Yonja Media Group
Internet media company operating a turkish language social network and advertising service.
| Date | Investors | Amount | Round |
|---|---|---|---|
| - | investor | €0.0 | round |
$12.5m | Late VC | ||
| Total Funding | 000k | ||
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Yonja Media Group operates as an internet media company, primarily known for creating one of the earliest social networks, Yonja.com. The company was established in 2003 by brothers Kerim and Emre Baran. Kerim Baran, a graduate of Robert College, pursued engineering in the United States and attended Harvard Business School. His experience working at technology companies for about a decade and his observations of the internet's rise during his travels inspired him to start his own technology venture. Identifying the potential of social networking, he and his engineer partner launched an English version of Yonja.com in early 2004, bootstrapping the company with personal savings.
The platform was conceived as a hybrid of Friendster and MySpace, initially aimed at European populations. Despite having only an English interface for its first two years, the site gained significant traction among Turkish users, growing virally to become one of the most trafficked websites in Turkey within a couple of years. This growth was attributed to its focus on the Turkish culture and local know-how. Yonja Media Group established offices in San Francisco and Istanbul to manage its operations. The business model focused on generating revenue through advertising, subscriptions for premium features like excessive messaging, and social gaming. This strategy led the company to profitability by 2005.
Over the years, the company expanded its portfolio with other services targeted at the Turkish market, including Metroliste.com, a free listings service, and 7inci.com, a daily women's email newsletter. In 2007, the company sold a minority stake to Tiger Global and Mynet, the largest Turkish portal at the time. This was followed by a Series A funding round of $12.5 million in January 2008 from Greywolf Capital Partners and Tiger Global Management. The company continued to evolve, focusing on social gaming and location-based services. Eventually, as the social media landscape changed with the rise of global platforms, founder Kerim Baran exited the company, which was acquired.
Keywords: social network, Turkish market, online media, Kerim Baran, Emre Baran, digital advertising, social gaming, online community, Metroliste, 7inci, Tiger Global, early social media, Turkish internet, viral growth, subscription model, user-generated content, online listings, email newsletter, San Francisco startup, Istanbul operations