Following  Webrazzi Summit in 19 October 2011, we were mostly asked about our conferences in 2012.

We have been working as hard as we can, but we can share the details of Webrazzi Conferences with you now. We have made great effort moving to our new office, making our new friends feel home in our team, and completing new product based projects, including Webrazzi TV; so I can say maybe we are not very late about it. Now that I think, no, we are not very late.

Let me tell you about the details now…

We won’t be having Webrazzi Agenda in 2012.Instead, we will be with you on Webrazzi Conferences, which are similar to Webrazzi Summit, but the difference is Webrazzi Conferences will be focusing on a single topic while being a whole day event like Webrazzi Summit. Here are the details on the conferences, which are each 500 people events.

First of conference series will be  Webrazzi E-Commerce’12 Conference at Point Hotel Barbaros in 15 February 2012. I want to highlight this. You can have detailed information on these Webrazzi Summit like, more networking enabled, stand area offering and whole day conferences. And you can register before it is late.

The second of Webrazzi conference series will be Webrazzi Digital’12 Conference at Point Hotel Barbaros in 14 March 2012. As with Webrazzi E-Commerce’12, it will be a whole day event and offer a conference program that we will all focus only on Digital Marketing and Advertising. You register for it as of today. You can register now, and details are here.

The third of our conference series will be Webrazzi Startup’12 Conference at Point Hotel Barbaros in 15 May 2012. This concept is one that I regret to not having until today and which Webrazzi readers show a great demand to it, so finally we are making it true.

Webrazzi Startup’12 will be a program for only start-up owners, entrepreneurs and investors and will be again a whole day event, which at the same time will have start-up presentations and a contest.

We know that global investors will show great interest for Webrazzi Startup’12 Conference, and it will provide a valuable networking and business development platform for Turkey’s internet ecosystem.

Registrations for Webrazzi Startup’12 are available now. You can register now, and details are here.

Webrazzi Summit will be in October 2012

Among Webrazzi events, people are mostly curious about when Webrazzi Summit will be held…We will announce the exact dat of Webrazzi Summit, which will be held in October 2012.

As we are planning a larger organization compared to previous years, we need some more time,

Below are the conferences and their dates in short;

Webrazzi E-Commerce’12 Konferansı – 15 February 2012, Point Hotel Barbaros

Webrazzi Digital’12 Konferansı - 14 March 2012, Point Hotel Barbaros

Webrazzi Startup’12 Konferansı – 15 May 2012, Point Hotel Barbaros

Would you like to be a sponsor?

Sponsor interviews for Webrazzi Conferences (E-Commerce’12, Digital’12, Startup’12) and Webrazzi Summit have started this week. Companies wishing to sponsor can ask for sponsorship document at etkinlik@webrazzi.com or have a look at sponsorship page at Webrazzi Events website for detailed information.

You can have detailed info on all of our conferences at www.webrazzi.com/etkinlik and register now.

Also, you might want to see pictures from Webrazzi Summit 2011, while waiting for Webrazzi Conferences, which will be focusing on a single topic, with the spirit of Webrazzi Summit.

This post has been written by Arda Kutsal and published on Webrazzi Global.

You might remember our former reports on CookingGames.com which was sold for $350,000 and UcakBileti.com which was sold for $250,000. The report I wish to share with you now is not about retail, but it has an important place in Turkey’s domain names market because of the brand new model it brought in.

NoktaDomains.com has started providing a service for the names in its portfolio, allowing everyone wishing to rent the listed domain names.

For instance, you may rent the domain name AlisverisSiteleri.com which has a value of $25.500 – $41.000 marketing price, paying a fee of $265 per month and use it for your enterprise  idea.

As part of the domain name rental service the company also offers alternate rates for advance or monthly payment on long-term deals.

The company provides a number of pricing options for prepayment or monthly payment for long term contracts as part of domain name rental service.

NoktaDomains.com has started a model similar to long term car rental model, and I believe it is a service worth considering. With this service, both the unsold domains od NoktaDomains.com will be utilized, and the people who need these domain names prevent high initial investment costs.

You can have a look at NoktaDomains.com website and review full list of domain names by clicking “Lease Domains” link and the one that catch your interest.

I believe start-up owners who have projects should definitely have a look at “AnaHaberler.com” and “Annelik.com”. They won’t be on the list forever

Original Post: Nokta Domains’in Yeni Servisi ile Jenerik Alan Adlarını Kiralayabilirsiniz

This post has been written by Arda Kutsal and published on Webrazzi Global.

