# Top 50 Artificial intelligence Angel Investors in Turkey in October 2023

## Firat Isbecer
- Type: Angel
- Location: Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey
- Relevant deals: 2
- Stages: Seed, Angel, Pre-Seed
- Focus: Internet, Software, SaaS

Firat Isbecer is an entrepreneur and a seed investor. His first venture Pozitron, a mobile software company focusing on digital banking, commerce and mobile payments, became one of the fastest growing enterprise software companies in Europe with clients across the globe. After multi years of growth and a successful international expansion, Pozitronwas acquired by London-based fin-tech star Monitise plc in 2014.After the acquisition, he joined Monitise and oversaw the company’s regional operations as the MEA Managing Director. Monitise MEA quickly became one of the most profitable business units of Monitise Group. In 2017, Monitise Group was fully acquired by the US-based, Fiserv Inc, one of the world's largest fin-tech companies with more than 50,000 employees.Shortly after the acquisition, he left Fiserv and founded his newest venture, Commencis. Commencis helps leading brands grow and scale in digital, powered by it’s Big Data, Analytics and Cloud products.In September 2019, Commencis expanded to Berlin, Germany by announcing finbyte, a joint-venture in fintech solutions. Besides Commencis, he is also an active seed investor. Member of Galata Business Angels, Turkey’s first angel investor group.After graduating from Robert College in Istanbul, Firat received his Bachelor’s Degree from Galatasaray University, and his Master’s Degree from a joint programme by Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne and École Normale Supérieure in Paris.

## Hulusi Berik
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 2
- Stages: Angel
- Focus: Artificial Intelligence, Software, Health Care

Hulusi Berik is the Chairman at Keiretsu Forum.

## Sertaç Özinal
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 2
- Stages: Seed, Angel
- Focus: Internet, FinTech, Payments

Sertaç Özinal

## Cem Tüfekçi
- Type: Angel
- Location: Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey
- Relevant deals: 2
- Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed, Series B
- Focus: Machine Learning, Analytics, SaaS

Cem Tüfekçi

## Nevzat Aydın
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 2
- Stages: Seed, Angel, Pre-Seed
- Focus: Internet, E-Commerce, Software

Nevzat Aydın is the CEO of Yemeksepeti.com, the first and biggest online food delivery portal in Turkey.Born in 1976 in İstanbul, Nevzat Aydın completed his secondary education at the Bursa Anatolian High School. Following his graduation from Boğaziçi University Department of Computer Engineering, he went to the United States where he receivedhis MBA at the University of San Francisco in Silicon Valley.During his stay in the United States, Aydın followed the latest developments on e-trade before he returned to Turkey in 2000 to launch his project, Yemeksepeti.com. Serving as the CEO of Yemeksepeti.com, Nevzat Aydın introduced a brand new dimension to e-trade in Turkey.In 2007, Yemeksepeti.com was selected the “Endeavor Entreprenur” by Endeavor Turkey. Aydin was also selected the “Most Successful Turkish Young Entrepreneur” by the CNBC-e Business magazine in 2010 for his successful work since the foundation of Yemeksepeti.com.As the founder and CEO of Yemeksepeti.com, which celebrated its 11th anniversary in 2012, he won the first prize in 2011 in the “Male Entrepreneur of the Year” category at the “Businesspeople of the Year” survey conducted by the Ekonomist magazine among nearly 3,000 business people.Aydin is a member of the Young Entrepreneurs Supreme Board of the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey, and a founding member of Galata Business Angels.Aydın was one of the 150 entrepreneurs invited from all over the world to the Entrepreneurship Summit held by US President Barack Obama on April 26-27, 2010.He was also among the speakers at the DLD (Digital-Life-Design) Conference, which is deemed as one of the world's most prestigious conferences with its content on innovation and developments in the digital world. He is also an editorial advisor of GQ Turkey, one of the 5 “dragons” of the Dragons’ Den Turkey show, and a Board Member of Trabzonspor sports club.

