Hande Çilingir, The Founding Partner and CEO of Insider

Hande Çilingir was born in Bursa in 1985 as the second child of a family of four. Her mother was an immigrant from Greece and her father was an immigrant from Bulgaria. Her parents were very meticulous about the education of their children. Her older sister became a doctor at the request of her family, but Hande Çilingir had different plans for the future.

After completing Bursa Anatolian High School, Çilingir continued her education at Bilgi University. Here she met Serhat Soyuerel, with whom she would step into the world of entrepreneurship in the future. The biggest dream of both of them was to get their education abroad.

Çilingir wanted to be a major and complete her education at the London School of Economics. As a matter of fact, she succeeded in this and received her undergraduate diploma from this university. While still in her third year of university, she was immersed in entrepreneurial thoughts. Standing out with its rising economy, China caught her attention. She decided to pursue a master's degree at Shanghai University in China in order to gain further knowledge in this field.

Serhat Soyuerel, whom she met at Bilgi University, started her career in investment banking in Russia during the same period.

While doing her master's degree in China, Çilingir worked in many international companies, especially Fiba Holding. She learned fluent Chinese.

Hande Çilingir and Turkish Entrepreneurship Ecosystem

Serhat Soyuerel and Hande Çilingir, who have never broken their connection since the first day, decided to return to Turkey in 2010 and start a business together. The duo, who opened a language school in Fethiye, thus set up their first entrepreneurship.

24-year-old Hande Çilingir was aware that they were not very successful in this business at first. Because in the summer when the language school was opened, there was only one student. But they were determined not to give up. Their determination brought 3800 students from abroad to the language school in three years. After three years of language school adventures, these companies were sold.

After language school, Çilingir and Soyuerel started to think about different ideas. Establishing an e-commerce site in 2012 was very popular. Important formations such as Trendyol and Markafoni were launched into the market. They were also planning to establish an e-commerce site, but Çilingir had a completely different idea.

The people who rushed to California for gold between 1848 and 1955 inspired her. Çilingir thought that those who sold them pickaxes and shovels were rich, before those who went there to find gold. Thus, Çilingir and her friends decided to establish a company where they could provide all the services an e-commerce site needs, instead of opening an e-commerce site. Moreover, among dreams of Hande Çilingir was to sell her services abroad.

Important people from P&G and Oracle joined the staff of the company they named Insider. In the end, the team rolled up its sleeves with the number of 6 founding partners and set out with a team consisting entirely of Turkish software developers and engineers.

Insider Makes a Fast and Successful Launch to the Market

Insider managed to get its first investment from Galata Business Angel. 9 months after this investment, Insider opened to Russia. The second investment came from Aslanoba Capital. Insider had made a quick and successful entry into the market. Following this success, it was named Endeavor Entrepreneur. More attention was paid to overseas connections. From Poland to Australia, many countries in the world began to be served.

Insider has many investors, including Wanda, 212, Riverwood Capital, and Sequoia Capital, among its 85 shareholders. Moreover, Sequoia Capital, one of the early investors of important entrepreneurship such as YouTube, Instagram, and Whatsapp, made another investment in Insider during the corona epidemic period. This proved the continuity of Insider's success.

Insider currently works with companies and brands that serve, sell, and provide content. Among them are many notable companies and brands such as Unilever, Loreal, LG, HP, Watson, and Samsung. The task of Insider can be summarized as providing the data that companies need and increasing the growth and efficiency of the company.

Hande Çilingir: "Aiming To Be A Unicorn Company"

As a company that grows rapidly with the investments it has received, Insider aims to add its name to the unicorn companies in the next few years. After that, two options appear for Insider. Exit or public offering…

When this question is asked to Hande Çilingir, she gets the answer that public offering is a more likely option. Because, as a Turkish company, it takes justified pride in providing such a worldwide service. Rather than selling their entrepreneurship, increasing the number of countries they serve is a higher priority for them.

For this purpose, Çillingir states in an interview that she works 16 hours a day, some weeks a total of 100 hours. This shows the importance of hard work in her success.

The Awards for Success

Today, the amount of investment Insider has received in 7 years has exceeded 46 million dollars. Hande Çilingir, who is the CEO of the company, which has offices in 25 different countries, is among the successful women entrepreneurs. As a matter of fact, Çilingir appears before us as a business person who has crowned her success many times over with the awards she has received throughout her career.