First let me say that Fizy has benefited from the synergy between Turkcell’s group companies and will have a channel on Digiturk.

Fizy’s Digiturk channel might be one of the first surprises of year 2012, and I believe that it will be very effective and useful. We have also learned that Fizy might work with D-Smart for a similar channel besides Digiturk.

Fizy will be in international markets

I think it is significant that Fizy is expanding to countries that Turkcell provide services. Turkcell currently operates in Germany, Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and TRNC (Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus) but we have no information regarding in which countries Fizy will be available. Yet we know that Fizy will be providing service in three or four of these countries initially.

Premium membership is on its way

We heard that Fizy has no problems regarding advertising revenue and diversification of the revenue model is on the schedule for 2012. Also premium membership model will be launched but details on premium membership benefits are not available yet.

Fizy Shop will offer Fizy branded products

Along with premium membership, Fizy Shop will be opened on March 2012 where Fizy branded  products will be on sale. With products like music players and headphones, Fizy Shop will be demonstrating a rare working model among other e-brands.

Will be listed on the stock Exchange in 2 years

Turkcell’s plans for Fizy are not limited to new features and global expansion. As we have learned, the company is also planning to get Fizy listed on stock exchange in 2 years as management plans.

I don’t know if Fizy will be in the stock market in 2 years’ time but there’s one thing I’m sure of. Fizy bears the potential to be a global success since the day it was started, and might be one of the major players in Turkey, that expand globally, supported by its international marketing activities.

Original Post: Fizy’nin 2012 Hedefleri – Digiturk Kanalı ve Premium Üyelik Yolda!

This post has been written by Arda Kutsal and published on Webrazzi Global.

The startup will be offering diamond ring, necklace, bracelet, and earrings sale on the internet and offering its services at Hazinem.com.

Hazinem.com gets online today, so you can have a look at it now, or read about the details of the company below.

Sevgi Karagülle Soysal, former GM of Pera Pırlanta has started this new startup with a capital of 140 thousand TRY. While the majority shareholder is Sevgi Karagülle Soysal, Mahmut Ünlü and Emre Kurttepeli has 4%, and 212 capital fund GM Numan Numanbayraktaroğlu has 2%, Haluk Elçi 10% shares at Hazinem Pırlanta.

2007 data reveal that 650 million dollar diamond industry in Turkey is growing rapidly, and it is not hard to see the large potential Hazinem.com has got. Emre Kurttepeli, one of the most successful angel investors, takes place in this business with a small investment, but it is for sure that he will be very influential in the future of the initiative.

We will all wait and see if Tiger & Kurttepeli consortium will act together this time as we have seen in many examples before.

This post has been written by Arda Kutsal and published on Webrazzi Global.

Reklamz

Ballroom International included Reklamz, Vidyoda, SEM and Linkz to its network after acquiring all sister companies, which offer advertising and digital services, and updated its website as necessary. You can see Ballroom International’s networks and partners here.

While we do not have confirmed info about the amount of this acquisition, we do have some hearsay information and we are trying to have those confirmed.

As per the contract, Turkish partners of Reklamz, Linkz and SEM A.Ş. have acquired 10 percent of Ballroom International, and thus partnered in this operation and long-term partnership.

Turkish partners of Reklamz, Linkz and SEM A.Ş. have acquired 10% shares of Ballroom International, and thus partnered in the operation and long-term partnership as per the contract.

I believe that Orkun Tekin, who has made other investments besides Reklamz before, will speed up his investments in the industry with this new development. So Reklamz acquisition gains great value as foreign investment has taken place in Turkey and the number of angel investors will increase with this development.

Reklamz founder Orkun Tekin has confirmed the news and gave some extra info

Orkun Tekin said following the acquisition he has become board member and head of Strategically Investments and Development at Ballroom International.

He added that Ballroom International will export SEM, Linkz and Vidyoda’s products and services to 5 countries.

Ballroom International is getting ready for public offering

This acquisition was finalized with the capital made by the investment which Ballroom International has received from a Polish group for its 35 percent shares a while ago. This acquisition is affected by the fact that Ballroom International is getting ready for public offering. The company is getting ready for publics offering in 2012 in Poland, and also getting ready for stock market with an international expansion.

