Trendyol becomes Turkey’s first decacorn with $16.5 bn valuation

Turkish e-commerce giant Trendyol has become the first decacorn from Turkey and the most valuable private internet company in EMEA after raising $1.5 billion at a $16.5 billion valuation in its latest funding round.

“The funding proceeds will support Trendyol’s growth both within Turkey and internationally,” said Trendyol founder and CEO Demet Mutlu“In particular, Trendyol will continue its investment in nationwide infrastructure, technology and logistics, accelerate digitalization of Turkish SMEs.”

SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2 and General Atlantic led the financing round in which Qatar Investment Authority, Abu Dhabi’s ADQ and Princeville Capital also participated. 

“Trendyol seamlessly integrates e-commerce, payments and delivery, with deep industry expertise in sectors such as fashion, with a unique consumer offer that we believe will be highly scalable across new markets and geographies,” said Anthony Doeh, partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers.

Founded in 2010 in Istanbul, Trendyol currently delivers over 1 million packages to more than 30 million customers everyday. In April, Chinese tech giant Alibaba’s investment in the company raised its valuation to $9.4 billion. 

In June, sources close to the company said that Trendyol was in talks to raise funds from global investors. 

Last month, Trendyol’s rival Hepsiburada was valued at $3.9 billion after becoming the first Turkish company to IPO on Nasdaq. 

Last year, leading game developer Zynga acquired Turkish gaming studio Peak for $1.8 billion and the startup became the first unicorn in the country. 

And Turkish delivery company Getir recently raised $555M at a $7.5B valuation.