Cember.net
Turkish Social Network for business professionals..
| Date | Investors | Amount | Round |
|---|---|---|---|
| - | investor investor investor investor | €0.0 | round |
| investor | €0.0 | round | |
N/A | Acquisition | ||
| Total Funding | 000k | ||
Cember.net was a Turkish online business networking start-up, positioning itself as a key platform for professionals to forge economic and social connections. The company was established in 2005 by the husband-and-wife team, Çağlar Erol and Nihan Çolak Erol, both of whom were former consultants at Accenture. Their background in consulting likely provided them with the insights to develop a platform focused on professional relationship management.
The platform's core function was to facilitate the discovery of potential business partners and economic opportunities for its members. Differentiating itself from competitors, Cember.net integrated features designed to encourage social interaction, aiming to enhance the quality and depth of the professional relationships formed on the site. The business operated on a freemium model, generating revenue through paid premium memberships, which offered enhanced features, and from on-site advertising. By 2007, the company had achieved profitability and had successfully established its brand within Turkey.
A significant milestone in the company's history occurred in January 2008 when it was acquired by XING AG (now New Work SE), a major German competitor in the professional social networking space. The acquisition, valued at €4.36 million, was a strategic component of XING's broader European expansion plan, which also included the acquisition of similar platforms in Spain. At the time of the sale, Cember.net was the leading professional network in Turkey, boasting a user base of approximately 280,000 members. Following the acquisition, the founders, Çağlar and Nihan Çolak Erol, remained involved to oversee the integration of Cember.net into the XING platform and manage the Turkish community.
Keywords: professional networking, Turkish startups, online community, business networking, social networking, Cember.net, Xing acquisition, Çağlar Erol, Nihan Çolak Erol, online business platform, premium membership, digital advertising, tech acquisition, European startups, social capital, economic exchange, professional contacts, Turkish internet market, Web 2.0