WEEKLY INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND ECONOMY NEWSPAPER
Turkey’s fastest growing technology stars The results of Deloitte Technology Fast 50 Turkey 2016 Program, which offers the opportunity to open up to Europe and the world to Turkey’s fastest growing technology companies, were announced at the award ceremony held at Deloitte Values House. Ranking first in this year’s program was Bilgikent Informatics Inc. which started its operations in Ankara in 2009 and grew by 16014% in the last four years. SNI Technology Services Inc. held the second place with a growth rate of 6354%, while Hype owned the third prize with a growth rate of 4894%. Cardtek won the Technology Special Award in the program which Turkey’s fastest-growing technology companies competed and Aselsan, BilgiKent, Bimsa, TurkNet and Innova were evaluated among themselves according to the growth rates of the last four years in the ‘Big Stars’ category where companies which are in what it is called the Greats League and whose revenues are over 50 million € in the 2015 financial year. Innova Informatics Solutions Inc. is also the only company that has been able to enter the Fast 50 list since 2006, when the program began. Deloitte Turkey Partner and TMT Leader Tolga Yaveroğlu made the opening speech and said: “We are hosting the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 Turkey Program for the eleventh time this year. Since that day, the growth and development experienced in the sector is pleasing. As Deloitte Turkey, we are excited about the investments that institutions have made in this area and the work they are actualizing. When the Fast 50 program started in 2006, most of the institutions in our lineup today were not established at that time;
today we are very happy to be giving their awards here. As Deloitte Turkey, our Fast 50 Program, which we have been continuing since 2006, aims to create a solid financial structure for institutions, to access the capital, to manage cash flow and to increase the awareness of the investors. However, our program also contributes to awareness and employee motivation and allows these successful institutions to successfully represent Turkey globally. We wish for these companies to be able to being talked about abroad with innovative technologies developed by them in the future.” Within the scope of the event, in the panel titled
‘Investment Journey of Technology Companies’, the informatics sector’s development and future were evaluated with the moderation of Deloitte Turkey M&A Services Partner Başak Vardar and participation of Arvento General Manager Özer Hıncal, DGSK Private Equity General Manager Kayrıl Karabeyoğlu and Revo Capital General Manager Cenk Bayrakdar.
2016 Deloitte Technology Fast 50 Turkey Program Top 10 Company Name Growth Rate (%) 1 - Bilgikent Informatics 16015 2 - SNI Technology Services 6355 3 – Hype 4894 4 - ARD Group Informatics & Medical Concultancy 3829 5 - ANT Software and Computer (Anttech) 1629 6 - Robotistan Electronic Commerce 1177 7 - KARTNET Computer (Cardtek) 534 8 - P.I. Works TR Informatics Services 465 9 - BNTPRO Information and Communication Services 432 10 – Logsign 384
Fast 50 CEO Research Results: n Last year, 37% of CEOs believed that the economy would grow in 12 months; this rate went up to 42% in the new research. Similarly, in the previous research, the percentage of CEOs who foreseen the economy to shrink or remain static was 63% and this rate also decreased down to 57% this year. n 61% of CEOs expect a maximum growth of 25% in labor growth over the next 12 months, only 9% expects growth of exceeding 50%. The same rates for the last year respectively were 58% and 5% in the reports. n Though the majority of CEOs indicated that organic growth would be achieved in the next 12 months and showed it as the main source of growth by 74% in 2015, this ratio dropped to 70% this year. n While ‘qualified employees’ and ‘private / niche products’ are the most important
factors that led to the growth of technology companies by 27%, ‘strong leadership’ took the third place by 15%. n The biggest operational difficulty faced by the CEOs in the management of companies’ rapid growth in the past year was found to be the workforce, recruitment and commitment of employees by 55%; while this percentage increased to 64% this year; making the situation even more difficult. n ‘Growing sales’ took the first place by 45 percent as the financial difficulties faced by CEOs, as it was in the last year. n ‘Training of leaders and delegation of responsibility’ keeps the first place as the biggest personal challenge for CEOs. n The biggest obstacle in front of the technology industry in the next 12 months’ development is emphasized as ‘geopolitical instability in the region’
and ‘talent availability’. n The factors that will encourage growth over the next 12 months are stated by CEOs as follows; ‘R&D and innovation investments’, ‘low corporate and individual tax’ and ‘education and training’. n According to CEOs’ comments, ‘digitalization and mobility’, ‘better use of analytical data’ and ‘growth of e-commerce and multi-channel integration’ are among the most important factors of technology investments over the next three years. n Within the scope of the research, CEOs were also asked about the countries they are planning to invest in the next 12 months. While the US is in the first place with 27% on the agenda of the CEOs, Turkey is the second with 24% and Iran and the United Kingdom with 21% took the third place.
