ISTANBUL and BIELEFELD, Germany, July 12, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- itelligence AG, the world's leading SAP partner for the mid-market, is announcing its majority investment in Turkish SAP consulting company Elsys, which is based in Istanbul. itelligence AG is acquiring 60% in this SAP Gold Partner. This investment is part of itelligence's systematic growth strategy focusing on further international expansion and its growing service portfolio.
Elsys was founded in 2000 and employs around 180 staff. In 2011, it generated sales of around MEUR 11.5. Thanks to its own industry solutions based on SAP Business All in One and its in-depth expertise, especially in the automotive, fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), retail, textile, and pharmaceutical industries, Elsys has proven itself as the leading SAP consulting company in Turkey. Elsys's offering comprises the full lifecycle of an SAP solution with license sales, consulting, maintenance and application management services.
Herbert Vogel, CEO of itelligence AG, commented: "In Elsys, we have found one of Turkey's best SAP partners to further advance our internationalization. We are therefore filling a strategic "white spot", comprising not just the market in Turkey, but also the Black Sea region and the Middle East. Elsys's product offering and corporate culture are an excellent fit for us and I am looking forward to working together with them."
Norbert Rotter, CFO of itelligence AG, said: "itelligence's investment in Turkey means the company is breaking new economic and cultural ground in the bridge between Europe, Asia, and Africa. We have selected and planned this acquisition very thoroughly. We have had good business relations with Elsys for years and anticipate positive effects for our international customers, especially in Germany. We will also exploit the advantage that Germany is Turkey's biggest trading partner by far."
Sierra Nevada Corporation’s (SNC) Space Systems is pleased to announce Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company, of Littleton, Colo., is joining the SNC Dream Chaser® team. Lockheed Martin will be an exclusive partner to SNC on NASA's Certification Products Contract (CPC), and has been competitively selected to build the composite structure for the Dream Chaser at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, La.
MUSLIM farmers do not keep pigs. This is as true of those who play at virtual agriculture as of those who fill physical food-troughs. So there are no pigs in the Arabic version of “Happy Farm”, published by Peak Games, a young firm based in Istanbul. For the same reason “Happy Farm” has no vineyards, and female farmhands wear the hijab. Local tastes matter. Peak Games has found rich soil. It already employs 200 people and has developers in Jordan and Saudi Arabia as well as Istanbul and Ankara. More than 35m people play its games at least once a month, many of them on Facebook. Half of the players are in Turkey; the rest are in the Middle East and north Africa. Rina Onur, one of its founders, says that she and her colleagues saw a gap in the online-games market that companies catering to Western tastes could not fill. So Peak Games offers people in Turkey and nearby countries games with a regional twist, like “Happy Farm”, as well as online versions of traditional amusements. Okey, a Turkish game played with tiles, is most popular. 
Turkey and the U.S. are seeking to sell some 500 “made in Turkey” Blackhawk helicopters to third countries, according to Francis J. Ricciardone, the U.S. ambassador to Ankara. “We will see over 600 Blackhawk helicopters, very high technology helicopters, produced here in Turkey. The great majority of these helicopters will go to third markets, third countries,” said Ricciardone during a Turkish-American business council lunch in Istanbul on May 4. 
Aydin Senkut's early stage investment firm, Felicis Ventures, just moved into a bigger office last week, for more room to bring in founders of his portfolio companies. Senkut's firm was an early investor in Rovio, and it's clear the firm is proud of its investment from the number of fluffy Angry Birds scattered throughout. "Everybody says that they are different. It's like when you walk to an Apple store versus when you walk into any other retail store. The first thing we want people to see is that this is not set up like a typical venture fund, it looks like a living room," Senkut said. 
There's a race going on to be the best peer-to-peer car sharing service, with almost half a dozen getting fueled up with financing over the last six months. On Wednesday, yet another one got some fuel in the tank to take off, this time across college universities. Palo Alto, Calif.-based Wheelz, a relatively new peer-to-peer car-sharing service dedicated to college campuses, announced Wednesday that it's received $13.7 million in a Series A round of funding, led by ZipCar, and participation from Fontinalis Partners, a transportation technology strategic investment firm based in Detroit. The new amount brings Wheelz total amount of funding to $15 million, including a $2 million seed round from angel investors, including Chamath Palihapitiya, who recently started his own fund called The Social+Capital Partnership, as well as Aydin Senkut (of Felicis Ventures) and Red Swan Ventures, run by Andy Dunn, the founder of Bonobos. 
SPARKS, Nev., March 15, 2012 / PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) has been awarded a $56 million contract by the United States Army to manufacture SNC's Mobile Tower System (MOTS). The contract will include the production of ten Mobile Tower Systems (MOTS), as well as engineering and logistics services.
