Our Team
Yomi Kastro - Managing Partner
Yomi Kastro is the Managing Partner of InVentures. He was born in 1981 in İzmir. He has been an Internet user, ever since Internet was introduced to Turkey. He developed his first lines of code when he was 11 and has dedicated himself to software and web technologies. Yomi has completed his Bachelors and Masters Degree in Computer Engineering in Bogaziçi University with an honor degree by his performance on software quality.
Wireless networks, electronic security, software engineering and artificial intelligence are among his research topics. His articles about these topics are published in international academic journals. He still continues his academic career pursuing a PhD at Bogazici University in Computer Engineering. His achievements took place in “Who’s Who in the World 2010“ book. In 2011, Yomi Kastro attended the Harvard Business School Executive Education Program for “Private Equity and Venture Capital”. Yomi Kastro has worked in several international firms, including Pfizer. He could not hide the passion of entrepreneurship inside and established Inveon in 2006.
Inveon still holds leadership and uniqueness in various internet ventures and it was selected as “The Most Successful Entrepreneur of The Year” in 2008. Also, one of the most esteemed association of business world and entrepreneurship JCI selected Yomi Kastro as “The Most Successful Young Entrepreneur of the Year” in 2009.
Yomi holds membership in various business and philosophical associations and he mentors students in Bogazici through BUMED. He likes to explore different places in the world by his motorcycle, solve brainteasers and listen to new Age music in his spare time.
Ari Bencuya - Ventures Manager
After graduating from Duke University with a degree in Economics, Ari moved to New York city to work at retailer Steve & Barry’s where he honed his experience in marketing and business development. A turn back to tech at the beginning of 2008 found Ari working for MLB.com doing Business Strategy for the Sports leagues Mobile team. While he helped with the launch of the best in class MLB At App that has grown to generate over 1 million dollars in revenues yearly.
While New York treated him well, Ari missed the opportunities he had seen growing up in an area with a fast growing entrepreneurial internet and found his way to InVentures to get a taste of the international startup life. Now Ventures Manager at InVentures, Ari brings a Silicon Valley mindset to Inveon’s Venture portfolio.
Spare time generally includes reading about start-ups and teaching himself to code, but his relaxing hobbies include basketball, hip hop, eating and backgammon.
Sencer Berrak - Partner
After graduating from Bogaziçi University Computer Engineering in 1997, Sencer Berrak worked as an application development specialist for 1.5 years at Escort Software.
Upon completing his MBA degree in University of North Carolina, he entered Netsco Software at Research Triangle Park in Raleigh, as a software engineer and worked there until 2003. He returned to Turkey in 2003 and started working a team leader at Eczacibasi Bilgi Iletim. He designed, implemented and led a team of developers for some large-scale projects.
In June 2004, he continued his career at Pfizer Pharmaceuticals, at the Software Solutions department.
Sencer Berrak hosted a radio show called ‘ Karambol’ for Radio Eksen. He actively participates at several NGO’s such as TEGV.Basketball, squash, literature and concerts are taking up most of his time outside work.
Emir Alkaş - Partner
Emir Alkaş graduated from Boğaziçi University with honors degree in Computer Engineering. In his senior year, he started working as basketball coach in Efes Pilsen Sports Club. Alkaş, who has served for different teams in Efes Pilsen for 8 years, was the assistant coach in last 4 years. He is now working in Galatasaray Cafe Crown as assistant coach. His area of expertise is analyzing the opposing team. Emir Alkaş thinks his engineering skills has a unique harmony with analytics of basketball. He finished his master degree in Boğaziçi University Biomedical Engineering Institute.
In his free time apart from basketball and Inveon, he deals with racehorse breeding and racing which is also a family tradition. Emir Alkaş has a deep enthusiasm in superhuman nature of horses and in future he wants to take his horse breeding figure to the next levels.
For more than 15 years he has had a disciplined interest in mind games. He is also a member of Zeka Oyunları magazine and he is proud that he took part in competition for Turkish Brain Team twice – although he was eliminated.
Cihan Kurt - Partner
Mehmet Cihan Kurt , has graduated from Bogazici University Computer Engineering in 2005 and earned his Master of Computer Engineering degree from Marmara University with an emphasis on Learning Systems in 2010. Before joining Inveon, he has worked for several business intelligence projects at companies like TNT Express Worldwide, Renault and Loquisoft in Vienna. He developed an ERP solution for Altaca Group in a project that lasted 2 years.
Mr. Kurt is a partner at Inveon as the Chief Technology Officer. He is responsible for overseeing scientific and technological research and development activities, and formulating long-term visions and strategies with an added focus on operational excellence and software development lifecycle.
Apart from being a keen table tennis and footbal player, he hosted a show called "Dyslexia" for Radio Bogazici as a sophomore student. His major areas of interest are philosophy, artificial intelligence, contemporary classical and electronic music and a he is a huge fan of J.S. Bach.