Türkiye's leading banks and industrial groups open their collaboration calls to all.Tech companies apply on PitGrowth.

Garanti BBVA and Yapı Kredi, two of Türkiye's largest private banks, flag carrier Turkish Airlines, energy company Enerjisa, national aerospace company Turkish Aerospace and industrial group İnci Holding are among the corporations sharing open innovation calls. PitGrowth connects these corporations with technology companies that can add value to their operations. Across sectors from banking to aviation and from energy to industry, 14 corporations have so far published 27 requests on the platform for a wide range of technologies and received a total of 1,620 applications.

On PitGrowth, corporations can see in one place the solutions technology companies have developed, how they have been applied, their use cases, success stories and references. As companies and startups update their profiles, the corporations and investors following them receive that information instantly. Corporations publish their calls themselves and can also choose the regions or countries whose technology companies they want to reach. PitGrowth provides support and guidance to help define expectations and criteria. As a result, a call reaches a far wider audience than the corporation's own network, and technology companies that see themselves as a fit apply directly. Instead of choosing from a limited list of candidates, the corporation gets wide-reaching technology scouting.

PitGrowth co-founder Serkan Yağız said:

Enerjisa, one of Türkiye's largest energy companies, published technology requests across more than 25 focus areas this year, and 76 technology companies applied. One of the companies it quickly started pilot work with was Belgium-based Hybrid Core. In the words of Tümay Solak, Innovation Manager at Enerjisa: “It would have been hard for us to reach these companies this quickly through our own network.”

What corporations are looking for

The published requests range from enterprise AI assistants to smart grids, from computer vision for workplace safety to dynamic pricing, and from customer churn prediction to electric vehicle charging. For example, Turkish Airlines published three separate requests for Turkish Cargo, ranging from marketing analytics to route profitability optimization and cargo screening. Turkish Aerospace looked for an AI-supported decision support system that reads safety documents. Garanti BBVA alone has opened five separate requests, from a conversational AI assistant to robo-advisory.

Some corporations also target Europe with their requests: some asked for them to be promoted in Germany, and the requests of Garanti BBVA, the BBVA group's bank in Türkiye, are announced in Europe.

What an open innovation call gives a corporation

First, a view of the whole market at a glance. An open call shows a corporation who is working in that field and what solutions they offer. Each call receives 60 applications on average. From these applications, corporations choose the companies they will start proof-of-concept (POC) work with.

For a corporation seeking innovation in fast-moving areas such as process optimization and traceability, being able to see the latest solutions is critical. İnci Holding's call for AI-supported solutions in these two areas of battery production received 75 applications. Ayşe Şen, Entrepreneurship and Innovation Manager at İnci Holding, says they expected more than 40 applications, and adds: “Any startup we work with has to meet several requirements at once, and they vary by project: references, integration with our systems or regulatory compliance, for example. Searching the whole market on our own for startups that meet them would have taken a long time. We published all our criteria in the call. On the platform, we quickly gathered the companies that fit and evaluated them against those criteria.”

Demand is measured, not guessed

PitGrowth learns what corporations are focusing on not only from requests but also from its PitStop events. At each themed PitStop event, the team selects technology companies with ready-to-use solutions and real success stories and brings them together with corporations on the same stage. Key figures:

• 96 technology companies at 14 PitStop events have presented to 1,700 participants from 700 corporations.
• According to surveys at the two most recent events, 70 percent of 320 corporate professionals are in the exploration stage, following trends for a long-term digitalization vision.
• In the same surveys, 15 percent are in the budget planning stage, and 15 percent have an approved budget or an open procurement process.

Sector analyses based on responses from these 1,700 corporate professionals also show corporations' priorities. In energy, carbon emissions management stands out at 47 percent; in manufacturing, product tracking and quality on production lines at 56 percent; and in finance, payment infrastructure and integrations at 91 percent.

The five companies in Lisbon

PitGrowth is taking its PitStop approach to Web Summit: it is going to Lisbon not alone but together with five Turkish technology companies. Seventy companies applied to the Global 5 call PitGrowth opened on its own platform. The five selected are aila (AI personal assistant), Flowla (sales and customer collaboration), Forg3t Protocol (data removal for AI systems), Ming (HR and internal communication) and SilentBolt (cybersecurity). PitGrowth covers the stand and ticket costs of all five.

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  ailaAI assistant
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  FlowlaSales and CRM
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  Forg3t ProtocolData security
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  MingHR tech
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  SilentBoltCybersecurity
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  PitGrowthOrganiser

Of the applicants, 37 percent have paying customers in markets such as the United Kingdom, Germany and the United Arab Emirates, including some that work with corporations in these countries. Their top target markets for growth are also the United Kingdom and Germany. Asked what they expect from Web Summit, 76 percent said new enterprise customers or sales opportunities, and 67 percent said investor meetings. Customers come before investment: 47 percent of applicants have come this far without raising investment.

Where to find us

You can find PitGrowth at stand E338 in Pavilion 3. Each of the five selected companies will have its own stand during the event.

Türkiye meetup with PitGrowth takes place on Tuesday, November 10, 12:00-12:55, at Meetup 1 in Pavilion 5. It is open to all corporations, investors and technology companies at the event.

Members of the media are welcome. Serkan Yağız, the PitGrowth team and the founders of the five companies are available for interviews at the stand or before and after the meetup. İnci Holding's Ayşe Şen, whose comments appear in this release, will speak to the corporate side.