05.10.2016 Ankara
TOBB Startup İstanbul is bringing the prominent investors and entrepreneurs of the world together in İstanbul. A thousand guests from among global entrepreneurs have been invited to the event. TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu, drawing attention to the fact that many companies direct their operations in hundreds of countries from İstanbul, said, “İstanbul can act as a center for not just large companies but also a center for startups in Asia, Europe and Africa. TOBB Startup İstanbul is the first step in making İstanbul into global entrepreneurship center.”
The Startup İstanbul
Conference hosted by TOBB and Etohum will be held between the 6th
and 10th of October, 2016 and will be attended by entrepreneurs,
investors and opinion leaders of the business community. A thousand
entrepreneurs from 63 countries will seek investment support at TOBB Startup
İstanbul.
Applications were
made from 135 countries to attend the conference. After the approval process,
approximately 1,000 entrepreneurs from 63 countries were invited to İstanbul.
- Program schedule
Guest entrepreneurs
will find opportunity to share their business models with prominent global
entrepreneurs at the İstanbul Technical University Süleyman Demirel Cultural
Center on the 6th and 7th of October. Afterwards, 50
short listed entrepreneurs will pitch their ideas to the world’s most important
investors.
- Attendees
Prominent global
investing firms such as Abraaj Capital, 500Startups, Andreessen Horowitz,
YCombinator, Lumia Capital, Wamda Capital, Rubicon Capital will be in İstanbul
to meet with select entrepreneurs.
Prominent players in
the Turkish business community will also be attending TOBB Startup İstanbul to
present their suggestions for the development of the entrepreneurship
environment of Turkey.
TOBB President M.
Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu will be presenting the opening keynote of the last day of
TOBB Startup İstanbul on October 10th at the İstanbul Volkswagen
Arena. Doğan Online Founder and Board Chair Hanzade Doğan Boyner and Pegasus
Board Chair Ali Sabancı will also be presenting keynotes during the event.
Other prominent actors of the entrepreneurship ecosystem are Sam Mallikarjunan
of Hubspot, Author Elmira Bayrasli, Ozan Sonmez of Tjump, Couchsurfing.com CEO
Casey Fenton, R. Michael Anderson of Executive Joy, Andrew Romans of Rubicon VC,
IBM Cloud Vice President Maged Wassim, ‘The Lean Brand Author’ Jeremiah
Gardner, Bill Kenney of Test My Pitch, Adora Cheung of Y Combinator, Andreessen
Horowitz Partner Matt Spence, 500 Startups entrepreneur partner Arjun Arora,
‘Startup Rising' Author Christopher Schroeder, Google Partner Lead - VCs and
Startups Sharif El-Badawi.
- First step in making İstanbul center of
entrepreneurship
Speaking about the
event, TOBB President Hisarcıklıoğlu said:
“Many companies
direct their operations in hundreds of countries from İstanbul. İstanbul can
act as a center for not just large companies but also a center for startups in
Asia, Europe and Africa. TOBB Startup İstanbul is the first step in making
İstanbul into global entrepreneurship center. Considering that over half of all
billion dollar enterprises in the USA are founded by immigrants, it is easy to
understand the importance of attracting qualified entrepreneurs of the region
to İstanbul. TOBB Startup İstanbul is the first step in making İstanbul into
global entrepreneurship center. Thousands of applications from over a hundred
countries is the most concrete proof that İstanbul can shine as a global center
of entrepreneurship.”
- Startup İstanbul will pick up momentum with TOBB
Startup İstanbul held
by Etohum annually, will be held for the 4th time this year by TOBB.
TOBB Startup İstanbul, a global organization, will benefit from TOBB’s global
business network.