Nevzat Aydin

Nevzat Aydin pioneered Turkish digital commerce before the country's startup ecosystem had a name, founding Yemeksepeti in 2000 and scaling it into Turkey's first landmark tech exit. When Delivery Hero acquired the platform in 2015 for $589 million — the largest e-commerce acquisition in Turkish history at the time — it proved that a market long overlooked by global investors could produce world-class returns. Aydin grew Yemeksepeti to 6 million registered users and 15,000 partner restaurants before the sale, establishing a replicable playbook for two-sided marketplace businesses. Later founders, including Dream Games' Hakan Bas, explicitly cited Yemeksepeti's exit as evidence that Istanbul startups could compete on the global stage. His post-exit role as an angel investor and mentor to more than 40 Turkish startups has extended his influence far beyond a single company, making him a genuine architect of the ecosystem itself.