Cem Sertoglu
Co-Founder and Managing Partner @ Earlybird Venture Capital
New York, United States
Cem Sertoglu is an internet and technology venture capitalist and entrepreneur. He is currently a Managing Partner at Bek Ventures, a European venture investment firm focusing on technology and health technology companies.He is also a managing partner at Young Turk Ventures, an internet-focused investment firm. From 2008 to 2009, Sertoglu was apartner at iLab Ventures, the venture capital arm of AccessTurkey Capital Group that is focused on early-stage through late-stage growth equity investments, primarily in on-line consumer services companies and technology-driven business services companies in Turkey.Prior to these, Sertoglu founded SelectMinds, a provider of cloud-based, social talent sourcing apps that allow companies to use social networks such as Facebook to recruit employees. He served as its CEO from 1999 to 2005. The company was bought by Oracle in 2012.Sertoglu's investment highlights include: GittiGidiyor, the first major Turkish internet exit to eBay in 2011; YemekSepeti, the leading online meal delivery marketplace in Turkey; Grupanya, Turkey’s leading daily deal business; and Wikimart.ru, a leading Russian e-commerce platform. Other investments include: HipWay, CivicSolar, Lofty, Lime&Tonic, Gezlong and Vivense Home & Living.Sertoglu attended the University of Texas at Austin and received his bachelor's degree in Economics in 1993. He also attended Robert College from 1982 to 1989. He publishes a blog on Venture Capital and technology, titled SortiPreneur.
- Total investments:
- 37
- Last investment:
- Lead investor:
- 41%
Last updated:
For AI agents: llms.txt
Industries Cem Sertoglu invests in
Stages Cem Sertoglu invests in
Countries Cem Sertoglu invests in
Round sizes
Contacts
| Type | Contact | Validation |
|---|---|---|
| Work email | ||
| Personal email | ||
| Work phone | ||
| Personal phone | ||
| Socials |
Round size
- Seed
- $455k–$8M
- Series A
- $1.5M–$45M
- Series B
- $24M–$80M
Investment Focus
Industry
- E-Commerce 2 (5%)
- Marketplace 2 (5%)
- Financial Services 2 (5%)
- CRM 1 (3%)
- Solar 1 (3%)
Stage
- Seed 6 (16%)
- Series A 6 (16%)
- Series B 3 (8%)
- Series C 2 (5%)
- Series D 2 (5%)
Country
- Turkey 5 (14%)
- United States 5 (14%)
- Germany 1 (3%)
- Ireland 1 (3%)
- United Kingdom 1 (3%)
Investments
| Company | Description | Round | Links |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vitvio drives efficiency, safety, and quality of care in the operating theater by tracking workflows, staff movement, and equipment positioning using the latest computer vision AI technologies. | $8M / Seed / Oct 23, 2025 | ||
| Midas is the first neobroker of Turkey, providing zero commission Turkish and American stocks. | $80M / Series B / Aug 19, 2025 | ||
| Picus developed a novel and holistic approach to IT security: Continuous Security Validation. The Picus Security Validation Platform simulates real-world cyber threats to evaluate and optimize cybersecurity measures, ensuring organizations are prepared for potential security breaches. Picus enables businesses to test their security controlscontinuously, identifying gaps and weaknesses in their defenses. The company's technology integrates with existing security tools, providing actionable insights to enhance an organization’s ability to detect, prevent, and respond to cyber-attacks. | $45M / Series C / Sep 19, 2024 | ||
| Midas is the first neobroker of Turkey, providing zero commission Turkish and American stocks. | $45M / Series A / Apr 19, 2024 | ||
| Vitvio drives efficiency, safety, and quality of care in the operating theater by tracking workflows, staff movement, and equipment positioning using the latest computer vision AI technologies. | $2M / Pre-Seed / Mar 30, 2024 | ||
| Upstash develops serverless data platform for developers of data-intensive applications using a consumption-based pricing model. | $10M / Series A / Feb 08, 2024 | ||
| Upstash develops serverless data platform for developers of data-intensive applications using a consumption-based pricing model. | $1.9M / Seed / Mar 17, 2022 | ||
