Cerebrum Tech, a pioneering Turkish technology startup known for its innovative products and solutions in artificial intelligence, finance, industry, e-commerce, and Web3, has secured a new investment of TL 50 million ($1.7 million).

The funding round at a valuation of TL 420 million was led by Boğaziçi Ventures, one of Türkiye’s leading venture capital firms. The investment positions Cerebrum Tech in the BV Growth Venture Capital Investment Fund portfolio, comprising of individual and corporate investors.

Cerebrum Tech gained recognition earlier this year with the launch of Cere, Türkiye’s first 3D avatar-based artificial intelligence application, available in both personal and corporate versions. In September, the company introduced Cere Insight, an innovative AI solution capable of summarizing lengthy documents with multifile support, generating insights from large datasets, and creating customizable chatbots without the need for coding expertise, thanks to its advanced LLM technology and seamless web integration.

With offices in Ankara and Istanbul, as well as an international presence in Silicon Valley, London, Seoul, Rotterdam and Malta, Cerebrum Tech continues to pioneer activities in the finance, industry, e-commerce, and Web3 sectors.

Global scaling

Erdem Erkul, founder, and chairperson of Cerebrum Tech, expressed his optimism about the investment, stating that it will enable the company to scale their existing products globally and continue innovating in the field of future technologies.

"When we founded Cerebrum Tech in 2021, we aimed to contribute to the development of the technology entrepreneurship ecosystem in our country and become a successful next-generation technology company on an international scale. I believe that our agreement with Boğaziçi Ventures will pave the way for us to take valuable steps toward our goals," said Erkul.

"We will continue to scale our existing products in the global markets and develop innovative solutions in the field of future technologies such as artificial intelligence."

In addition to Boğaziçi Ventures, Cerebrum Tech's investors included Inveo Ventures Coinvestment Venture Capital Investment Fund, which focuses on investing in future technologies. Faruk Eczacıbaşı, one of Cerebrum Tech's initial investors, also continues to support the company as an individual investor.

Boğaziçi Ventures, renowned for its focus on fintech, health tech, retail tech, and gaming, has recognized the potential in Cerebrum Tech's projects, especially in the fields of artificial intelligence and Web 3.0.

Barış Özistek, managing partner at Boğaziçi Ventures, emphasized the strategic importance of Cerebrum Tech in their investment portfolio, highlighting the company's commitment to shaping the future through technology-driven innovations.

"Boğaziçi Ventures continued its strategy of investing in disruptive innovation projects built with cutting-edge technology, shaping the future through creative destruction, without slowing down in 2023. By joining our investors through the BV Growth Venture Capital Investment Fund, Cerebrum Tech, which we have already incorporated into our portfolio, has become one of our most significant projects," said Özistek.

Turkish venture capital firm looks to cultivate unicorns in tech industry

Escort Technology Investment Inc., one of the important venture capital players in Türkiye with 61 startup investments in its portfolio, is steering local innovations onto the global stage. Its chairperson İbrahim Özer highlights the company's mission to foster new unicorn ventures – startups valued at a billion dollars or more.

Outlining the company's vision, Özer emphasized its focus on endeavors in health care and mobility. He says Escort Technology aims to be a key player in Türkiye’s digital transformation, striving to launch three unicorn ventures in the medium term.

Özer highlighted the impact of mobility investments like Togg, Türkiye’s first homegrown electric vehicle brand, and groundbreaking health care initiatives, underscoring their commitment to transformative projects.

Elaborating on the latest developments regarding startups they had invested in, Özer said Bursa-based BrenPower, with its patented steam platform, signed a 10 million euro sales contract with a Poland-based firm covering a period of five years.

He also noted that Bugamed, a startup planning medical collagen production from organic waste with high technology, saw a 900% increase in company value within three years through its patented technology.

Glaucot, developing patented technology for glaucoma treatment, has initiated testing in Germany after completing clinical trials in Türkiye, said Özer.

Özer highlighted a report unveiled by Evli Plc. Executives, which has invested in six listed companies in Türkiye, detailing their insights after their recent visits to companies, including Escort Technology.

"Escom, following a fourfold profit increase in 2022 and a threefold increase in 2021, continues on a path to doubling its earnings annually. Alesta, the group's direct startup investment arm, may unlock potential through a potential initial public offering (IPO)," he cited the report as saying.

