Startups at the moment are shouldering revolutionary options in healthcare, and even venerable corporations like Sanofi, boasting a scientific legacy of over 300 years, are acknowledging the contributions of ventures.
Cem Öztürk, president of Sanofi Türkiye and the pinnacle of Türkiye, Africa and the Middle East Essential Products, revealed that 65% of the 118 new drug licenses authorised by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) between 2016 and 2018 belonged to startups.
“The new carriers of innovation are seen to be newly established ventures alongside major pharmaceutical companies. Due to their agile structures, these ventures have significant advantages in discovering and implementing innovations. Considering the talented Turkish entrepreneurs among globally successful healthcare initiatives, we can see the high potential in our country’s skilled human resources,” stated Öztürk.
However, he stated whereas Turkish startups in cellular gaming, monetary expertise, on-demand supply and different sectors make sturdy strides within the world market, the dearth of presentation of home healthcare initiatives on the world stage stems from the truth that the innovation-based healthcare ecosystem throughout the nation will not be but structured with the mandatory qualities.
81 million vaccine doses
Highlighting their dedication to Türkiye’s “healthy future” by means of an revolutionary method, Öztürk stated Sanofi carried out the primary expertise switch within the area of vaccines within the nation 12 years in the past.
“Through this project, in collaboration with Birgi Mefar Group, we started producing childhood combination vaccines that protect against diseases within the national vaccine schedule. Thanks to this investment contributing to Türkiye’s first biotechnology production, we have produced 81 million doses of vaccines to date,” he famous.
“Our goal is to bring solutions and technologies that will ease patients’ lives to our country while also contributing to qualified local production.”
Innovative initiatives
Öztürk additionally cited the PharmUp Entrepreneurship Program, launched in 2019 and collaboration with Endeavour, saying that they’ve efficiently introduced collectively entrepreneurs from varied fields and sectors who can develop options for the healthcare business.
“The program aims to select about five startups every year. The selected ventures participating in the acceleration program benefit from workshops and mentorship support to enhance their skills and solutions. They also have the opportunity to develop collaborations with Sanofi and participate in Vivatech held in Paris,” he stated.
This yr, he added, entrepreneurs growing services and products in classes reminiscent of good well being gadgets and diagnostic options (wearable applied sciences and speedy testing instruments), medical schooling and communication instruments, wholesome residing options, digital well being and telemedicine, information administration and analytics and company digital transformation utilized to this system.
“To date, a total of 219 entrepreneurs have applied to the program, with 22 ventures being included,” stated Öztürk.
Multi-stakeholder platform
Öztürk highlighted that they’ve remodeled PharmUp right into a multi-stakeholder platform, producing options tailor-made to the wants of entrepreneurs all through their journey, from product growth to market launch.
“PharmUp is a multi-stakeholder entrepreneurship platform based in Türkiye, contributing to global competitiveness and strengthening the innovation ecosystem in healthcare. In this context, we have achieved various collaborations with Başakşehir Living Lab, Teknopark Istanbul, Lokman Hekim University Health and Drug Technology Center (LHUSTEK), and TT Ventures,” he stated.
With the collaboration settlement signed with TT Ventures, the company enterprise capital firm of Türk Telekom, certainly one of Türkiye’s main telecommunications and expertise corporations, Öztürk stated they purpose to assist the event processes of ventures, create a scientific platform and make sure the transformation of value-added innovation and technology-based initiatives into merchandise.
Groundbreaking partnership in fintech frontier
In the quickly evolving panorama of Turkish finance expertise, fintech initiatives have aggressively pursued bold objectives, notably within the realm of open banking and digital finance licenses.
In a strategic alignment that not solely displays the dynamism within the Turkish monetary expertise sector but additionally underlines the symbiotic relationship rising between conventional banking establishments and agile fintech ventures, İşbank and Figopara introduced a collaboration that can see the latter integrating Türkiye’s largest personal lender’s TekCep and TekPos merchandise for its clientele.
Figopara, a monetary expertise enterprise with a mission to succeed in 100,000 small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), envisions turning into certainly one of Türkiye’s unicorn startups with a billion-dollar valuation.
The partnership signifies a milestone as Figopara invests in a product developed by a conventional financial institution for the primary time. Iş Bankası’s open banking merchandise, TekCep and TekPOS, crafted by its subsidiary Softtech, shall be accessible to Figopara clients.
Under the settlement, İşbank’s possession by means of Maxis Innovative Venture Capital Investment Fund has reached 3.42%. The strategic transfer displays the accelerating tempo of customer-centric digital transformation initiatives inside each banks and fintech corporations amid stringent regulatory oversight.
Figopara’s acquisition of İşbank subsidiary Softtech’s open banking merchandise, TekCep and TekPos, extends past mere expertise integration. The buy empowers Figopara’s industrial purchasers to handle bill information and banking data, enabling exact management over money flows. Furthermore, it’s going to additionally permit real-time detection of credit score limits primarily based on the most recent information.
Customer-centric
Evaluating the settlement, İşbank General Manager Hakan Aran highlighted customer-centric decision-making.
