Martı

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“Choose Martı Seagulls if you want a reliable transport and a safe trip to your destination.”

-  The owner of Martı Oğuz Alper Öktem is now drawing attention to the inevitable transition to electric vehicles (EVs) transportation, stressing that shared EVs are the most reasonable – both from an ecological and economic point of view - alternative for the cars that are bought for hundreds of thousands of lira and lie idle for 22.5 hours a day.

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“Visiting Istanbul? Marti Seagulls will take you anywhere you want to go.”

Martı Seagulls are seen as a major breakthrough in mobile transportation in Turkey.

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”Martı E-scooters sungazing in Istanbul’s busy streets.”

The signature Turkish technology start-up company Martı is among the leading players operating in the Turkish micro-mobility market.

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The value of the micro-mobility market in Turkey in 2020 stood at $92.8 million, and it is expected to rise to $14,711.1 million by 2030, demonstrating a 64.5% CAGR between 2021 and 2030.

The signature Turkish technology start-up company Martı is among the leading players operating in the Turkish micro-mobility market, BusinessWire writes.

It was citing the recently published report “Turkey Micromobility Market Research Report: By Type, Model, Sharing System – Industry Analysis and Growth Forecast to 2030”.

Actually, it was the Turkish businessman Oğuz Alper Öktem who introduced Turkey to micro-mobility with its e-scooters company Martı in 2018. The company is the first Turkish micro-mobility and e-scooter initiative.

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Oğuz Alper Öktem invested around 60-70 million dollars in the Marti venture.

The founder of Martı Oğuz Alper Öktem said that their aim is for Martı to be present in 81 provinces for a period of 2 years, adding that they have no intention of stopping this project and exiting the market. 

The young entrepreneur also stated that everything is going according to their initially tailored strategy adding that the company does not even have a 10% deviation from the budgets that were planned at the beginning of their venture.

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According to Oğuz Alper Öktem, the founder and CEO of Martı, in the three years of operating since its founding in 2019, Martı’s e-scooters have prevented 7 million kg of CO2 emissions, which, according to Öktem, equals the impact of planting more than 300.0000 trees.

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Sharing is Caring for Martı’s Founder Promoting Sharing Economy in Turkey

Sharing as a form of social exchange may have existed long before the invention of online sharing platforms, but the growing importance of sharing economy in the 21 century is getting immense and popular, especially in terms of authentic socially engaged forms of sharing platforms and services.

There has been remarkable progress in Turkey’s entrepreneurial ecosystem in recent years with rapid urbanization, accompanied by an increasingly young population, providing unique opportunities for scalable new services.

With this trend in mind, Oğuz Alper Öktem and his sister Sena Öktem introduced e-scooter sharing initiative Martı to Turkey’s ecosystem in 2019 with the promise of a brand-new idea and transportation alternative, adding in a very short time the easier and cheaper travel to Istanbul’s city life.

This brave initiative has proved so popular it has reached millions of registered users in just 3 years, and now their 1800 + employees offer its services in more than 20 cities.

But its founder Alper Öktem is now drawing attention to the inevitable transition to electric vehicles (EVs) transportation, stressing that shared EVs are the most reasonable – both from an ecological and economic point of view - alternative for the cars that are bought for hundreds of thousands of lira and lie idle for 22.5 hours a day.

Öktem underlined that the capacity utilization rate of cars is so low it’s almost a waste of money, supporting his claim with study data showing that an average person spends 10 hours and 50 minutes in his car a week, which translates to only 1,5 hours a day in which the car is used.

Considering that over 25% of the world's energy consumption goes to the transportation sector, the sharing economy offers the ideal solution that would decrease personal car ownership, save space that is now taken by vehicles, will decrease the time spent in traffic due to decreased traffic congestion and, what’s most important, will decrease the amount of released CO2.

So, sharing rides and using EVs in the process will not only be beneficial to people’s budget and give them more time than they would otherwise spend in traffic but will also decrease air pollution significantly.

Based on a social model of sharing, the ecological, local, and regional values of such platforms are very high and so popular in Turkey that there’s now a whole network that’s bringing together the individual and small-community-based sharing efforts in Istanbul and Turkey to create the awareness on the sharing economy, promote a sharing culture and to support the sharing initiatives -both profit and non-profit.

