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.