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The Venture Codex

Esas Ventures

Rüzgarlıbahçe Mah. Kavak Sok. No: 29 Kat: 7, Istanbul, 34805, Turkey

Overview

Esas Ventures is the venture capital arm of Esas Holding, one of the largest family-owned investment firms in Turkey and is backed by the first and second generation family members of Şevket Sabancı, one of the founding members of Sabancı Holding, a leading Turkish conglomerate. With offices in Istanbul and London, Esas Ventures invests in early stage companies globally.

Total investments
6
Lead investments
1
Investments · 12mo
0
Active investors
1

Sector focus

  • Financial Services
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Investment portfolio

  • Gowit Technology

    Led · Equity · Jul 2023

    GoWit builds and operates an omnichannel, AI-driven platform that enables full-funnel retail media activation—covering on-site, off-site, and in-store placements. The system lets retailers quickly launch and scale ad-monetization programs, provides brands with unified reporting and predictive automation, and gives agencies a single interface to run data-rich campaigns with transparent performance metrics. GoWit’s network is already trusted by major retailers and marketplaces such as Carrefour (Turkey), Union Coop (UAE), Raneen (Egypt), Toters Delivery (Lebanon), Mumzworld (UAE), and Heureka Group (Czech Republic). The company also partners with ecosystem players like Goldbach, Spike Media, and Akinon to build a connected retail media infrastructure. Today, GoWit serves more than 7,000 brands in over 20 markets. With fresh capital, it intends to accelerate expansion across EMEA and develop next-generation AI tools to further boost ad performance, data intelligence, and monetization capabilities.

  • River

    Participated · Series B · May 2023

    River operates a full-stack Bitcoin platform that allows retail and institutional customers to buy, sell, and securely custody Bitcoin, while also offering Bitcoin mining and institutional-grade custody solutions. The company differentiates itself by maintaining an exclusive focus on Bitcoin rather than supporting a broader range of cryptocurrencies. With institutional adoption of digital assets rising, River positions itself as critical infrastructure for the Bitcoin ecosystem. On 5 January 2026, the firm announced a strategic investment from Arthur Hayes’s Maelstrom Fund to accelerate product development and geographic expansion. Management indicated the fresh capital will be directed toward scaling its technology stack and broadening market reach, although no timeline or detailed allocation has been shared. Neither the size of the investment nor River’s revenue, user base, or profitability figures were disclosed. The company must still navigate significant market volatility and evolving regulatory regimes as it executes its growth strategy.

  • Flora

    Participated · Seed · Sep 2022

    Flora is an e-commerce roll-up that acquires and grows small sustainable brands and is building a marketplace for eco-conscious products. The company uses a proprietary assessment tool that asks users about daily behaviors, measures their carbon footprints, and recommends brand products to help reduce emissions. Flora has onboarded more than 50 brands whose products reach over 300,000 customers and collectively claim to have saved 10,000 tons of carbon emissions (equivalent to 400,000 trees). Co‑founders and co‑CEOs Mithat Ulubay and Ugur Kaya started the company in 2021; both previously worked in investment banking and private equity. Flora emerged from stealth with seed funding and says it is still in early stages with limited public growth metrics. The company plans to launch its marketplace in the fourth quarter of 2022 (with a beta noted in the reporting) and aims to acquire hundreds of brands while continuing product and technology development.

  • Procol

    Participated · Equity · Sep 2022

    Procol offers procurement management software and a connected B2B marketplace to streamline sourcing and purchasing workflows for enterprises via web and mobile apps. Its platform enables creation of sourcing events, vendor discovery and management, and supply‑chain visibility to improve transparency and traceability. The company says its software can help cut procurement costs by up to 10% and aims to solve India’s procurement problems across a $500‑billion market. Procol reports a supplier network of over 25,000 and has managed over Rs 7,500 crore of procurement spends, working with more than 70 large enterprises. Marquee clients include Dalmia Bharat, Havells, Mrs Bectors, Emami, Zetwerk, and Tata BigBasket. The startup plans to use new capital to build and enhance its procurement solutions and expand its B2B marketplace offering.

  • RubiBrands

    Participated · Seed · May 2022

    RubiBrands is an Istanbul-based e-commerce aggregator that acquires established consumer brands across CEEMEA and sells them on 15+ marketplaces. The company targets brands with weak ties to Asia to avoid supply-chain bottlenecks and to protect margins. RubiBrands positions Turkey as a central logistics hub to shorten lead times, improve quality control, and accelerate product innovation. It has acquired seven brands to date and is active on marketplaces including Amazon US/UK/Germany/UAE, Trendyol, Hepsiburada, Allegro, Zalando, Noon, Jumia, and Getir. Leadership emphasizes partnering with founders for non-disruptive know-how transfer and continuous product development. The firm aims to reach 25 brands, ship 12 million units, and generate $110 million in annual revenue within the next 12 months.

Team

  • Fethi Kamisli

    Founder & Managing Partner

    LinkedIn