Among others, Özer also referred to NiCAT Battery Technologies, a company that has started operating at Technopark Izmir, boasting chemists and mathematicians who can use artificial intelligence in materials science, contributing significantly to electric vehicle advancements.

"Nickel cathode lithium-ion batteries, which are becoming increasingly common in electric vehicles and are predicted to be indispensable, use nickel-based cathodes and represent the most important battery class where our product is applied, he noted.

This battery technology is also used in areas such as maritime, residential energy storage, and electric construction machinery.

"A technology startup company based in Izmir, which will produce nickel-based cathodes used in electric vehicles, construction machinery, maritime, and residential energy storage, aims to contribute to domestic electric cars. The two most important factors in electric vehicles, range, and price, are determined by the battery," said Özer.

Novus secures investment to fuel global expansion in AI, NLP tech

Novus, the Istanbul and Boston-based startup specializing in content and analysis solutions for corporate enterprises through artificial intelligence and natural language processing (NLP) technologies, has successfully secured a $500,000 investment.

The funding, led by Inveo Ventures and backed by prominent entities such as Startup Wise Guys, Venture Lane, and Aegan Ventures, will be utilized to help Novus further develop its pioneering AI solutions, expand its global presence, and strengthen its team.

The company, known for its NLP technologies that provide users with real-time, unique, and verified texts within seconds, aims to establish itself as a leading entity in the rapidly growing field of artificial intelligence.

Novus is among the startups that managed to successfully complete the MIT Sandbox and Google for Startups programs in August 2022 and received grant and credit support.

AI revolution

Rıza Egehan Asad, co-founder and CEO of Novus, drew attention to the artificial intelligence revolution.

"As a team that has been at the epicenter of the global artificial intelligence revolution, we find ourselves exhilarated to be integral players in this transformative era. Over the recent period, Novus has been utilized by users and businesses from more than 30 countries across five continents. Our platform has facilitated the generation of over 300 million words, undergone hundreds of thousands of information verifications, and empowered the creation of tens of thousands of personalized language models. The technologies developed by Novus are a source of immense pride for us, underscoring the value we bring to the field," said Asad.

He said their journey as a local startup placed greater responsibilities on them for the future.

"With our knowledge in the field of artificial intelligence, we are happy to contribute to open-source technologies in the field once again with our SEO-focused language model, which we developed and is registered with us," he noted.

"We are dedicated to introducing the inaugural Turkish large language model into our repertoire of language models at Novus, and our efforts in this regard are ongoing.

"While continuing to improve our technology and values with the investments we have received, we want to be a company shaping artificial intelligence research and that has high visibility in Europe and the U.S., following Türkiye."

Türkiye’s centenary: Leaving message for future generations

To mark the 100th anniversary of the Republic of Türkiye, Türk Telekom, one of the country’s pioneering telecommunications and technology companies, has initiated a landmark project that seeks to enable citizens to leave messages for future generations.

Through the #CenturyPromise project, citizens are encouraged to address the Republic of Türkiye’s next century by leaving messages via phone calls or SMS.

Having witnessed the nation's past and actively shaping its present, Türk Telekom plans to store these messages for a hundred years using its technological expertise, thus carrying the essence of the messages to the Türkiye of the next century.

New Turkish venture capital fund to make 50 investments in 3 years

Fongogo, one of Türkiye’s pioneering crowdfunding platforms, has joined forces with Foneria Portfolio Management Company to establish Fongogo Ventures, delving into a new vertical of the startup and investment ecosystem.

The new generation venture capital fund, operating on a hybrid model, aims to support startups in their quest for capital, utilizing crowdfunding alongside conventional investments.

With plans to make 50 investments within the next three years, Fongogo Ventures will focus primarily on technology and production startups, adhering to the principle of portfolio diversification and minimizing risks through a varied investment approach.

Fongogo Ventures plans to invest in a broader range of startups compared to traditional venture capital funds. By spreading the risk across various investments, the company focuses on investments between the seed and Series A rounds.

In crowdfunding investments, Fongogo Ventures takes on the role of a "lead investor," while in non-crowdfunding investments, it participates in investment rounds guided by a lead investor, endorsing a "co-investment" strategy.