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(Bloomberg) -- An early backer of Getir is preparing for its next act as it comes off a gain of nearly 6,000% in the value of its investment in the Turkish delivery app.
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The big opportunity spotted by Re-Pie Asset Management Inc. is in Turkey’s “buy now, pay later” sector, a business model that’s enjoying a moment globally.
Re-Pie’s latest fintech investment in Colendi, a financial services platform with 2.4 million users, was made at a $120 million valuation, just below what Getir fetched when the asset manager backed it in 2018.
“Colendi ticks all the boxes to be the next unicorn of Turkey,” Emre Camlibel, chairman of Re-Pie, said in Istanbul.
Getir, alongside e-commerce platform Trendyol, is leading a crop of tech upstarts that’s shaking up the pecking order of Turkey Inc. Hepsiburada.com, another large online shopping platform, this year became the first Turkish firm to list on Nasdaq.
With operations now spanning the U.K. and beyond, Getir is worth $7.56 billion following its funding round in June. Re-Pie first invested at a $128 million value. Trendyol, backed by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., is Turkey’s first company valued at over $10 billion following a $1.5 billion funding round in August.
While Turkey staggered from crisis to crisis, investors poured around $3.2 billion into the nation’s startups this year, more than the industry pulled in over the past decade combined. Last year, Turkish startups raised a total of only $177 million, according to StartupMarket data.
‘International Spin’
“Technology companies aren’t bound by the country’s limitations,” Camlibel said. “Therefore tech-based companies with an international spin will continue to thrive with new investments.”
Istanbul-based Re-Pie, founded in 2015, manages 3.8 billion liras ($445 million) of assets. It invests in technology and innovation-focused companies from the startup stage to pre-IPO deals.
Re-Pie, which oversees real estate and venture capital investment funds, doesn’t disclose its average returns. Earlier this year, it acquired a 40% stake in internet services provider TurkNet.
The company made a partial exit from Getir, distributing a dividend of 275 million liras to its investors. Camlibel wouldn’t specify the size of its current holding. It has investments in about a dozen companies through its private equity funds.