Reklamz, Linkz and SEM A.Ş. will have a total turnover of 35 million TRY in 2011

There are various hearsay information on valuation of Reklamz, Linkz and SEM A.Ş., since Ballroom International, with a total valuation of 30 million Euros, has transferred 10 percent of the company to Turkish partners. Orkun Tekin has not commented or said anything about this, but said the total turnover of companies will be more than 35 million TL in 2011.

Reklamz and sister companies may have been valued at 15 million dollars

It can be said these hearsay information is most probably correct, as total valuation of acquisition is nearly 15 million dollars. Although Orkun Tekin does not make any comments, it is probable for a group making 35 million TL turnovers to have been valued at 15 million dollars. Of course I am just guessing here, so we will update you on this in the coming days.

Reklamz is the first digital media sales house to receive foreign investment

There were no digital media sales houses to receive foreign investment in Turkey so far, so it won’t be wrong to say that Reklamz is the first among them. I believe this is a new period for the industry, and we will most probably hear news about similar investments and acquisitions of other advertising networks.

Original Post: Reklamz, Linkz ve SEM A.Ş. Almanya Merkezli Ballroom International Network Tarafından Satın Alındı

This post has been written by Arda Kutsal and published on Webrazzi Global.

World’s e-commerce giant Amazon has finally taken its position in Turkish market as expected and took its first step into Turkish market as the minority shareholder of CicekSepeti.com.

As we have learned, contract process that was being handled in the strictest confidence between Amazon ve CicekSepeti, has been finalized and official process about Amazon’s investment has started.

I have talked to CicekSepeti.com founder Emre Aydın, who also confirmed the agreement.

Update: Press release has been published. You can find whole text at the end of the article.

Update 2: TechCrunch published an article about it.

As Amazon has become minority shareholder in CicekSepeti.com, there are two foreign investors in the company, with Hummingbird Ventures now. I believe this reveals the huge success of CicekSepeti.com and Hummingbird’s wise decision to invest in the service.

As you will remember, Hummingbird Ventures made an investment in CicekSepeti in January 2011. Not even 1 year passed after the investment and now Amazon is the 2^nd investor of the company, so I think this investment will make global markets more aware of the potential Turkish internet market bears.

We do not have information about financial aspects of the agreement but I believe Amazon will give NASDAQ financial details of the contract once shares transfer is finalized.

I congratulate CicekSepeti and Hummingbird Ventures managers on Amazon partnership which bears much value for our industry. Also we want to say “Welcome to Turkey” to Amazon here.

We will be updating you as new official information is received, so keep following us.

Update: Press release has just been published. You can find whole text at the end of the article.

Amazon.com Becomes a Minority Shareholder in ciceksepeti.com

ciceksepeti.com, Turkey’s leading flower and gift delivery service, has announced that the necessary process for amazon.com to be a ciceksepeti.com’ minority shareholder has started.

Greg Greeley, Amazon Vice President, European Retail, has said they are very happy to support ciceksepeti.com, which started an innovative e-trading company in Turkey, in its growth process. Greeley added that ciceksepeti.com is focused in offering affordable prices, wide range of products and comfortable shopping experience for flower and gift delivery across Turkey, like amazon.com.

Started by Emre Aydın, ciceksepeti.com is one of the leading e-trading companies in Turkey and can deliver flowers the day they are ordered across the country. Ciceksepeti.com offers a wide range of bouquets, gourmet gift baskets, jewelry, and gifts for special events.

Emre Aydın, ciceksepeti.com founding GM, has said he is glad to see Amazon among minority shareholders in the new period of company’s fast growth process, while adding that ciceksepeti.com is ambitious about working hard on further developing and extending its high level of service quality for flower, gourmet products and gift deli

Original Post: Amazon Türkiye’ye İlk Adımını CicekSepeti.com ile Attı!

This post has been written by Arda Kutsal and published on Webrazzi Global.

Private shopping market has achieved serious growth in terms of not only penetration, but also turnover figures. We will publish a detailed article on this issue later on.

I want to remind you here that below list is made up from comScore measurement for private shopping websites, which means that these do not show the turnovers of companies. comScore’s October data for private shopping websites reveal that Markafoni has achieved 300 percent growth and is the 1^st on the list with its total unique visitor number. The company is aiming to be a brand of 1 billion dollars in 3 years, and it reached 3.34 million unique visitors in October.