## hi VC
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 2
- Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed
- Focus: Software, Artificial Intelligence, Information Technology

hi VC

## Ali Aksakarya
- Type: Angel
- Location: London, England, United Kingdom
- Relevant deals: 2
- Stages: Angel
- Focus: Artificial Intelligence, Software, Health Care

Experienced Software Engineer with a demonstrated history of management in information technology.
Highly skilled in software architecture and product development. Developed 4 full-stack software applications including native mobile clients single-handedly and directed more than 30. A serial entrepreneur, neuropsychology enthusiast, and an earlystage heavyweight boxer after years of powerlifting.

## Halit Buyukkusoglu
- Type: Angel
- Location: Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed
- Focus: Software, Artificial Intelligence

Halit Büyükkuşoğlu serves as board member at Farplas.

## Emre Kozlu
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed
- Focus: Software, Artificial Intelligence, InsurTech

Emre Kozlu

## Yagiz Gokdemir
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed
- Focus: Artificial Intelligence, Software, SaaS

Yagiz Gokdemir

## Umut Şenol
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1

Umut Şenol is a Managing Partner at Core Out of Home. He attended
Harvard Business School.

## Umit Arsoy
- Type: Angel
- Location: Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed
- Focus: Software, Artificial Intelligence

Umit Arsoy

## Ali Karabey
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Series A, Pre-Seed
- Focus: Software, iOS, Marketing

Ali Karabey is a managing director at 212, a venture capital fund that focuses on investments in internet, communication and technology companies.Karabey also currently serves on the boards of several e-commerce companies, including Butigo.com, an online fashion retail start-up focusing on fast fashion; Balerin.com, a front-runner in theonline personal care vertical; and Hazinem.com, an online jewelry store.After graduating from the University of Michigan with a degree in finance, Ali resumed his career in Arthur Andersen’s New York office in the Corporate Finance department, executing mid-market transactions in the technology, media and telecommunications industries.In 2002, he joined Morgan Stanley Capital International and managed North American and European finance teams consecutively. He was also involved in the valuation, due diligence, and post-acquisition integration of acquisition targets.After Morgan Stanley, Karabey transferred to Deutsche Bank and focused on the bank’s principal investments.Prior to 212, Karabey moved back to Istanbul in 2008, where he provided consultancy services to clients in the government and private sector on PPP, project finance, and private equity advisory projects. Karabey is a member of Galata Business Angels, Istanbul’s premier angel investor organization, and also serves on the Endeavor Advisory Board.

## Dilek Dayinlarli
- Type: Angel
- Location: San Francisco Bay Area, California, United States
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed
- Focus: Software, iOS, Transportation

Dilek was actively investing as an angel and being an active chairwomen since 2017. She has been an angel investor in companies like Picus Security, DataRow (acquired by AWS), Genomize, and Genialis, having a board seat on multiple of them.Previously she was an investor at 212, an early-stage technology venture capital in İstanbul. She investedin companies like IyziCo, the biggest Fintech company in the region and Insider, global marketing automation software, funded by Sequoia Capital and so on.Prior to 212, Dilek worked at Groupon as Director of Strategy and Analysis, Management Consultant at Accenture and Business Developer at Koc Group. She started her career in the USA, where she held different project management positions and also started her own startup.Dilek received a BA honors degree in Mechanical Engineering from Yildiz Technical University and MBA from Johnson & Wales University, both with honor degrees. Dilek is also one of the first Kauffman Fellows, chosen from Turkey and distinguished by scholarship. She is also a founding member and leader of Arya Women Investment Platform. She is a guest lecturer at Stanford University and a judge at European Commission. Dilek was awarded as One of the Most Successful Women Leaders in Turkey, thanks to her contributions and impact on tech industry.Outside the office, Dilek loves to experience authenticity in new destinations. She is a competitive basketball player, a serious artwork collector, and an avid reader of books. She puts deliberate effort to spend quality time with her loving family and friends; informative pastry cooking sessions with her daughter, sophisticated board games while drinking coffee with relatives and friends, or book clubs to foster intellectual curiosity between friends and colleagues. She also jumps every morning to find the leaders of future who will be able to create big impact and help them at their journey. It is fascinating to witness how her life outside the office enriches her work as an investor.

## Erdem Gülen
- Type: Angel
- Location: Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Series A
- Focus: Local, Mobile, Medical

I am who I am.