“While developing TekCep and TekPos, I thoroughly read the Competition Authority’s decision. Reading the assessment of the value of customer data in that document made us realize once again the significance of customer data. We developed these products but believe a fintech initiative can scale them faster,” stated Aran.
“We think Figopara’s products, in which we have previously invested, can be offered to SMEs at a more affordable cost. By the end of this year, we believe Figopara will be one of the billion-dollar unicorn fintech initiatives. We think other banks like us can also invest. I believe a shareholding of up to 15% for banks is sufficient. If all banks extend their support, there is no reason for the unicorn goal not to be achieved.”
For their half, Koray Bahar, founder and CEO of Figopara, stated they’ve prioritized priceless traders like İşbank, noting that the corporate is confidently progressing towards its aim of being a platform that meets all monetary wants of economic enterprises.
“With this acquisition, we are moving toward a structure where our customers can see all their cash flows. We aspire to be the ‘Financial Application’ where businesses can view their financial processes with forward-looking predictions, displaying daily and real-time financial data on a single platform. We currently serve over 10,000 businesses and aim to increase this number to 80,000-90,000 in 2024,” stated Bahar.
“Providing more value-added services to both existing and future customers is our sole purpose. To deliver all these services, we have applied for a license with Figo Payment Institution Inc. to the central bank. Until approval is granted by the central for our payment company application, we will offer open banking services to our customers through representation,” he famous.
CES 2024 to kick off
The CES hailed because the world’s largest shopper electronics present, is about to kick off subsequent week and as soon as once more carry collectively startups and cutting-edge applied sciences from all corners of the globe.
With over 1,200 expertise corporations from 150 nations anticipated to take part, Turkish entrepreneurs are set to exhibit a variety of revolutionary merchandise, from a sensible cane for visually impaired youngsters to a neighborhood initiative remodeling espresso waste into biomaterials to electrical automobile efficiency administration platforms and wearable applied sciences.
CES 2024, previously referred to as the Consumer Electronics Show, is scheduled to happen in Las Vegas between Jan. 9-12. It will characteristic a devoted Türkiye Pavilion solely for Turkish expertise entrepreneurs.
Development businesses be a part of forces
This yr’s participation is being facilitated by means of the collaborative efforts of 5 growth businesses working below the coordination of the Industry and Technology Ministry.
Istanbul Development Agency (ISTKA), Ankara Development Agency (ANKARAKA), Izmir Development Agency (IZKA), Bursa Eskişehir Bilecik Development Agency (BEBKA), and West Mediterranean Development Agency (BAKA) are working in concord to open up world markets for greater than 100 Turkish expertise startups, escorting them to world occasions in Las Vegas, Lisbon, Helsinki and Doha.
Under the banner of the Global Entrepreneurship Events Participation Call, a delegation of 150 people, together with stakeholders and representatives, will accompany the 50 Turkish expertise startups granted the chance to take part within the CES 2024.
At CES 2024, Turkish startups will introduce a spectrum of revolutionary expertise merchandise for the primary time. These embrace a sensible cane for visually impaired youngsters, a neighborhood initiative changing espresso waste into biomaterials, the world’s first electrical youngsters’s bike, and the world’s first and solely conditional fan assist platform. Other improvements will span wearable applied sciences, industrial design, digital logistics, unmanned aerial autos, quick supply options for e-commerce, cellular video games, schooling applied sciences, and digital and automation options.
Under a sponsorship settlement, nationwide flag service Turkish Airlines (THY) supplies discounted tickets to facilitate startups’ participation, enabling them to showcase their merchandise and have interaction in buyer discussions throughout the four-day occasion.
The CES 2024 present will characteristic a various array of initiatives from world wide, representing completely different expertise classes, together with synthetic intelligence, good cities, cryptocurrency and NFTs, meals expertise, digital well being, augmented and digital actuality, robotics and drones, area expertise, gaming and e-sports, automobile expertise, and varied different industries.
TT Ventures continues to put money into startups
Investment in expertise startups is essential throughout the seed stage and as these ventures progress into the expansion section.
Despite many establishments supporting startups of their early phases, they usually discover themselves missing monetary backing in later phases of growth and development. Due to restricted entry to funding, quite a few startups decide to relocate their headquarters overseas.
This pattern is being reshaped by investments from main companies. TT Ventures, the enterprise capital arm of Türk Telekom, certainly one of Türkiye’s main telecommunication and expertise corporations, continues to put money into startups in superior phases, offering a big increase to the entrepreneurial ecosystem.
If a startup has initiated operations, is producing income, and is able to take flight, TT Ventures demonstrates its dedication by providing complete assist.
Established in 2018 as a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Türk Telekom Group, TT Ventures goals to assist the actions of high-growth potential startups within the early and center phases. The enterprise capital agency seeks to create worth by straight investing in these startups, facilitating their development.
To date, it has engaged with 1,500 startups, with investments made in 16 ventures, reaching a portfolio worth of $100 million.
TT Ventures’ strategic method not solely aids startups in securing the mandatory monetary backing as they evolve but additionally contributes to retaining revolutionary enterprises throughout the nation.
Source: www.dailysabah.com