Software and robotic startups in spotlight

BULUTISTAN

Founded in 2015 by Begim Basligil and •rcun Murat •zalp, Bulutistan solutions offers a bridge between cloud service providers and corporate customers with long term partnerships. Based in Istanbul, the company provides value-added cloud services as a boutique cloud computing platform focused on increasing information services exports as the first company integrated into the Equinix Cloud Exchange Fabric from Turkey. Most recently, 25% of Bulutistan was acquired by Ak Portfoy in November 2020. Having in-depth expertise in SAP solutions, the platform offers high-performance and high-availability managed SAP services to enterprises across Turkey and Europe. Named the fastest growing technology company in Turkey by Deloitte Technology Fast 50 Turkey 2019 Program, the company has also won the 2020 IBM Beacon Award.

DIGIFORM

Founded by Gurkan Karagoz in 2005, Digiform is a software startup. The company provides mobile document and data capture solutions for enterprises and also specializes in the development and management of custom apps, enterprise forms, intranets and web applications. Digiform raised an undisclosed amount of seed investment from Revo Capital in 2016. The company is actively using eight technologies for its website, including Viewport Meta, iPhone/Mobile Compatible and SSL by Default according to BuiltWith. Digiform’s information capture flow includes page scan, automatic classification (optical document detection, classification according to document content, classification according to QR and Barcode Information), advanced

text analysis data verification and output (image).

BORDA TECHNOLOGY

Borda, a company that focuses on the health sector and aims to bring operational awareness and insights to its customers by using IoT data, was founded by Akin

Altunbas and Ahmet

Erdem Altunbas in

2007. Borda transforms technology into awareness, with products such as Asset Management, Patient Throughput Management, Infant Safety, Staff Safety, Work Demand Management, and Environmental Monitoring. These services result in better patient care, increased operational efficiency, enhanced safety and advanced patient experience. Borda, operating in more than 15 countries with offices in Turkey, the U.S. and Russia, manages more than one million assets and facilitates the lives of thousands of patients and health professionals.

BAMA TECHNOLOGY

Bama Technology was founded by Murat Topcu, Birol Topcu, Akay •zturk and Can Mehmet Ali Ciftci in 2010 with a TRY 100,000 budget and the support of the Small and Medium Enterprises Development •rganization (K•SGEB). The company develops robotic rehabilitation systems for the medical sector. The company aims to provide handicapped people with tools to expedite their treatment. The company is the first of its kind in robotic rehabilitation with its product Robogait, which is used by state and private hospitals and rehabilitation centers across Turkey.

IVEN

Founded in September 2014 by Berk Baydur, Erol Batuhan •zden, Mehmet Sedat Gungor and Murat Celik Cansoy, Iven provides a product cloud solution to power new capabilities to increase productivity, decrease costs and time-to-market. The company raised an undisclosed amount of seed investment from ZMT Ventures in 2016. Iven accompanies device manufacturers on their digital transformation journey by providing end-to-end IoT support. The start-up provides services for various companies in Turkey, including Arzum, Teknoklima and Vestel. The company uses 77 technology products and services including HTML5, Google Analytics and jQuery, according to G2 Stack.

SEGMENTIFY

Segmentify is an intelligent personalization solution to increase sales and customer engagement founded in 2015 by Ergin Eroglu and Murat Soysal. Based in the UK, the company raised EUR 15,000 pre-seed investment from Startupbootcamp Istanbul in 2015. Segmentify raised a total of USD 4.1m in funding over six rounds, according to Crunchbase. Serving as an e-commerce personalization platform that helps online retailers to optimize conversion rates by allowing them to deliver a unique shopping experience for each visitor, the company’s software provides insights and real-time analytics for e-commerce managers to help them make better decisions for campaigns and discounts, enabling clients to satisfy their customer needs.

TMB SPEAKING AT THE CONFERENCE, Chairman Mithat Yenigun remarked on the potential of African markets in achieving the overseas employment target of Turkish citizens of 100,000. Edward James, MEED Director of Research, stated that the projects announced in Middle Eastern and African markets reached USD 5.2tn.

James underlined that stability was being restored in the region with the embargo on Qatar being lifted and that these projects will be advantageous for Turkish contractors.

“THE BIGGEST CLIENT IS THE SAUDI ARABIA PUBLIC INVESTMENT FUND”

James said that the market reaches USD 5.2tn when the newly-announced projects are included with ongoing projects. “These are all feasible projects, and more projects will be announced,” he said. “The biggest market is Saudi Arabia with the biggest client being Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund.” He stated that the main employer in the Middle East and Africa region is the state. “We are expecting new project announcements from Saudi Arabia in the next 20 years,” he added. The project tenders in Saudi Arabia, Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates are worth USD 120m.”

Underlining the importance of financing for success, James added: “Those planning to work in the Middle East should gravitate towards Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi. Turkish contractors can thrive in those markets with public-private partnerships.” James stated that Turkish contractors are well-regarded in certain markets and that some countries want to attract them because of their high-quality work. James stressed the importance of choosing the right local partner. He stated that Turkish contractors could succeed, particularly in markets with low competition where there are not many big European players.

“BALANCED AND PRECISE STEPS”

Yenigun, the TMB president, noted that negative attitudes against Turkish contractors in Gulf countries resulted in USD 3bn of losses. “Economic and political developments are inter-connected in our region. It is becoming increasingly important to take balanced and precise steps,” Yenigun said. Turkey could have a considerable share in the USD 5.2tn market emerging in the Middle East and Africa with the improvement of diplomatic relations and financing opportunities, he added. “These markets will allow us to triple Turkish overseas employment and fulfil our target employing 100,000.”