Uppy, a Turkish training expertise enterprise that has been famend for its substantial influence potential, has been named among the many world’s high startups in its space, reinforcing its standing as a pioneering power within the “ed tech” realm.
The firm this week obtained the esteemed title of “Second Best Ed Tech Startup” in the course of the G-20 Digital Innovation Alliance (DIA) Summit in Bangalore, India, which introduced collectively 120 startups from 20 nations, marking a big achievement inside the training expertise area.
The accolade, prolonged after the worldwide jury’s unanimous choice, was introduced to Uppy by Ashwini Vaishnaw, the minister of communication and data expertise of India, on behalf of Prime Minister Modi.
Scientifically grounded fashions
For 5 years main as much as this recognition, Uppy diligently labored on an unparalleled mix of technological innovation and a scientifically grounded academic mannequin.
Uppy joined the G-20 India summit, serving to inside the scope of the gathering of the world’s high 20 economies, upon the invitation of the Turkish Ministry of Industry and Technology.
Its venture triumphed as a beacon of success on this planet of entrepreneurship, delivering one of the vital important international awards within the historical past of Turkish startups.
Having garnered investments from distinguished figures similar to Ali Sabancı, Ali Koç and Nevzat Aydın, in addition to main enterprise capitalists in Türkiye, Uppy noticed its valuation rise to $45 million in its newest funding spherical. This current award additional solidified Uppy’s place because it continues to broaden.
5,000-word dictionary
The startup is not only restricted to Turkish borders. It possesses multilingual capabilities in Turkish, English, German, Spanish and Portuguese. With plans for international enlargement within the closing quarter of 2023, the startup is poised to launch in nations together with the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Mexico, Brazil and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) area.
The innovation of Uppy is extremely evident in its position as a brilliant app safeguarding youngsters aged 2 to six from the digital world’s potential hazards. By consolidating various purposes similar to video games, books, cartoons, YouTube movies, music and meditation, Uppy ensures a fascinating and safe digital expertise for younger learners.
It boasts a 5,000-word dictionary on the core of its content material and academic mannequin, entertainingly introducing youngsters to new phrases whereas preserving their cognitive growth.
Reaching a whole bunch of tens of millions
With a possible attain of 700 million households worldwide, Uppy serves as a pivotal power in addressing the challenges posed by the digital age.
Founder and chairperson of Uppy, Ayşe Şule Bilgiç, says there are round 700 million youngsters aged 0 to six worldwide, uncovered to screens and good units from an early age.
“These children face unique threats in the digital realm, causing concern for their parents. However, as they grow, they will navigate and conduct their lives in this digital world. Hence, banning screens is not a solution,” Bilgiç famous.
“Uppy believes that exposing youngsters to screens earlier than the age of two isn’t excellent. Beyond that, we advocate managed utilization of screens with helpful content material. This is exactly why we developed Uppy after 5 years of rigorous scientific analysis. Children can have enjoyable on Uppy whereas concurrently maximizing their academic potential.”
İbrahim Coşkuner, an Uppy associate and CEO, highlighted the startup’s monumental success within the historical past of Turkish entrepreneurship.
“At Uppy, we have constructed the iOS and Android for youngsters. We’ve engineered a system that rescues mother and father from spending cash on unregulated and unhelpful purposes in app markets,” mentioned Coşkuner.
“With our proprietary synthetic intelligence, we analyze a toddler’s habits and supply stories and options to assist their growth. Perhaps probably the most beloved function amongst mother and father is that after they activate Uppy and its child-lock mode, the kid is immersed and can’t exit the app,” he added.
**** HABER 2 ****
Generative AI pioneer Syntonym raises $900K in seed funding spherical
Amid the fast proliferation of image-capturing units and facial recognition applied sciences, Syntonym, a pioneer in generative synthetic intelligence (AI), is making waves with its modern artificial information anonymization expertise.
The startup has not too long ago raised $900,000 in a seed funding spherical spearheaded by Simya Venture Capital (VC), set as much as put money into early-stage startups by 212, a pioneer within the enterprise ecosystem.
The spherical was backed by INVEST 101, established in partnership between Türkiye Development Fund and Middle East Technical University (ÖDTÜ) Teknokent, APY Ventures and Türk Telekom’s enterprise capital funding arm, TT Ventures.
It marks an necessary milestone on Syntonym’s journey to guard the privateness of people within the face of the rising velocity of picture recording units and facial recognition applied sciences.
With a mission to deal with the challenges posed by laws limiting the utilization of visible datasets containing private data, Syntonym presents a safe answer for AI coaching and information evaluation.
Global journey
The expertise allows the real-time creation of distinctive and nameless faces on cellular, cloud or native platforms, empowering people to guard their privateness whereas partaking in varied interactions.
Syntonym’s strategic transfer to safe this funding goals to deliver its years of analysis and growth efforts to fruition. The startup is now poised to supply its patented expertise to international manufacturers.
To amplify its development journey, Synotnym is aligning its technique with Alchemist Accelerator, one of many world’s most prestigious accelerator packages, by means of a partnership with Simya VC.
Hyper-realistic
Batuhan Özcan, the founder and CEO of Syntonym, emphasised that the corporate’s hyper-realistic artificial face technology not solely underscores their dedication to consumer safety but additionally incorporates seen cues to stop potential misuse.
This ensures transparency in on-line interactions, similar to video calls, buyer companies, digital well being and counseling, Özcan famous.
“Our success in achieving hyper-realistic synthetic face quality reinforces our sense of responsibility toward user safety. We use visible cues to prevent potential misuse of the synthetic faces we create, thereby establishing a privacy layer for end-users. Thus, we inform users that synthetic faces are created for privacy purposes in online interaction areas such as video calls/meetings, customer service, digital health and consulting services,” he mentioned.