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Turkish businessman Oğuz Alper Öktem, who introduced Turkey to micro-mobility with its electric scooters company Martı in 2018, is the winner of the 2021 ‘Entrepreneur of the Year’ award at GQ Turkey Men of the Year Awards.

The young entrepreneur who started his career at the Deutsche Bank London office, has founded his signature technology start-up company Martı to provide a practical solution to the chaotic city traffic in Istanbul while protecting at the same time the environment with its low carbon emission.

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“When in Istanbul, do what Istanbulites do.“

Martı is a start-up company from Turkey that offers its customers alternative transportation in the form of e-scooters. The e-scooters called Seagulls can be rented out at a price of 7.89 TL for a ten-minute ride. This is equivalent to the price of one cup of coffee, and with this, you can save some valuable time and get to your desired destination.

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Unspecified Funds Helped Martı Close Investment Round Before 2021 Ended

Martı, the Turkish electric scooter startup that has grown in popularity in recent years, has succeeded to close the second investment round in late September, several months before the 2021 competition.

Although the amount invested in the electric scooter sharing service is unspecified, reports show that Martı received investment in Round B from BECO Capital, Kevin Ryan, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Endeavor Catalyst, Autotech Ventures, and the Actera Group.

However, the speculations were that investment is worth at least $20 million.

Founded in the USA on April 30, 2021, Marti Technologies INC, Martı, founded by the young Turkish entrepreneur Oğuz Alper Öktem and his sister Sena, was frequently the subject of the news due to its easing of transportation by offering greener, more sustainable transportation alternative that cuts the city’s pollution.

Martı, valued at $100 -150m in Dealroom.co’s estimates in Jul 2020, has raised a total of $2M in funding over 3 rounds, and its latest funding, the amount of which is unknown, was raised on Jul 14, 2021, from a Series B round with Autotech Ventures and Endeavor Catalyst being the most recent investors.

Previously on May 26, 2021, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development’s (EBRD) fund named Actera III, invested in Turkey’s leading electric scooter sharing initiative in joint investment with Turkey-focused private equity firm Actera.

Istanbul-based Venture Capital firm 212 has also announced investing in Martı when launching their second €49.3M ($58M) Fund, allocated for startups across Europe, MENA, as well as Turkey.

Beside in Martı, 212’s Fund II is invested in 12 companies to date: including OMMA, SmartMessage, Avatao, Meddy, Metrobi, Chooch, AI, Fazla Gıda, MallIQ, and Trio Mobil.

Previously in July 2020, 212 and Wamda Capital had invested $25 million in Martı.

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In ten years, all transportation will be made with shared and electric vehicles

Turkish Entrepreneur Oğuz Alper Öktem believes that EVs and shared vehicle concept wild boost the sharing economy area Martı also created in Turkey. Explained in simple terms, is an economic activity based on the sharing of individually underutilized assets or services among individuals via online platforms.

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Trips Made with the E-Scooters are Much Safer Alternative for Transportation

Turkish Entrepreneur and founder of the famous startup Martı, Oğuz Alper Öktem stated that the trips made with Martı e-scooters are much safer than those made with cars, motorcycles, bicycles, or planes. 

He also mentioned that all of the Martı e-scooters have electronically set speed-limit and they cannot go above 18 km/h.

The whole system works through an application that is installed on the smartphone of the user. After installing the application will show a map of the nearby area and the Seagulls that are available in that area. All the scooters are locked with a safety lock in order to prevent theft. The safety lock can be unlocked by scanning the QR code on the e-scooter the user has selected. After that, the user is free to use the e-scooter for the amount of time he prefers.

After the journey is over, the user needs to scan the QR code once again and place the lock in place so that the e-scooter is safely locked and ready for further usage.

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Turkey’s Shift to Green Supported by Record EBRD Investment

In a move that would give a significant boost to Turkey’s private sector’s recovery from Covid-19 and its shift towards “green”, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) stepped up its investment in Turkey to a record €2 billion in 2021.

While a large part of the financing is channeled to the recovery of the private sector, around 55% of the funds are allocated for sustainability-supporting projects, including sustainable and green transport solutions.

