Turkish AI Startup VenueX Gets $1.2M to Expand into MENA

VenueX Co-Founders: Çağdaş Akar and Kursad Arman

VenueX , an artificial intelligence platform that connects online ad spending to physical store sales, announced that it has received investment led by global early-stage investment fund Orbit Startups in a bridge investment round in which existing investors Re-Pie, Akkök and Akyaşam also participated. This deal is Orbit Startups’ first investment in Turkey.

Founded in Istanbul in 2022, VenueX enables retail brands to manage their online presence on platforms such as Google, Meta, Apple, Yandex and TikTok from a single panel. The company's AI-powered infrastructure optimizes the total conversion of investments by talking to advertisers' store and digital channel data.

1.5 years of R&D, 20 times revenue increase

After 1.5 years of intensive R&D work, VenueX went live with its product in April 2024. Since then:

• Reached 25 paying customers,
• He increased his annual income by 20 times,
• It maintains an average monthly growth rate of 15%.

Autonomous marketing with artificial intelligence agents

VenueX’s new vision is based on autonomous marketing agents that combine online and offline data. The platform combines advertising budget, inventory information and store engagement data in real time to provide brands with instant campaign recommendations. This way, retailers can achieve maximum sales impact with minimal human intervention.

VenueX Co-Founder and CEO Kürşad Arman said; “Orbit Startups’ support is critical for us to carry the momentum we have gained in Turkey to the UAE and Saudi Arabia. Our goal is to increase the total conversion of investments by making advertisers in MENA speak with their store and digital channel data.”

William Bao Bean of Orbit Startups said: “VenueX is solving a global problem by closing the last mile between online and offline with automation. We are excited to support their transition from Turkish market leadership to regional scale.”

Areas of use of the new fund

VenueX will evaluate the investment in four main areas to reach its total ARR target of USD 1 million in Turkey and MENA markets: (1) Establishment of regional GTM and local sales teams with office openings in Dubai and Riyadh, (2) Scaling of sales-channel partnerships in Türkiye, (3) R&D to deepen AI agents’ inventory optimization, dynamic creative production and segmentation capabilities, and (4) Critical hiring in the fields of growth, data science and business development.

Source: egirişim