Mediterra Capital sold Logo Software stocks
Mediterra Capital sold its Logo Software stocks to institutional investors through the sale of 413 million shares. The first successful international shareholder sale in Turkey since November 2014 has started to turn international investors back to the Turkish market. Due to high demand, 20% more shares were sold than planned. Foreign investors bought more than 85% of the shares and after the transaction, the free float ratio of Logo Software rose from 22.5% to 58.5%. Mediterra Capital will continue to support the company’s various growth alternatives by maintaining a 5% share in the Logo Software. Funds managed by Mediterra Capital, after becoming Logo Software shareholder in 2013, acquired and merged 7 companies and established 2 joint ventures. The first acquisition of Logo Software continued with the purchase of five other local companies complementing the existing products of Logo Software, which started with Netsis, the other big company in the market. The company also established a trade information platform, a joint venture named FIGO, to
provide value-added services to Turkish SME companies. In 2016, Logo Software realized the first cross-border transaction by purchasing the 100% share of TotalSoft, the leading player in the ERP market in Romania. In addition, the company established a joint venture in India as a part of its strategy of becoming a regional leader. Over the last 5 years, sales of Logo Software have grown by 43% annually, while the share of recurring revenues in total revenues has increased from 4% to 48%, while per capita returns grew by 57% per year. Orhan Ayanlar, one of the partners of Mediterra Capital, said regarding the transaction: “This transaction is the clearest indicator of foreign investor appetite for Turkish companies that are properly managed and accurately explained. We are proud of the success that Logo Software has achieved and with Tuğrul Tekbulut, the founding partner of Logo Software, we aim to make the company a bigger success and to increase our regional presence in the upcoming years. We also hope that this successful sales process, which is conducted through the supply of qualified investors, will encourage venture capital companies to invest in Turkey and that investments will continue to increase. As Mediterra Capital, we plan to invest 250 million € in 10 companies over the next 4 years.”
These digital trends will leave their marks on 2017 The Agency Digital Pen announced trends that will stand out in 2017 in the digital field. Özkan Özbey, the head of the Agency Digital Pen, said that although content is different and diversified, videobased content will continue to rise in 2017, while content will always remain the king. Özbey pointed out that the rapid increase in mobile usage all over the world, the proliferation of social media networks actively used by 2 billion people and the rise in technologies like IoT and artificial intelligence will further increase the importance of digital marketing applications in 2017. The digital trends expected to leave their marks on the year 2017 are stated as the following:
live broadcasts and Instagram Stories support the concept of “fast and ending content”.
the number of users who are rapidly rising will also increase the appetite of media buyers.
Live streaming videos: With all the social media platforms returning to a “live streaming” supported infrastructure, the concept of “watch and pass” will start to settle down. Following Facebook, Twitter’s edits on video content will allow users or brands to share videos more frequently.
Virtual reality experience: With the prospect and feel of the experience to be delivered to the customer, many organizations will go on to establish closer ties with customers. Marketers are getting ready to meet a brand new media with a virtual reality, where the customer experience has been brought to the extreme.
Marketing on cloud services: The growing use of broadband internet on smartphones, not just corporations, sheds light on marketing projects that can be done on this area. Going one step ahead, experts are working on what can be done with artificial intelligence and cloud services.
Short-term content on social media: The concept of short-term content that started with Periscope and continues with applications like Snapchat, Scorp continues to guide social media. Sharing content for a certain period of time requires brands to organize their strategies according to this fast-moving consumer age. Applications like Facebook’s
New Advertising Media Messaging Applications: The messaging tradition that started with MIRC is spreading with applications like WhatsApp, Facebook’s Mobile Messenger, Snapchat and WeChat. In 2017, the number of these applications and the advertising space within them is expected to increase. Along with the increase in mobile applications,
Phygital marketing: The concept of the phygital which is spoken in Turkey for about 2 years consists of the gathering of physical and digital marketing worlds in the ecosystem formed between consumer and brand. The concept of phygital will be one of the ways to ensure that the consumer is achieved in the most accurate way and in a measurable manner.
Entrepreneur Warriors begin a new era Training term for the 11th of the Entrepreneur Warriors, which offers the chance to turn into a successful entrepreneur who could make his own business in different sectors or manage a specific project in a company, started. Founded on August 30, 2013, the Entrepreneur Warriors provided 170 graduates in 10 terms. Entrepreneurs have the opportunity to work with top-level entrepreneurs, along with 40 mentors and 22 supportive organizations in
connection in the field during the Entrepreneur Warriors program. The program is composed of three main stages: GIS Boot Camp, GIS
Master Corps and GIS Special Corps. Anyone can enter the GIS Boot Camp, the first stage, from girisimsavascisi.org
website. The GIS Boot Camp is open to all entrepreneur candidates in the age range of 15-55 and is launched four times a year, twice in January and October, with a maximum of 40 attendees each turn. The second stage, GIS Master Corps only accepts the candidates who have successfully completed the GIS Boot Camp. Up to 30 participants are accepted in each turn of the year, which is held twice a year, in February and November. The training
includes full-time and faceto-face training and practice activities during the six weekends and online training and assignments. In the GIS Master Corps, the participants actualize their projects they set out in the boot camp and acquire all the technical equipment they need to know about entrepreneurship. Successful graduates are awarded Participation Certificate or Entrepreneur Warrior Certificate according to their grades.