Following the examples of Izmir and Ankara, Istanbul and Gaziantep have also decided to accelerate their investment in green solutions by joining EBRD’s flagship urban sustainability program Green Cities.

In line with its sustainable and green goals, Istanbul has recently announced its Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (SUMP), Turkey’s first human and environment-oriented transportation system, prepared for a sustainable future in line with Istanbul’s unique geography and historical values.

SUMP envisages a transportation system that promotes inclusive, innovative, environmentally friendly, and integrated mobility and accessibility solutions for all citizens in Istanbul.

The signature Turkish technology start-up company Martı is part of the green wave companies that have offered and provided a practical solution to Istanbul’s chaotic city traffic while protecting at the same time the environment with its low carbon emission.

Founded few years ago by the Turkish businessman Oğuz Alper Öktem and his sister Sena Öktem, this was the first Turkish micro-mobility and e-scooter initiative and is now operating in 22 districts in the Istanbul region, but also in other major cities in Turkey, including Ankara, Antalya, Izmir, and Bursa.

Öktem has recently said that their aim is for Martı to be present in 81 provinces for a period of 2 years.

On top of the expanding plans, Martı has also worked to expand its offer with its plans to launch the electric vehicles project in 2022 after several initiatives in the field of shared EVs service.

Martı’s founder Öktem shared his plans for the future of urban transportation when he spoke at the ‘Environmentally Friendly Cities’ panel recently when he also touched on important points such as the inevitability of using alternative transportation methods to deal with the issue of the carbon emission created by vehicle traffic.

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Martı Among the Leading Players in the Turkish Micro-mobility Market

The signature Turkish technology start-up company Martı is among the leading players operating in the Turkish micro-mobility market, BusinessWire writes.

It was citing the recently published report "Turkey Micromobility Market Research Report: By Type, Model, Sharing System - Industry Analysis and Growth Forecast to 2030".

Actually, it was the Turkish businessman Oğuz Alper Öktem who introduced Turkey to micro-mobility with its e-scooters company Martı in 2018. The company is the first Turkish micro-mobility and e-scooter initiative.

Being a leader in the rapidly growing micro-mobility trend in Turkey, Martı managed to spread its business in 22 provinces in Tukey in less than three years and continues to be a pioneer in the sector.

As the report shows, the value of the micro-mobility market in Turkey in 2020 stood at $92.8 million, and it is expected to rise to $14,711.1 million by 2030, demonstrating a 64.5% CAGR between 2021 and 2030.

While Turkey fights with rapid environmental degradation as one of the major issues, nearly 27% of total expenditure on healthcare in the country is for treating air pollution-caused diseases.

Martı is trying to offer a remedy for that problem as part of the green wave companies that have provided a practical solution to Istanbul’s chaotic city traffic, protecting at the same time the environment with its low carbon emission.

According to Öktem, since the founding of the company, Martı’s e-scooters have prevented 7 million kg of CO2 emissions, which, equals the impact of planting more than 300.0000 trees.

According to some estimates, the company will prevent by 2025 carbon emissions equivalent to 6.6 million trees, or, in other words, it will contribute to nature as much as one percent of all the trees in Turkey contribute to protecting the environment.

The reports’ findings that micro-mobility solutions reduce the need for vehicles for short-distance commuting and will lead to fewer vehicles on roads, decreasing as result the greenhouse gases emission into the atmosphere only support Öktem’s estimates that in a decade, all transportation will be made with shared and electric vehicles.

The e-scooters category that Martı represents, according to the report, held the largest share in the Turkish micro-mobility market during the last few years and this trend is expected to continue in the coming years.

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Martı’s E-Scooter App Made Compatible with Huawei Mobile Services

Tech-startup Martı, which introduced Istanbul and Turkey to the electric scooter sharing system - which is very popular in America and in Europe- has become one of Turkey's most successful technology initiatives since its introduction in 2019 and is increasing its popularity day by day.

Martı’s popular free mobile application available for download on both iOS and Android platforms, which already has 1.000.000 + downloads, has recently been made compatible with Huawei Mobile Services and has found its place in the AppGallery in line with the Huawei users' wishes.

