Turkey's e-commerce pioneer Hepsiburada listed on Nasdaq — then Kaspi took over

Hepsiburada was founded in 2000 by Hanzade Doğan Boyner as Turkey's early e-commerce player — computers first, then a marketplace (2015), delivery and payments arms (HepsiJet/Hepsipay, 2017), and in 2020 the first authorized Apple e-commerce seller in Turkey. Losses came every year: TRY 161.3M (2018), 131.6M (2019), 474.5M (2020), even as market share grew from ~8% (2015) to ~17% (2020).

The competitive wall arrived in 2018 when Alibaba took a majority stake in Trendyol and Amazon entered Turkey. Hepsiburada answered with the highest-profile listing available: on 1 July 2021 it became the first Turkish company on Nasdaq, selling 56.7 million ADSs at $12 for proceeds above $680 million; the stock opened at $12.75 and closed at $13.43 on a $3.65 billion market cap — a hot-market monetization of the franchise.

The market then turned: FY2023 GMV reached about $4 billion (12 million consumers, 101,000 merchants) and H1 2024 EBITDA turned positive, but by October 2024 the market value had fallen to roughly $707 million. On 17 October 2024 Hepsiburada agreed to sell a controlling 65.41% to Kazakhstan's Kaspi.kz for about $1.13 billion ($600 million at close plus $526.9 million deferred); the deal completed on 29 January 2025 with Kaspi's CEO taking the chairmanship.

Nasdaq listing (2021, $680M+ raised, $3.65B debut) — Turkey's first — then a Kaspi.kz purchase of 65.41% for ~$1.13B (2025).

First-mover advantage decays without capital: pioneer status lost to Alibaba-funded Trendyol and Amazon's logistics; Nasdaq listing monetized at 2021 peak.

Value was in distribution: at ~$707M market value, an industrial buyer paid a premium for 12M consumers and payments arm.

First-mover advantage decays without capital; a hot-market listing prices the peak, but durable value may surface in an industrial sale.

Kaspi.kz completed the 65.41% acquisition in January 2025 (~$1.13B) and its CEO took the chairmanship with a 'profitable growth' mandate; Hepsiburada remains Turkey's #2 marketplace (~17% share) behind Alibaba-backed Trendyol.