## Sina Afra
- Type: Angel
- Location: Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Series A, Angel
- Focus: E-Commerce, Software, Internet

Sina is a Serial Entrepreneur. His latest endeavor is Tiko which he founded and serves as CEO. Before that he was the Founder of Markafoni, the first Online Fashion site of Turkey. Markafoni became also the first Turkish internet company expanding beyond the borders of Turkey: Markafoni launched sites in Australia, Ukraine, Greece and Polandbetween 2009 and 2011. Sina served until 2014 as Chairman and CEO. The Naspers Group acquired in July 2011 a majority stake at Markafoni and signed for one of the biggest deals in the Turkish internet. Sina is also an active Business Angel and invests in early stage start-ups. He is the President of the Entrepreneur Foundation and Endeavor Turkey Board (2013-2017).Sina has been elected as the “Internet Entrepreneur of the Year” and “Business Angel of the Year” in Turkey. Markafoni won several awards: “Best Web Start-up 2011” and “Best Online Fashion Site in 2011, 2012 and 2013”. The Wired UK magazin elected in 2012 and 2013 Markafoni to the hottest 100 companies in Europe. Sina was also selected (2014 & 2015) to the Top 100 most influential tech people Europe. In 2016 he was selected as one of Top 100 most influential tech people in the World (Wired Magazine). Forbes Magazin elected him to the "Brightest Minds" alive in Turkey (2019).Prior to Markafoni, Sina spent more than 5 years with eBay and 12 years with KPMG. Sina received a "Diplom Kaufmann" from Münster University and joined later Harvard Business School. He speaks five languages. His passion goes with his family and esports where he is the President of "1907 Fenerbahçe esports” team - a professional esports team in the TCL. He shares his thoughts on eCommerce in his personal blog www.sinaafra.com and on twitter (sinaafra).

## Numan Numan
- Type: Angel
- Location: Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Series A, Angel
- Focus: Software, E-Commerce, Analytics

Numan Numan is a Managing Director at 212 with a solid background in technology and management. Numan currently serves on the boards of HemenKiralik.com, largest marketplace for short term rentals and vacation homes in Turkey, HotelRunner, SaaS based management and marketing platform for hotels, and IyziCo, fastest growing payment platform.Prior to founding 212, Numan worked at Goldman Sachs in Tokyo and New York for more than 12 years. As a technology evangelist in the firm’s leadership team, he managed global engineering teams and focused on new technologies to bring competitive advantage to the firm. Prior to Goldman Sachs, Numan worked at Credit Suisse in Tokyo. After more than two decades in technology at investment banks, working closely with private equity and venture capital sectors, he followed his entrepreneurial instinct and ventured into other businesses.Numan holds B.Sc. in Computer Sciences from Ege University. He currently lives in Istanbul, Turkey where he is among pioneers cultivating the ecosystem.

## Omer Erkmen
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Angel, Pre-Seed
- Focus: Software, E-Commerce, Analytics

Omer Erkmen is the co-founder at Yeni Nesil Kafası. Omer Erkmen attended UC Santa Barbara.

## Hande Enes
- Type: Angel
- Location: Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Angel, Seed, Pre-Seed
- Focus: Software, Artificial Intelligence, Social Media

Hande Enes

## Melih Odemis
- Type: Angel
- Location: London, England, United Kingdom
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed, Angel
- Focus: Software, E-Commerce, Mobile

Melih is one of the pioneer Internet entrepreneurs in Turkey. Born in Istanbul, he studied Computer Engineering and MBA at Bogazici University. After one year of professional experience in Citibank, Melih founded yemeksepeti.com with his partners in 2000. Yemeksepeti.com became the online food delivery giant first in Turkey, and then in Middle Eastand Eastern Europe. As a co-founder, Melih has acted as CTO of the company until 2013 and as Board Member until May 2015, when the company was acquired by Delivery Hero writing one of the biggest Internet exit stories in the region.
Melih has been selected an Endeavor Entrepreneur in 2007. Since 2011 he has been an active angel investor in internet and technology companies with more than 30 investments. He is one of the cofounders of Galata Business Angels, which is one of the first business angel networks in Turkey. He is a founding member of EO Turkey.
Melih lives in London now with his family and continues to invest in tech start-ups globally.