Huawei’s AppGallery, which is considered the 3rd largest application store in the world, has reached over 8 million registered users and over 5 million monthly active users in Turkey in a short time, but the company continues to expand its ecosystem.

Equipped with HMS infrastructure services such as QR code scanning, contactless transactions, and maps, Martı’s app, which provides a practical solution to Istanbul’s city traffic, has now been offered to millions of AppGallery users.

It needs to be emphasized that Huawei’s AppGallery applies the highest level of validation to protect users' sensitive data and privacy. Its users have full control over their personal data and their sensitive information - such as biometric data - is never processed outside of the Huawei device.

It also creates a unique user experience for all users by rapidly adding local applications specific to Turkey to the official application store.

Meanwhile, Martı continues its activities in the sector with its locally developed software, expert employees, and millions of customers.

Striding toward its aim to bring a new perspective to the transportation sector in Istanbul and Turkey, Martı also works on protecting the environment with its low carbon emission transporting offer.

After several initiatives in the field of shared EVs service, and as part of the green wave companies that have provided a practical solution to Istanbul’s chaotic city traffic, the company is planning to expand its ridesharing offer with electric vehicles in 2022.

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Martı CEO Oğuz Alper Öktem Greets New E-Scooter Regulations

The electric scooter (e-scooter) regulation prepared by the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure together with the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization was published in the Official Gazette yesterday.

Praising scooters in the regulation, the ministries noted that these vehicles increase mobility while reducing exhaust emissions and carbon emissions.

With the regulation, for the first time, some rules were determined for these vehicles, whose popularity has been increasing in big cities in recent years.

Oğuz Alper Öktem, the founder and CEO of Martı, one of the largest companies in this field, said that he welcomed the regulation in a written statement.

With the new regulation, it was decided that electric scooters that can be used on the roads can travel at a maximum speed of 25 kilometers per hour. The age limit for use has also been set at 15.

The new regulation also prevents scooters to be used on sidewalks, or wherever there is a bicycle lane. The electric vehicle cannot be used on roads where with a maximum speed limit of 50 kilometers or more.

E-scooter users were also required to constantly control the vehicle with both hands, except when signaling for maneuver.

Violation of private property, disruption of public order, and parking of scooters in a way that obstructs the movement of pedestrians or the disabled is also prohibited. In such situations, owners will have to remove e-scooters parked this way within two hours.

With the new regulation, more than one person will not be allowed to ride on the scooters, and loads cannot be carried on the scooters except for the items carried on the back in a backpack.

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Martı's Oğuz Alper Öktem Aims to Operate in 81 Provinces in Turkey

Martı is one of the most famous start-ups in Turkey and a company everyone is talking about. The company is actually the first Turkish micro-mobility and e-scooter initiative, that operates in 22 districts in the Istanbul region, but also in Ankara, Antalya, Izmir, Gaziantep, Eskisehir, Yalova, and Bursa.

The founder of the company Oğuz Alper Öktem said that their aim is for Martı to be present in 81 provinces for a period of 2 years, adding that they have no intention of stopping this project and exiting the market.

The project was developed by Oğuz Alper Öktem and his sister Sena Öktem who have worked very hard in order to get to where they are at the moment. The project attracted significant attention from the investors as well.

Although the company went through a loss, which was confirmed by Öktem himself, it is fair to point out that this is pretty normal for start-ups in the initial years of operation. However, Öktem clarified that all this skepticism comes from people due to the lack of knowledge about how the start-up ecosystem works.

The entrepreneur mentioned Amazon as an example of how a company that is 29 years present on the market did not make a profit until it went public. The actual situation is that start-ups grow by making losses. The losses one startup can endure are a pretty normal thing in this industry.

Öktem also said that this in fact is a strategy in the long run and not some failure as some want to see it.

The young entrepreneur also stated that everything is going according to their initially tailored strategy adding that the company does not even have a 10% deviation from the budgets that were planned at the beginning of their venture.

Öktem invested around 60-70 million dollars in the Marti venture. After 6-7 months of hard work, he founded the company as a start-up. Later, his sister Sena Öktem became his first partner and their business proceeded to grow.