get work done on a project basis.

Other 25 projects

Kuponomi.com: Kuponomi.com founded by ITU Architecture graduate Sani Levi is the trading place of missed deals. It is a market place in which you can make use of deal coupons purchased from group deal sites that you cannot use any more.

Animalwars: AnimalWars founded by YTU Computer Engineering graduate İrfan Kaya and ITU Computer Engineering Department graduate Hüseyin Kuşçu is a multi-player role playing game (RPG) targeting mobile medium. Players may carry out different quests with animals that they raised; communicate, commerce and compete with each other online.

Petarkadas: Petarkadas.com founded by Umut Akyol and Şafak Akyol is a community site in which people can have a good time and find information regarding all pets (dogs, cats, birds, rodents, reptiles…), socialize and find homes for homeless pets.

Malzemem.com: Malzemem.com founded by Tuğberk Keselioğlu and Timur Tandoğar is an online store for construction materials that delivers over 10.000 products from sectors such as construction, lighting, electricity, hardware, pool, sauna, occupational safety etc. to anywhere in Turkey in 3 days.

Gayrimenkulübü.com: Gayrimenkul Kulübü founded by Gökhan Acar is a real estate investment club in which individuals who want to purchase estate may form organized groups to receive discounts of up to 30% from construction companies.

Gamezboy: Gamezboy founded by Uğur Tuncel is a mobile game company. It has developed 4 successful games Fetih, İstila, bu karayı al parayı and davul ve zurna that can be found in the Nokia Ovi Store.

Kucukoteller.com.tr: kucukoteller.com.tr founded by Bilkent University graduate İzim Bozada aims to give a service enabling specially discounted prices for boutique and small hotels and special travel preferences in Turkey.

e-eczadeposu.com: e-eczadeposu.com founded by Eskişehir Osmangazi University Electricity-Electronics Eng. Department graduate Ekrem Aksoy and İbrahim Aksoy is a new platform that will be active in the drug procurement system between about 120 prescription medicine distribution companies and 24000 pharmacies all over Turkey.

Terapi.com: terapi.com founded by Önder Eren and Hakan Tekinaslan is an online therapy portal that links psychologists, psychiatrists and coaches with people who are in need of these specialists.

Grupguru.com: Grupguru.com founded by Sabancı University graduate Sarp Centel and Bahçeşehir University graduate Sarp Erdağ makes it easy for you to follow the deals in your city. It collects all the deals valid for your city in one place and suggests deals that might interest you.

6q.net: 6q.net founded by Okan Yıldırım, Ramazan Akman and Mustafa Arslan is a company developing online games. The company that has focused on quiz shows, word, board and card games has over 10 games in its product portfolio.

Shoppio: Shoppio founded by Gökhan Beseb and Mehmet Umut Atasever is a technology venture aiming to start the first Social Market place application in Turkey. This application enables companies/individuals to sell their products or services via Facebook listing or online sales methods.

Goma: GOMA founded by ITU electronics faculty Ozan Dikerler and Övünç Dalkıran who is still a student at ITU Computer Engineering department is a web based mobile application development application.

Games’nGamers: Games’nGamers founded by Ahmet Cemil Cerenoğlu is a social network project aiming to solve the common problems of massively multi-player game players.

Mofcon: Mofcon founded by Sakarya University Electrics Electronics Engineering department graduate İbrahim Yıldız is a B2B social business network project.

Taksimobil: TaksiMobil which is a new generation taxi calling system developed by Munich Technical University Electrics/Electronics Engineering Department graduate Alper Öztürk uses the GPS technology of mobile devices to forward the customer calls to the closest free taxi. When the taxi driver accepts the call the customer receives real-time information containing the license plate, distance and estimated arrival time of the taxi.

Sporcutv: Sporcutv.com founded by Burak ulukanlı, Oya Sarıer and Erhan Bağrıaçık is a platform that aims to connect the sports sector online.

Foo Messenger: Foo Messenger project started by Burak Bayburtlu and Ertuğrul Gerçeker is a messaging service for smart-phone users but unlike the instant messaging programs it connects via the cell phone number.

Doktorfil: Doktorfil project founded by Onur Özkol, a YTU Electronics and Communication Eng. Department graduate who is currently pursuing a master’s degree at the Bosphorus University Computer Engineering department and Erdem Özkol is related with the sales and internet services of wireless blood pressure measuring devices, wireless scales, wireless blood sugar measurement devices.

Cheetah Mobile: Cheetah Mobile founded by Bilkent University Computer Engineering student Emrah Ayanoğlu is a game company that will be established to develop mobile applications and games.

Lokaid founded by METU Electrics and Electronics Engineering graduate Koray Balcı and METU Mathematics Department graduate Orçun Topdağı is an internet service forming the common infrastructure of cell phone applications. It transforms the position data provided by new generation cell phones to location (café, cinema, store, etc.) data. It enables users to share these locations in social networks. It creates a platform for developers who can use these data to give different services to users.

Hementemizle.com founded by Turgut Yazıcı, Fatih Şaki and Pars Kunt will bring together dry-cleaning suppliers online in one place and give service to consumers.

Zibumi founded by Elif Buğdaycıoğlu, Serhat Bayılı and Zeynep Bilirgil Direskeneli is a game company. It currently continues its operations at the METU Teknokent Galyum Ankara address. You can find information about their flash games at www.zibumi.com and their project information at www.zibumigames.com.

Firmanya.com founded by Ceki Mitrani and Metin Bencuya is the world’s first group-buying web site for corporations. It operates by daily notification e-mails sent to the members about services and products regarding companies and company employees at discount rates of up to 80 %.

AlisverisRobotu.com, is a shopping guide where users may search for product and price information from either online or physical shops helping them to make an effective decision about where to buy which product. The venture was established by Ertuğrul Yılmaz and Çağdaş Tatlıcı.

Animalwars, AnimalWars founded by YTU Computer Engineering graduate İrfan Kaya and ITU Computer Engineering Department graduate Hüseyin Kuşçu is a multi-player role playing game (RPG) targeting mobile medium. Players may carry out different quests with animals that they raised; communicate, commerce and compete with each other online.

Gamester, The social game company named Gamester was founded by Volkan Taban, Onur Karcı and Turan Yiğitbaşı; their first product called Townster is a city planning and real estate game in which players may set up their own cities and get rents or buy buildings from the cities of their friends to become a real estate king.