ISTANBUL, TURKEY — As if you needed to be convinced that Istanbul is one of the world’s hottest technology start-up scenes, New York private equity firm, General Atlantic, announced on Monday a $44 million stake in Turkish on-line food order platform, Yemeksepeti. It is an investment that follows on from a series of brow-raising commitments made last year. They include a $26 million investment Kleiner Perkins and Tiger Global put into Trendyol, Turkey’s Gilt Groupe and a 70 percent stake that South Africa’s Naspers took on Markafoni, a Turkish private shopping club. Amazon, Intel and eBay also put money in 2011 into respective e-commerce platforms, Ciceksepeti, an on-line flower and chocolate marketer, Grupanya, a Groupon namesake, and GittiGidiyor, an eBay clone.
WASHINGTON — The Board of Directors of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), the U.S. Government’s development finance institution, approved $250 million in financing to support investment in renewable energy and energy efficiency projects and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Turkey, two sectors vital to the country’s economic growth which have traditionally lacked access to long-term capital.
The Desperate Housewives of Wisteria Lane have a new address: Istanbul’s Gul Street. In Russia, Peg and Al Bundy of Married … With Children have morphed into Gena and Dasha, who squabble in their apartment in Yekaterinburg rather than a suburban home near Chicago. And Sony (SNE) this summer released an Arabic version of Everybody Loves Raymond to coincide with the heavy Ramadan TV-viewing season, proving that dysfunctional families know no borders.
The Bloomberg Billionaires Index names Hamdi Ulukaya, founder of Chobani Inc., the Greek yogurt maker, as one of the world's newest billionaires. The American craze for delicious Greek yogurt has made Hamdi Ulukaya, founder of Chobani Inc., one of the world's newest billionaires. According to Bloomberg Chobani has become the best-selling yogurt brand in the U.S., giving Ulukaya a net worth of $1.1 billion.