Expansion plans
Özcan additionally highlighted the startup’s plans to broaden its presence within the American, European and British markets, benefiting from the assist of Alchemist Accelerator’s mentors.
“With our investment, we aim to grow in the American, European and British markets. At the same time, we are getting another support that is as valuable as the investment we have received. We have been included in the Alchemist Accelerator program, one of the best acceleration programs in the world. With guidance from Alchemist mentors, we started to shape our strategy for global customer acquisition,” he mentioned.
“While enabling the advancement of artificial intelligence technologies in our growth journey, we aim to be the ‘face of data privacy’ by protecting individuals against the increasingly widespread facial recognition technologies.”
Özcan additionally acknowledged that Syntonym’s technological breakthrough resonates with the necessity for AI-powered options to respect people’ privateness expectations whereas delivering on their information wants.
By specializing in enhancing the standard of artificial face fashions and lowering {hardware} and energy necessities, the startup goals to supply seamless, General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) – and Personal Data Protection Board (KVKK)-compliant AI coaching and evaluation information to organizations reliant on visible information processing, he added.
“While preserving important metrics such as expressions, eye movements and head positions on human faces, we also get rid of biometric data. Thus, the outputs we produce are transformed into artificial intelligence training and analysis data in accordance with the GDPR/KVKK for companies that need visual data,” mentioned Özcan.
“As of the level that our technology has reached, we are in a leading position in the global market in the field of generative AI. In this way, we have been able to develop data privacy provider applications that can be used by end users as well as organizations that process visual data.”
**** HABER 3 ****
REM People bolsters retail tech hub imaginative and prescient by funding Hoopla platform
REM People, a distinguished supplier of synthetic intelligence-based picture recognition and retail analytics companies to over 50 nations, is including tempo to appreciate its ambition of changing into a hub for AI-powered retail expertise.
The firm has invested in Hoopla, a B2B e-commerce utility that gives provide companies concentrating on conventional gross sales channels similar to small-to-medium-sized markets, comfort shops, kiosks, and non-residential consumption.
REM People’s $1 million funding got here as a part of Hoopla’s seed funding spherical that totaled $1.35 million and was joined by one other two angel traders.
$12 million funding
Founded by tech entrepreneurs with experience in retail and expertise in 2015, REM People has developed right into a pioneering supplier of AI-enhanced omnichannel retail analytics and gross sales effectivity options. Developed totally by Turkish engineers, the software program serves main manufacturers. Driven by a dedication to excel, REM People aspires to grow to be a worldwide chief within the realm of retail analytics.
Having secured a $12 million funding from Ethos Asset Management, a U.S.-based funding firm, earlier this 12 months, REM People is taking strides to strengthen the entrepreneurial ecosystem. This 12 months, the corporate dedicated to investing $4.5 million in 5 expertise startups as a part of its imaginative and prescient to grow to be a number one AI-powered retail expertise middle.
Empowering retailers
The preliminary step towards this imaginative and prescient materialized by means of the funding in Hoopla, a dynamic e-commerce platform based by Onur Pekşen and Aydın Emek in 2021. Hoopla goals to revolutionize the fast-moving client items sector by remodeling conventional gross sales channels by means of its modern service and technological infrastructure.
Hoopla empowers small and medium-sized retailers to digitally order merchandise in response to their wants and preferences, bypassing intermediaries like distributors and wholesalers. This digital platform immediately impacts stock, money circulate and profitability administration, guaranteeing seamless operations for retailers.
Yet Hoopla’s attain extends past brick-and-mortar retailers. The platform additionally aids producers, suppliers and distributors in rising the distribution and availability of their merchandise at decreased operational prices.
Collaborating with greater than 40 nationwide and worldwide suppliers together with Procter & Gamble (P&G), Upfield, Lipton, Kotex, Savola Yudum, Kellogg’s, Beypazarı Maden Suları, Unilever, Doğadan and Ace, Hoopla continues to broaden its provider and retailer community.
**** HABER 4 ****
Turkish fintech Craftgate secures $1M funding
Craftgate, an Istanbul-based fee orchestration platform has secured a $1 million funding in a funding spherical involving Hepsiburada and D4 Ventures.
Craftgate’s platform facilitates environment friendly administration of digital POS terminals, partnered fee/e-money establishments and different fee strategies, positioning itself as a catalyst for companies’ monetary autonomy.
The funding is poised to bolster Craftgate’s advertising efforts and enlargement initiatives, aligning with high e-commerce platform Hepsiburada’s imaginative and prescient to reinforce its fintech portfolio and speed up the expansion of e-commerce companions.
Launched in 2021, Craftgate has quickly gained momentum with its seasoned founding group, strong workforce and strategic investments. The platform has gained prominence for revolutionizing digital fee processes, particularly within the area of e-commerce, whereas concurrently sustaining a dedication to analysis and growth (R&D).
The firm’s suite of companies contains central integration, card storage, one-click funds, market options, closed-loop wallets, fee varieties, collaborative fee pages, hyperlink and QR code funds, clever and dynamic fee routing, and proactive monitoring.
These value-added companies not solely streamline fee system integration and assortment processes but additionally assist cut back operational prices for organizations, empowering them to deal with development.
Hakan Erdoğan, co-founder and CEO of Craftgate, mentioned the newest funding could be allotted towards increasing the group and intensifying advertising and gross sales actions.
“Leveraging our years of experience in the financial technology sector in Türkiye, we are dedicated to supporting businesses’ growth. With the belief in our payment systems expertise and product shown by investors like Hepsiburada and D4 Ventures, we are rapidly expanding and working toward our global aspirations. I believe that this partnership with our new investors will add substantial strength to our capabilities,” Erdoğan famous.
Source: www.dailysabah.com
