Hotel Runner: The App

Who says that you can’t work in the tourism industry and be a tourist? Hotel Runner’s app lets those who are in charge of hotels, bookings, and managing property do it from their phones. Cool.

Microsoft invests in Turkey

Microsoft, the American software giant, set up its operations in Turkey in 1993. Today, it’s planning to form a billion-dollar Turkish software company. #FTW

Euronext: Let’s IPO

It’s a company’s dream to IPO. For a tech one, the goal is to list on NASDAQ. Euronext, which spans European capitals, is working to become an IPO hub. It’s where Adyen, the Amsterdam-based payments company listed one of the largest IPOs in Europe, with a market cap of €13.4 billion. Euronext is pulling out the red carpet for more. Watch this space.

Netflix: Obama; Apple: Oprah

Netflix may have signed on the Obamas, but Apple has signed the Queen. That is, Oprah. Oprah Winfrey is to produce programs for the tech giant’s upcoming video streaming service. Will there be giveaways? We hope so.

On that IPO….

And speaking about that Ayden IPO. The Dutch PayPal rival priced shares at €240. Shares opened at €400 – a 66 percent rise. That’s how you IPO friends.

Scooooot!

Who would have known that an electric scooter company would be the next big thing? Travis Vander Zanden, that’s who. He was an executive at both Uber and Lyft (yes, there was controversy). He founded Bird, which is raising about $100 million on a $300 million valuation. Is this just a fad? Probably not. Uber, Lyft, and now Bird are onto a big market opportunity: urban mobility. Getting around any city is important. (Especially if you’re reading this in Istanbul traffic.) Just to prove our hypothesis – check out this piece on Lime.