Technology startups Fazla, GoWit, and MentalUP, which specialise in e-commerce, waste management education, and AI, are working to increase their position in the worldwide market with the help of investors.
Turkish technology entrepreneurs are prioritising expansion into international markets as a result of fresh funding, and investor expectations have changed to support businesses with the ability to succeed globally.
Startups, on the other hand, who do not refocus their growth objectives on international markets, have trouble attracting investors.
This year, Fazla, a trailblazing trash management firm, MentalUP, a gamified education startup co-owned by Türk Telekom, and GoWit, a top advertising technology brand, are using their funding to grow internationally.
Waste management and sustainability continue to be a major worldwide concern, dominating the agenda and making headlines all over the world.
Fazla is attempting to stop the production of waste across a variety of industries, from food to chemicals to textiles and packaging.
Fazla, which was established in 2016 by Arda Eren and Olcay Silahl, intends to improve trash management by turning existing waste into a circular economy with the greatest possible environmental, social, and economic advantages.
A funding round headed by Esor Investment and 212, with participation from TTGV, TKYB, Founder One, and other investors, has just revealed that the firm, following its successful Series A round, has secured a $6 million investment at a $43 million value.
The original investor in 2017 (Techstars) and the prior round’s participant (Atlantic Food Labs) both made follow-on investments in the most recent round.
Spain’s Expansion
In addition to accelerating operations and enhancing its position in the Spanish waste management ecosystem, Fazla hopes to use the funding to enhance research and development (R&D) and broaden the scope of services it can provide.
“In 2023, we started our global growth. Olcay Silahl, co-founder and CEO of Fazla, stated, “We created our local team in Spain as of March 2023 and we started our operations vigorously in the field.
“With this investment, we hope to strengthen our business in Spain and expand our current activities in 68 regions of Turkey. Through our seven services, all of which were created by Fazla and are the result of different technologies, we will continue to broaden the effect and scope of our business operations with the help of this interim funding round. By including specialists in the area, we will fortify our investments in team expansion and keep our distinctive structure. The transformation that the world needs will be led by us, Silahl vowed.
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An Integrated Approach to Waste
The broad technical network of Fazla, according to co-founder and CTO Arda Eren, was highlighted.
“As a deep tech organisation, we enhance our impact exponentially with a holistic approach by designing our web, mobile, and IoT solutions, which we entirely develop in-house, with a data-oriented 360-degree perspective and a focus on traceability and scalability in waste management,” Eren stated.
We will continue to make R&D investments with this investment in order to strengthen our created solutions and broaden our product line.
Expanding the European market
The investment in the latest two rounds was led by Ali Karabey, co-founder of 212 and investor in Fazla since 2021. He claimed that the company had pioneered waste management in Türkiye and had attained “remarkable” pace.
It is currently growing in the European market, with Spain as its initial focus. A crucial step towards establishing domination in the European market will be the team’s performance in Spain, according to Karabey.
We are very confident that the skilled and knowledgeable team at Fazla will have a big influence on the Spanish market.
Vision of a more wholesome world
Co-founder of Esor Investment, evki Kuyulu, claimed that Fazla’s technology lessens waste production at the source.
“Recovering irreducible trash has the highest economic, environmental, and societal advantages. We chose to invest in Fazla as our first investment for 2023 because of the advantages it offers the world, Kuyulu stated.
“With the right steps taken now, a healthier world is possible,” the statement reads. “We believe that the waste-related issue we are facing today is crucial for our future.”
GoWit raises $1 million in funding
During the marketplaces’ expansion phase, advertising has evolved into a more powerful instrument.
GoWit offers advertisers a comprehensive platform with solutions centred on personalised ads and multi-channel client reach, adding a fresh perspective to the continually evolving and shifting global digital advertising business.
GoWit, a well-known name in the field of advertising technology, has revealed this week that it has received a $1 million investment. Esas Ventures, Alarko Ventures, APY Ventures, and the Mindvest Venture Capital Investment Fund participated in the investment round.