We see limango as the 2^nd on the list with 3.059 million unique visitors in October. The company is the flagship of Otto Group in Turkey and has sped up with TV ads lately. Limango is followed by Trendyol with 2.531 million unique visitors in October. Trendyol received an investment of 26 million dollars in August and  raised its total amount of investment to 50 million dollars, while it has the largest number of average minutes per visit with 7.5 minutes.

Below you can find the complete list that we will analyze in detail further.

Trendyol is followed by Vipdukkan.com, which received 5 million dollar investment in June and the company has reached 2.071 million unique visitors in October.

Morhipo from Boyner Group is the fifth on the list with 1.672 million unique visitors. As the company has made huge expenses for advertising including TV ads, it is probable that it can be an important threat for Vipdukkan.com in terms of penetration.

While a little underestimated Clubboon is on the 6^th with 1.125 million unique visitors on comScore’s list. Clubboon targets the general audience in private shopping, besides woman/man textile apparel, children and home categories. The service has reached 1.086 million unique visitors in October and is neck and neck with another underestimated service, Bingomingo.com.

Daybuyday, supported by Hepsiburada, is another name on the list that we should keep an eye on. The service is on the 8^th place on the list with 953 thousand and can increase its penetration in the coming period.

The 9. on the list is Markasan.com. This service is another underestimated service, while with 698 thousand unique visitors it has reached in October; I can say that this service has gone into our radar too.

Evim.net focuses on vertical parts in private shopping market and sells only home decoration products. Evim.net has reached 476 thousand unique visitors, with the support of female users who dominate private shopping market. Evim.net is followed by Enmoda.com, owned by Doğuş Grubu, and focuses on premium brands and products. The number of unique visitors Enmoda.com reached in October is 317 thousand.

Alamarka, one of the first brands of private shopping and leading services once, follows Enmoda.com with 212 thousand unique visitors, being the 12^th on the list.

Another vertical private shopping website on the list is Unnado. The service focuses on mother, baby and child products and reached 140 thousand unique visitors in October. The start-up had received investment from iLab Ventures, and I believe we should follow this service in the coming months.

I want to highlight once again that this list is from comScore’s October data, and does not reveal any info about the companies’ turnover figures.

Finally, there is 1V1Y.com, which was not on the list but will be measured by comScore in November. We will be sharing data about the service in the coming days. comScore has said that November report will include 1V1Y.com.

Original Post: comScore’a Göre Özel Alışveriş Sitelerinin Ekim Ayı Ziyaretçi Sayıları

This post has been written by Arda Kutsal and published on Webrazzi Global.

Ballroom International bought the entire sister companies offering advertising and digital services, and included Reklamz, Vidyoda, SEM and Linkz to its network, while updating its website as necessary. You can reach networks and partners of Ballroom International at this link.

We do not have information about the amount, but we do have some hearsay information and we are trying to have them confirmed.

As per the contract, Turkish partners of Reklamz, Linkz and SEM A.Ş. have acquired 10 percent of Ballroom International, and thus partnered in this operation and long-term partnership.

Orkun Tekin has his own investments besides Reklamz and I believe that he will speed up his investments in the industry with this new development. For this reason, I think Reklamz acquisition is very valuable as foreign investment takes place in Turkey and the number of angel investors increases with this development.

I have talked to Reklamz founder Orkun Tekin. He confirmed the news and gave us some extra information

Orkun Tekin told us that he has become head of Strategically Investments and Development at Ballroom International and board member.

He added that SEM, Linkz and Vidyoda’s products and services will be exported in 5 countries by Ballroom International.

Ballroom International is getting ready for public offering

Ballroom International had received investment from a Polish group for its 35 percent shares a while ago, and this acquisition has been realized with the capital created by this investment. This acquisition is affected by the fact that Ballroom International is getting ready for public offering. The company is getting ready for publics offering in 2012 in Poland, and also getting ready for stock market with an international expansion.

Total turnover of Reklamz, Linkz and SEM A.Ş. is 35 million TRY in 2011

We receive various hearsays on valuation of Reklamz, Linkz and SEM A.Ş. as Ballroom International, with a total valuation of 30 million Euros, has transferred 10 percent of the company to Turkish partners. Orkun Tekin did not comment or say anything about

it, but said the total turnover of companies will be more than 35 million TL in 2011.