## Turgut Gürsoy
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Angel, Series A
- Focus: Advertising, Machine Learning, Information Technology

Turgut Gürsoy - Founder @ Lidya Ventures

## Emre Kurttepeli
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Angel, Pre-Seed
- Focus: E-Commerce, Information Technology, Mobile Apps

Emre Kurttepeli is a Serial Entrepreneur & Investor and is the Founder & Chairperson of Mynet Group, Turkey’s leading internet company with over 32 million users and Founder & CEO of Mynet Games, a global mobile gaming company.Columbia University/NY graduate, he has been the founder or the investor of over 50 internet andtechnology companies, mostly leaders in their own categories that ranges from e-commerce companies to vertical social network sites, mobile and gaming companies, including Trendyol, Insider, Iyzico, RemoteTeam and vc fund that invests in the internet and technology space. Additionally he is an investor in C24 Gallery, a prominent contemporary art gallery in Chelsea/New York.He is the President of Endeavor Turkey and Galata Business Angels (GBA), that are non-profit organizations helping to grow the entrepreneurship ecosystem. He serves on the Board of Endeavor Global, TOBB Turkish Venture Capital Industry Council and TOBB Turkish Entrepreneurs Council. Besides being on the advisory board member of Columbia University Global Center in Istanbul, he also is a member of YPO and is an Ashoka fellow.

## Mustafa Sevinç
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Angel
- Focus: Apps, Fitness, Health Care

Mustafa Sevinç is the CFO and Founder at Teknasyon.

## Aydın Öztunalı
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Angel
- Focus: Apps, SaaS, EdTech

Aydın Öztunalı

## Kenan Colpan
- Type: Angel
- Location: Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed
- Focus: Machine Learning, Food and Beverage, Artificial Intelligence

Kenan Colpan - General Partner / BV Growth Fund @ Boğaziçi Ventures

## İrfan Ündevli
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Pre-Seed
- Focus: Gaming, eSports, Fantasy Sports

İrfan Ündevli

## Kaan Karapınar
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Pre-Seed
- Focus: Gaming, eSports, Fantasy Sports

Kaan Karapınar

## Can Hicbezmez
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Pre-Seed
- Focus: Gaming, eSports, Fantasy Sports

Can Hicbezmez

## Cem Büyükkaya
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Pre-Seed
- Focus: Gaming, eSports, Fantasy Sports

Cem Büyükkaya

## Emre Gerçek
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Pre-Seed
- Focus: Gaming, eSports, Fantasy Sports

Emre Gerçek

## Fethi Ahmet Özbulut
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Pre-Seed
- Focus: Gaming, eSports, Fantasy Sports

Fethi Ahmet Özbulut

## Gizem Nilay Tuna
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Pre-Seed
- Focus: Gaming, eSports, Fantasy Sports

Gizem Nilay Tuna

## Sercan Akkaş
- Type: Angel
- Location: Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed
- Focus: Apps, Fruit, Gaming

Sercan Akkas serves as Product Director at Yemeksepeti.

## Mustafa Emre Gündüz
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Pre-Seed
- Focus: Gaming, eSports, Fantasy Sports

Mustafa Emre Gündüz

## Mustafa Vardalı
- Type: Angel
- Location: Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Angel, Series A
- Focus: Apps, Fitness, Health Care

Mustafa Vardalı is the CMO & Founder at Teknasyon.

## İzzet Halyo
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed
- Focus: Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Software

İzzet Halyo

## Umur Cubukcu
- Type: Angel
- Location: San Francisco, California, United States
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Convertible Note
- Focus: Software, SaaS, Mobile

Umur Cubukcu is a Founder & CEO at Citus Data

## Filip Minasyan
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed
- Focus: SaaS, Software, Machine Learning

Filip Minasyan

## Faik Ulutaş
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed
- Focus: Software, Mobile Apps, Mobile

Faik Ulutaş is an angel investor.

