Trendyol, an online marketplace based in Turkey has raised $1.5 million in a large funding round. The company is valued at $16.5 billion. The round was led by General Atlantic, SoftBank Vision Fund 2 Princeville Capital, sovereign wealth funds, ADQ, UAE, and Qatar Investment Authority.SoftBanks' first deal in the country.Trendyol Turkey's first decacorn and one of the most highly-valued private tech companies worldwide, also thanks to this new funding. This comes months after Alibaba, the strategic and majority backer of the company invested $350 million at a valuation of $9.4 billion in Trendyol Turkey.Trendyol was founded in 2010 and is Turkey's largest ecommerce company. It delivers more than 1,000,000 packages each day, serves more than 30 millions shoppers, and was founded in 2010. It claims it has evolved from a marketplace to a superapp through its marketplace platform, which is powered by Trendyol Express. This platform also includes instant grocery and food delivery via its own courier network (Trendyol Express), its digital wallet and Dolap consumer-to-consumer channel.Demet Suzan Mutlu, founder of Trendyol, said that the new capital will be used to expand within Turkey and internationally. The company will continue to invest in technology, logistics, and infrastructure throughout Turkey. It also plans to accelerate digitalization of Turkish SME's. She stated that the company was established to make a positive impact on society and will continue to do so.Trendyols Chairman Evren Ucok stated that the company's primary goal is to open new channels of export for Turkish manufacturers and merchants.Melis Kahya Akar is General Atlantic's managing director and head consumer for EMEA. She stated that the Trendyols marketplace model, which includes grocery delivery and mobile wallets, brings convenience and ease to customers in Turkey and around the world.Turkey is one the most rapidly growing economies in the world. It benefits from attractive demographics and a young population who is active online. On the back of increasing online penetration, we expect Turkey's already large e-commerce market to reach $17 billion by 2020. Trendyol's position is ideal to serve the growing needs of customers in Turkey and the rest of the world, as it expands.JPMorgan's 2020 report found that while e-commerce was only 5.3% of Turkey's retail market, it had seen impressive rises in revenue in recent years. The market jumped by 42% in 2018, and 31% in 2019. As of 2020, 67% were shopping online.