| Picus developed a novel and holistic approach to IT security: Continuous Security Validation. The Picus Security Validation Platform simulates real-world cyber threats to evaluate and optimize cybersecurity measures, ensuring organizations are prepared for potential security breaches. Picus enables businesses to test their security controlscontinuously, identifying gaps and weaknesses in their defenses. The company's technology integrates with existing security tools, providing actionable insights to enhance an organization’s ability to detect, prevent, and respond to cyber-attacks. | $24M / Series B / Oct 20, 2021 | ||
| N26 offers mobile banking solutions to customers in the European Union through its subsidiary. It provides international money transfer, investment, overdraft, and cash withdrawal and deposits at stores. N26 provides mobile banking services for customers. Its mobile banking services offer online banking that includes making and handling ofcurrent accounts, fixed accounts, and other banking services, letting customers manage and control their banking details via a smartphone application easily.Maximilian Tayenthal and Valentin Stalf founded Papayer in February 2013, which later became N26, with its headquarters in Berlin in Germany. | $36.2M / Series D / Feb 26, 2021 | ||
| N26 offers mobile banking solutions to customers in the European Union through its subsidiary. It provides international money transfer, investment, overdraft, and cash withdrawal and deposits at stores. N26 provides mobile banking services for customers. Its mobile banking services offer online banking that includes making and handling ofcurrent accounts, fixed accounts, and other banking services, letting customers manage and control their banking details via a smartphone application easily.Maximilian Tayenthal and Valentin Stalf founded Papayer in February 2013, which later became N26, with its headquarters in Berlin in Germany. | $100M / Series D / May 05, 2020 | ||
| See all 37 investments → | |||
Co-Investors
Founded in 1997, Earlybird invests in all development and growth phases of technology companies. Among the most experienced venture investors in Europe, Earlybird offers its portfolio companies not only financial resources but also strategic support plus access to an international network and capital markets. With EUR 2 billion under management,eight IPOs and 30 trade sales, Earlybird is one of the most established and active venture capital firms in Europe.
Earlybird Venture Capital Contacts
| Name | Phone | Socials | |
|---|---|---|---|
Andre Retterath
Principal
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Annette Schiering
Financial Analyst
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Catrin Schmidt
Team Assistant
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Cem Sertoglu
Co-Founder and Managing Partner
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Christian Nagel
Managing Partner
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FAQ
What does Cem Sertoglu invest in?
Cem Sertoglu invests primarily in E-Commerce, Marketplace and Financial Services startups, most often at Seed and Series A stage. Most of the 37 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in Turkey. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.
What is Cem Sertoglu's check size?
Cem Sertoglu typically joins rounds of $455k–$8M at Seed, $1.5M–$45M at Series A and $24M–$80M at Series B. These ranges are 10th–90th percentile round sizes calculated from confirmed public funding rounds, so they are a realistic guide to the rounds Cem Sertoglu participates in.
How do I contact Cem Sertoglu?
Public channels for Cem Sertoglu include LinkedIn, X (Twitter) and the website linked on this profile. For a verified work email and phone number, create a free Shizune account — contact data is searched across 20+ sources and validated before delivery, so your outreach lands in the right inbox.
When did Cem Sertoglu last invest?
The most recent investment recorded for Cem Sertoglu closed in Oct 2025. Shizune tracks 37 investments in total for this profile, including round sizes, stages and portfolio companies, all sourced from confirmed public funding rounds and refreshed monthly.
Is Shizune's investor data accurate?
Yes — every stat on this profile is calculated from confirmed public funding rounds monitored across hundreds of sources since 2020. This profile was last refreshed in Aug 2026 and is updated monthly. Spotted something off? Use the “Suggest an edit” link near the top of the page.
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