STC Ventures announces investment in Modanisa.com

Istanbul, Turkey, February 25, 2015: STC Ventures (Saudi Telecom’s corporate ventures fund) and Aslanoba Capital, the leading Turkish venture capital investor, announced today that they have recently concluded a USD 5 million investment in Modanisa.com, the world’s top Islamic clothing website. The investment agreement signed between Modanisa.com and the investors at Borsa Istanbul (BIST) Private Market was marked as the first agreement to happen since the launch of BIST program.

On the investment in Modanisa, Mr. Aiman Al-Atiqi, Partner at Iris Capital, the fund manager of STC Ventures, commented: “investing in Modanisa.com was a strategic investment for us: it gives us the opportunity to invest in the Turkish market which is the largest and fastest growing market in the region; and this investment is considered to be the first of many investments to follow, Insha’Allah”… he also added…”also this investment is in a company that is serving a large and untapped market, namely Islamic and conservative fashion.”

Kerim Türe, Chairman of Modanisa said today … “Modanisa, an online conservative clothing shopping platform, the number one player in Turkey and the biggest also in the world, obtained USD 5.5 million investment with the help of the BIST Private Market. Saudi Telecom’s investment, as an investment giant and controlling shareholder of Turk Telekom and Oger Telekom, reinforces and strengthens Modanisa. The fact that Modanisa was STC Venture’s first investment in Turkey is another important aspect of this partnership. Turkey with close to USD 39.3 billion Islamic clothing consumption volume is the leader in the market. In terms of e-business, spending potential is around USD 474 million, we have over 35 percent market share in online conservative clothing and have been the market leader in product range, number of daily visitors, and product selling capacity since the day we were established. Millions of women from Turkey and abroad visit Modanisa every day to follow the latest trends in fashion and to shop for daily wear, nightdress, shawls, scarfs and accessories. We export to 57 countries, mainly to European countries with a major Muslim population, but also to other countries from the US to Australia. Modanisa continues to grow with 30 thousand different products and 300 brands, 4.5 million monthly visitors and more than 25 million visits to its pages, and 1.8 million followers on Facebook. STC Ventures will make its first investment in Turkey with the agreement signed at Borsa Istanbul premises and will set a good precedent for similar investments from other foreign venture capital funds in Turkey. Aslanoba Capital, an early stage technology investor in Turkey that invested in Modanisa twice earlier, decided to participate in the capital increase and maintain its shareholding proportion”…. Also he indicated that …. “Modanisa aims to list on Borsa İstanbul in the future and they are very pleased with the STC Ventures investment on the BIST Private Market”.