Angel investments and acceleration programs are crucial for the emergence of new ideas and projects in the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Turkey should benefit from more technology startups in problem solving.

The seventh-term startups of the PİLOT startup acceleration program launched by Türk Telekom, Turkey's leading information and communication technology company, in 2013 to support entrepreneurship in the country and to turn innovative ideas into businesses that provide added value, have been announced. Nine technology-oriented teams that develop applications in different fields will be offered the opportunity to cooperate with Türk Telekom with total cash support of TL 1.1 million.

Teams selected for the new era of PİLOT, the first startup acceleration program run by the private sector in Turkey, will receive feedback from the Türk Telekom mentor network of industry professionals and successful entrepreneurs and investors for 12 weeks to successfully implement their business ideas.

In line with this, startups that will advance their ideas will benefit from Türk Telekom's robust technology infrastructure, as well as opportunities such as office space, cloud services and mobile communication support. Türk Telekom will also provide promotional support to teams in various channels during and after the program.

Türk Telekom Strategy, Planning and Business Development Assistant General Manager Fırat Yaman Er said that Türk Telekom pioneered innovation and entrepreneurship issues with its investments in technology. "As Türk Telekom, we aim to create and expand an entrepreneurial culture in our country," he said. "For an economically stronger Turkey, it is essential to support technology startups. We aim to develop the entrepreneurial ecosystem and transform innovative business ideas into value-added services that meet the ever-changing needs of our customers through our collaborations with startups."

56 graduates

"We want the startups that we support to make a name for themselves abroad and achieve global successes," Er continued. "Fifty-six startups have successfully graduated from PİLOT so far. These startups provided jobs for 280 people in 2018, generating a turnover of TL 24 million. Seventeen graduates received an investment. As Türk Telekom, we are very pleased to see the achievements of the startups we support. They make us hopeful for Turkey's future. As Türk Telekom, we will continue to support entrepreneurs and ecosystems with our technology, knowledge and connections thanks to PİLOT."

After a comprehensive evaluation, B2Metric AI, Blok-Z, Efilli, GameSight, Monday Hero, Pabbler, Piple, Robomotion and Shopi were identified as eligible to participate in the program.

B2Metric AI

B2Metric AI solution, which regulates the most valuable customer data of companies using artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies and eliminates errors, provides a unique advantage in today's competitive conditions. B2Metric AI interprets and optimizes data collection, data cleaning, customer and image data with artificial intelligence technologies, especially for companies in the finance, insurance and retail sectors. It also enables them to increase their profitability. www.b2metric.com

Block-Z

Blockchain-based energy trading platform Block Z offers a measurable, easy-to-manage marketplace solution. Manufacturers, suppliers and consumers in the same network as Blok-Z can trade energy in a free market without any intermediaries by paying much lower amounts of loss/leakage and transmission/distribution. www.blok-z.com

Efilli

Efilli enables companies to perform artificial intelligence-based loyalty management by profiling the behaviors of website visitors. With Efilli, companies can profile the behaviors of visitors to websites and e-commerce sites through tracking, measuring, and evaluating. Moreover, it can provide personalized instant and timely offers from the user data obtained. www.efilli.com

GameSight

GameSight provides an analytical tool that analyzes the behavior of mobile gaming users with data-driven models, enabling developers to be directed to the right action without effort. With GameSight, players' game time and future behavior according to their segment are calculated using machine-learning algorithms. In this way, user-specific ad visuals and in-game sales offers/campaigns are offered to related users. https://gamesight.io

Monday Hero

Monday Hero automatically converts sketch designs to iOS and Android native code. By creating a few definitions on the designs uploaded to the Monday Hero platform, developers can transfer automatically generated interface (UI) codes to their projects and complete the software processes. www.mondayhero.io

Pabbler

Pabbler is a logistic platform that delivers products that e-commerce sites want to send or return abroad by renting gaps in travelers' suitcases. With Pabbler, e-commerce sites can ship their products in short delivery times, and travelers can make money with the products they take with them. www.pabbler.com

Piple

Piple is a cloud-based personnel management tool that increases the productivity of retail, service, accommodation, restaurant and health care personnel and optimizes personnel management with artificial intelligence. With Piple, companies can perform shift management, leave management, task management, performance management, premium and target tracking, job entry and exit tracking. www.piple.com

Robomotion

Robomotion is a cloud-based software solution that enables half or full-time automation of repetitive processes. Software robots allow users to work more efficiently, helping them focus on high value-added jobs by making error-prone jobs often repeated by individual and corporate PC users on their behalf. www.robomotion.io

Shopi

Shopi is a cloud-based solution developed to increase in-store efficiency of retail companies. With Shopi, which provides productivity-enhancing solutions in three main categories, namely sales operations, employee productivity and store operations, retailers are able to digitize all the in-store processes of their customers and offer them personalized services. It can monitor the performance of sales consultants. www.shopihq.com

VEHICLE SHARING ECONOMY TO EXPAND INTO ELECTRIC VEHICLES

Vinci, the venture capital for which İnci Holding is a strategic investor, has accelerated its investments. Vinci made its third investment in Chargery, which provides services to share electric vehicles. Chargery, a Berlin-based technology startup offering solutions for the sharing of electric vehicles, has received investment from Helvetia venture capital, a subsidiary of Switzerland's Helvetia AG and Vinci venture capital, to which İnci Holding is a strategic investor.

Chargery, the only technology-based full-service provider in the field of electric vehicle sharing, enables the electric vehicle sharing fleets such as DriveNow and SixtShare to operate more efficiently and more profitably with the combination of multiple services and intelligent software. Christian Lang, the CEO and co-founder of Chargery, which transports portable charging stations to electric vehicle sharing fleet areas with which it has a contract and also provides cleaning and maintenance services, said: "We are very pleased to see Vinci and Helvetia among us. We are very confident that they will fit us perfectly. The investment at the seed stage will allow us to expand our solutions to other cities to serve both existing and new customers."

Investment in 3 countries

"Vinci, which was established as a venture capital in the last quarter of 2018, continues its investments rapidly. We made our first investment in Germany on the way to invest in early-stage technology companies in the fields of mobility, supply chain, energy management/storage and Industry 4.0, including Turkey, Germany and the U.K.," Vinci Investment Committee Chairman Şelale Zaim Gorton said. "Sharing mobility and electromobility are among the markets with the highest growth potential in the coming years. At the intersection of these two sectors, Chargery is positioned as a full-service provider for electric vehicle sharing fleets. With the various services and smart software solutions they offer, they make the life of electric vehicle sharing fleets easier and respond promptly and on the spot. Chargery, with its experienced team, technological infrastructure and robust market opportunities, is very suitable for our investment strategy. We are confident that we will add value to the Chargery team with our corporate resources and industrial experience."