Hi I'm Demirhan Buyukozcu. I am a serial tech entrepreneur with 2 past exits.
Currenty I'm Founder & CEO of V-Count
BloombergHT Interview: https://youtu.be/WBgDEzdz0kc?si=KqaLDHFsSnBAf6B7&t=1
Professional Experience
V-Count, London
Founder & CEO
Mar 2012 - Present
I co-founded V-Count, which creates fully GDPR compliant AI & computer vision based people counting / people tracking hardware and software solutions for retail, shopping centers, airports, museums, galleries, metros, gyms, restaurants, hotels, smart buildings, schools and many more. Our solutions increase sales, efficiency and profits of our clients and decrease their energy costs through AI based visitor analytics.
We have 70+ employees and 600+ respectable customers around the world such as Royal Academy of Arts, Cartier, Bvlgari, Swatch, Sephora, Bershka, Samsung, Bang & Olufsen, IKEA etc.
We received 4M$ of VC investment, dominated the Turkish retail market, then opened international offices in Miami, Dubai, Kuala Lumpur and recently in Amsterdam and London. We are now exporting our technology to 128+ countries.
In 2022 I bought back my co-founders shares from other co-founders and became the only active founder.
As of 2024Q1, compared to last year, we grew our new point sales by 250% and reached double digit EBITDA positive.
Onedio.com (Exit)
Co-Founder
Oct 2011 - Oct 2022
I co-founded Onedio, which turned into the Buzzfeed of Turkey, and one of the most visited online content websites in Turkey. We have raised over 5M$ and it is one of the most well known Turkish brands right now. The company is acquired in 2022 by Mediazz and I sold my shares and exited the company when it had 35M monthly active users.
Vidyodan (Exit)
Co-Founder
Jul 2020 - Aug 2022
I co-founded Vidyodan, an innovative app where people can buy products on a live stream app. We got 1M$ investment to Vidyodan in 2021.
We got acquired by Getir in 2022 so I sold my shares and exited.
Meet the Music
Angel Investor & Mentor
Jun 2021 - Present
I am an early investor of Meet the Music, an innovative app for Matchmaking through music. App in on track to transform dating scene with a music focused approach.
Awards & Patents & Publications
Accomplishments:
Fortune Turkey 40 under 40, 2018
#107 in Turkey, National University Entrance Exam between 2M+ candidates, 2001
#2 in Turkey, Metu Technopolis, New Ideas/New Businesses Contest, 2005
#2 in Turkey, National TV Competition - Our Geniuses, 2007
Exceptional Success Recognition Award from Metu Senate, 2006
Most Innovative Product Award in the MENA region at RECON, Dubai, 2021
4 times x Top 100 Most Successful Startups in Turkey,
3 times x Deloitte fast 50 , Turkey 2020
Deloitte technology fast 500 EMEA 2019
Top 30 in European Deep Tech Companies, Deep Tech Summit, Paris 2018
Exceptional Talent Visa - 2022 U.K. Gov
Soho House Istanbul - Founding Member since 2015
Featured on BloombergHT interview : https://youtu.be/WBgDEzdz0kc?si=KqaLDHFsSnBAf6B7&t=1
Patents:
Device for Locating Mobile Devices, 2016, US20180132062A1
An electronic device for tracking customer and employee movements, 2020, WO2021236046A2
A system for distinguishing the staff by means of a non-visible beam responder, 2021, WO2022265612A1,
System and method of personnel exception in visitor count, 2017, WO2022060339A1
Publications:
Master Thesis: Discretized Categorization of High Level Traffic Activities in Tunnels Using Attribute Grammars, Sep 2012, Sep 2012
https://open.metu.edu.tr/bitstream/handle/11511/22182/index.pdf
Education
PhD, METU (Dropout) 2013-2014
Artificial Intelligence, Cognitive Science,
MSc, METU, 2012
Artificial Intelligence, Cognitive Science,
MBA, Bilkent (Dropout) 2009
Bsc. METU, 2005,
Electronics Engineering