Turkey-based social commerce firm Grupanya secured an undisclosed amount of funding from corporate venturing unit Intel Capital on Tuesday last week. In addition to financing, Intel has also pledged to provide technological and business support for Grupanya.
Arvind Sodhani, president of Intel Capital, said: "E-commerce and social commerce sites, customised to the cultural preferences and technology usage models of each particular region are now major drivers of business all over the world. Grupanya is paving the way for social commerce in Turkey with products that develop commercial cooperation between online and offline retail businesses to the benefit of both."
Grupanya follows the daily deal template commercialised by Groupon and built upon by several companies since. Venture investors have backed many competitors to Groupon, in various parts of the world, including Germany-based Citydeal, South America-based ClanDescuento, Singapore-based Beeconomic, Japan-based Qpod, India-based SoSasta.com and Russia-based Darberry.
Founded in 2009, 50% of Grupanya was acquired by an investment consortium headed by Alp Saul and Cem Sertoğlu last year.
Christian Morales, general manager of Europe, Middle East and Africa at Intel, said: "Intel has been working with Turkish companies for several decades and present locally for 13 years working with the industry ecosystem and the government on initiatives such as ICT, Education and Infrastructure. The market is very dynamic and very fast growing. We are very pleased to see this investment in Grupanya, a leading company in the internet economy, happen."