Hepsiburada valued at $3.9 billion in first Turkish Nasdaq IPO

Turkey’s e-commerce giant Hepsiburada.com was valued at $3.9 billion in its initial public offering on Nasdaq, becoming the first Turkish company to IPO on the exchange. 

The company sold 20% of its shares, worth around $738 million, at a price range of $11 to $13 per share in the initial public offering which will bring it $470 million through its rights issue.

Hepsiburada founder and chairwoman Hanzade Dogan Boyner said that the company will use the money to expand into other areas including flight booking and money transfer services.

“We are aiming to use the proceeds to expand our services not only in our home market of Turkey but also in nearby and high-potential markets,” said Boyner before the company started selling shares on the Nasdaq. “There are strong markets in the Middle East, North Africa and eastern Europe.”

“We may consider making acquisitions if the right opportunity comes our way” she said, adding that they don’t have any plans for now. “For the first one or two years we will focus on offering new services and growth rather than increasing our market share.”

Hepsiburada, which is one of the most popular e-commerce platforms in Turkey, saw a 50% Y/Y growth over the last 5 years and doubled its revenue during the pandemic last year as millions of people in the country, which has a population of 82 million, actively used online platforms to meet their needs from home. 

Also Read: Turkey’s Trendyol in discussions to raise $2 billion, sources said

Founded in 1998 as ‘’D-Market Elektronik Hizmetler ve Ticaret AS’’ and renamed as ‘’Hepsiburada.com’’ in 2001, the company now offers 50 million products in more than 40 categories on its platform which is visited by 200 million monthly active users.