The Retail Media Ads (RMA) platform was introduced by the Turkish multichannel marketplace advertising platform last year, and it immediately announced additional alliances with national and international marketplaces. Marketplaces can provide advertising spaces to the brands they partner with using the GoWit RMA platform, which enables them to boost brand recognition, sales, and overall advertising conversions through efficient audience targeting and a variety of ad formats that can run on numerous channels.
The most recent investment is crucial for the business’s ability to maintain its leadership position in the Turkish industry and grow internationally.
Market coherence
GoWit is still constantly working and collaborating with marketplaces to satisfy their demands as they try to take advantage of the changing customer potential on online platforms and make money from the advertising sections in the expanding e-commerce ecosystem.
Co-founder and CEO of GoWit Emrah Adsan stated that from the company’s founding, GoWit has concentrated on “transforming the advertising ecosystem and making it more democratic.”
“Getting this investment is crucial for us to accelerate our planned initiatives,” said Adsan. “After launching our RMA product and signing agreements with well-known companies in our country and around the world.”
“Throughout this approach, we were able to achieve product-market fit and clearly see the need for a full advertising platform. We want to express our gratitude to each of our investors; their belief in our ability to be pioneers in the industry has been a great source of motivation for us.”
British office
In addition to attempting to increase marketplace and brand knowledge of the possibilities presented by the Retail Media Ads platform, Adsan stated that the company also hopes to expand its customer base globally.
“This money will be utilised particularly to raise brand awareness for our business and broaden the market for our goods. The investment will benefit us in a number of ways, including product development and marketing tactics, he continued.
In order to take advantage of the current market conditions and gain from a global viewpoint, GoWit aims to build an office in London soon. This will bring together a variety of marketplaces and brands with the endless prospects provided by Retail Media.
MentalUP strives toward global recognition
MentalUP, the gamified education platform, is one of the contenders chasing growth in the global market in 2023. In 2022, MentalUP gained 5 million new users in 15 different markets and added a new module called “Event Center.”
With its digital education platforms, one of Turkey’s major technology and communications firms, Türk Telekom, remains the top pick of parents, educators, and students.
By expanding the number of nations it services in 2022, MentalUP, a company in which Türk Telekom participates through its corporate venture capital arm TT Ventures, helped kids study while having fun.
According to Muhammed zhan, the general manager of TT Ventures, the number of users of the gamified education platform, which aims to be recognised as one of the most successful education businesses, is rising daily across the globe.
In 2022, MentalUP began providing services to 5 million additional customers throughout 15 various areas, including those in the US, Australia, Canada, and the UK. We are honoured to support the initiative’s efforts to make a difference in the sphere of education, which Türk Telekom funded through the PILOT (startup acceleration) programme in 2016 and later became a partner with TT Ventures, said zhan.
By the end of 2023, according to MentalUP co-founder Emre zgündüz, they hope to have 30 million users, thanks to growth initiatives in various regions and a push into Central and African nations.
Zgündüz claims that by 2022, the platform was one of the domestic market’s applications with the greatest number of users in its age group.
“In 2022, we concentrated on growth initiatives in several markets with the goal of extending our experiences in Turkey to international markets. By adding 5 million new members globally, we were able to reach a total of 15 million users, according to Zgündüz.
By the end of 2023, we hope to have 30 million users overall, thanks to expansion in the African and Central European regions.
MentalUP, Turkey’s first gamified education platform that improves cognition in kids ages 4 to 13, including attention and memory, has unveiled a brand-new module called Event Centre to its customers.
The module gives kids the chance to take part in modern activities and competitions while honing their mental abilities, like focus and memory, through brainteasers and physical activities.
More than 150 gamified cognitive workouts and more than 210 fitness activities based on animation are included. Through the Event Centre, which offers up-to-date and momentary activities and competitions, kids may have fun, compete with one another, and learn at the same time.
Over 500,000 kids have already taken part in activities conducted at the Event Centre. As one of the top 10 most downloaded applications in the 6-8 Age Children Category on the US App Store, MentalUP has grown significantly in popularity and recognition.
The “MentalUP Fitness for Kids” project has achieved a top 10 ranking in the “BiGG Sports Awards,” which was put on by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye (TÜBITAK) and the Ministry of Youth and Sports in recognition of its work to advance technology in the sports industry.