## Faruk Eczacıbaşı
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Angel
- Focus: SaaS, Energy, Podcast

Faruk Eczacıbaşı - Deputy Vice President of Eczacıbaşı @ KWORKS Koç University Entrepreneurship Research Center

## Aksel Kastoryano
- Type: Angel
- Location: Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Pre-Seed
- Focus: Software, Training, E-Learning

Aksel Kastoryano

## Ersoy Kiraz
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed
- Focus: Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, SaaS

Ersoy Kiraz - Board Member, Founding General Manager @ Doğa Venture

## Ebru Dorman
- Type: Angel
- Location: Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed, Equity Crowdfunding
- Focus: Health Care, Apps, Fitness

Ebru Dorman

## Birkan Kül
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed
- Focus: Software, Artificial Intelligence

Birkan Kül

## Varol Civil
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed
- Focus: Baby, Marketplace, Artificial Intelligence

Varol Civil - General Manager @ Türk Ekonomi Bankası

## Agah Uğur
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed
- Focus: Software, Apps, CRM

Agah Uğur

## Alper Akcan
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Angel
- Focus: Apps, Fitness, mHealth

Alper Akcan

## Kivilcim Cayli
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Angel
- Focus: Travel, Property Management, Leisure

Cayli began his career in 2000 and held various positions for Roche, Johnson & Johnson, Boston Scientific, and Turev. Founded and led two healthcare companies (Idea and Invivo) and two consultancy companies (Kanvas and Biovenka).He holds a BSc and an MBA, both from Middle East Technical University (aka ODTU).As a seasoned investor, he has 8personal investments including British, Irish, American, Swedish, and Turkish companies, and serves on the Board of some. He also consults startups on behalf of TUBITAK (Turkish Scientific & Technological Research Council). He is a member of BIC Angels and GAIN Global.

## Figen Korun
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed, Series A
- Focus: E-Commerce, Coffee, Sharing Economy

Figen Korun

## Ahmet Bilgen
- Type: Angel
- Location: Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Angel
- Focus: Artificial Intelligence, Education, Sharing Economy

Ahmet Bilgen Turkish Cypriot entrepreneur and angele investor.
He lives in Famagusta-North Cyprus. He finished primary school and high School in Famagusta. He has been a very active person all throughout his life, he received a Black Belt II. Dan in TaeKwon-do, played in the local soccer team while studying at Canbulat high school. Ahmet was alsohelping his family with their farming business by selling the produce to shops, making some money in the meanwhile which he used to buy his first bicycle, first ball or his first pair of sneakers. Ahmet graduated with Bsc in Applied Marth and Computer Science from Eastern Mediterranean University (EMU) in 1993. Between 1993 and 1995 he got his Masters degree in Computer Science. Right after he started his PhD degree in Computer Science but decided to quit academia after his first semester. During his masters and PhD degrees, he took part in developing intelligent user interfaces and inmemory data concepts for mobile devices. After leaving academic life, Ahmet worked in various IT companies for about 2 years and then joined SAP where he had his first professional work experience. Ahmet joined SAP Turkey as the Technology Consultant, and therefore took part in the implementation of more than 100 SAP projects with companies like Yaşar, Koç, Sabancı, Havelsan, Arena etc. as these were the first implementers of SAP ERP in Turkey. During his tenure at SAP, he worked in various roles such as technical consultant, business analyst, project and team manager and architect.
Ahmet, after working at SAP for 2 years and getting enough project experience and honing on his technical skils, he decided to set up FIT “Future Information Technology” Solutions together with 3 of his friends in 1999. By the end of 1999 FIT had already made its first million USD revenue. FIT has integrated Turkey’s most important e-commerce platform named “Arena Computer Supplier Portal” with SAP. This was featuted as an international success story by SAP Inside magazine in 2001. FIT Solutions(lately became Foriba) has a lot of experience from completing many software integration projects. Working with the top 250 companies also gives the company the advantage to have a more extensible, scalable, sustainable and supportable product. These experiences and know-how attained over the years put the company in an advantageous position to achieve end-to-end e-invoicing solutions.
in 2019 Ahmet Bilgen exited from Foriba.
Foriba did:
- Series A With Revo Capital
- Series B With Revo, IFC, Endeavor Catalyst
- Exit

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