Reklamz and its sister companies may have been valued at 15 million dollars

We can say that hearsay information is most probably correct, as we heard that the total valuation of acquisition is nearly 15 million dollars. Even though Orkun Tekin does not make any comments, it is probable that a group making 35 million TL turnovers has been valued at 15 million dollars. This is of course just my guess, so we will update you on this in the coming days.

First digital media sales house to receive foreign investment is Reklamz

As far as I know, there were no digital media sales houses to receive foreign investment in Turkey so far. So it won’t be wrong to say that Reklamz is the first. I believe that it is a new era for the industry, and we probably will hear about similar investments and acquisitions from other advertising networks.

Original Post: Reklamz, Linkz ve SEM A.Ş. Almanya Merkezli Ballroom International Network Tarafından Satın Alındı

This post has been written by Arda Kutsal and published on Webrazzi Global.

NOAH Advisors did not mention about the percentage, but confirmed that majority of shares were sold, while announcing that the group acquiring Grupfoni shares is Swedish investment company Quants Financial Services.

The announcement that wasn sent to us has also detailed information on Grupfoni. We can see that Grupfoni has currently 1,4 million members and daily 150,000 visitors. Also, the company has sold 1.4 million coupons and offered 7000 promotions.

UPDATE: Burak Hatipoğlu, Grupfoni GM, said the data sent by NOAH Advisors is not up-to-date and the correct figures are 1.93 million members, 200-230 thousand unique visitors, 13,595 promotions in total and a total of 1,489,000 coupon sales as of today.

With this announcement, it has been confirmed that Quants Financial Services AG has acquired the shares of Klaus Hommels and Oliver Jung, Grupfoni’s first investors. Also, Emre Kurttepeli is among the first investors leaving Grupfoni with this acquisition.

We have searched about Quants Financial Services AG, and learned that company’s board includes some interesting names as Alper Erinç and Ali Can Kaya.

The investors making this acquisition whose names are disguised are not necessarily the board members of the company we have mentioned above. But we can at least say that a Swedish based investment company, Quants Financial Services AG, is a group that has Turkish investors, and it will be included in the list of companies that are in our radar.

Below you can find the document shared by NOAH Advisor, with general information about the acquisition.

Grupfoni Transaction Case Study

This post has been written by Arda Kutsal and published on Webrazzi Global.

Firstly, we need to state that the selling is mainly focused on the stakes of Cem Nufusi, one of the founder partners of Yemeksepeti.

In this operation including the exchange of 10.57% of stakes in total, the 10.21% of this rate covers the stakes of Cem Nufusi.

Gökhan Akan, who is among the founder partners of the company raised the stake rate and Birol Yüce and Can Yüceoğlu also joined the partners in this investment tour where different partners and stake groups are involved, leading to different evaluations. For this reason, it would not be convenient to give out info such as ‘this figure amounting to this much stake is accepted’. However, according to the data we have compiled through our resources, about 10% of stakes were sold for 4-5 million dollars. Since this sale was realized mainly among the old partners, it does not really reflect the actual value of the company and it corresponds to about 50 million dollars. However, what we heard is that Yemeksepeti very recently declined a proposal of buying or investment at a value of 120 million dollars. We could not verify this 120-million-dollar-offer but we know for certain that it is a process definitely excluded of this investment tour and that the offer is declined by the board of management. We will be sharing the related details separately later when we get them.

You can see below the new partnership distribution of Yemeksepeti after the selling operation.

You must have noted that European Founders Fund, a.k.a Samwer brothers, is currently partner of Yemeksepeti by a rate of 18.38% while Nevzat Aydın and Melih Ödemiş, as the major stakeholders among the founding partners, hold stakes by 24.31% per person. We should also add that European Founders Fund did not lose any stakes upon this selling operation while Nevzat Aydın and Melih Ödemiş lost 3.72% out of 28.03% stake per person  However, we are not sure at this stage whether this rate of 3.72% per person is reduced during the capital raise or they sold stakes, too.

My personal opinion is that it is of utmost importance and value for the founders to keep as high stake rates as possible at this stage. When you compare their stakes which they have not reduced with investment to the current value of Yemeksepeti, I think you would see that this is another important entrepreneurship lesson beside Yemeksepeti itself.

We will update this article when additional information or explanation about the matter is shared.

Original Post: Yemeksepeti.com %10 Hissesini Sattı

This post has been written by Arda Kutsal and published on Webrazzi Global.