Managing Partner @bek_vc. Investing in tech in Emerging Europe since 2006

United States
Joined October 2008
And, here we go! Welcome @bek_vc! Everything stays the same, except our name.
Meet Bek Ventures! 🚀 The best-performing VC fund globally has a new name. Introducing the quietly thought-provoking venture firm. We’re excited to build on the legacy we have established during our decade as Digital East Fund (ex-Earlybird).
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Cem Sertoglu retweeted
The case for generalist VCs...
In the AI-doomer argument, broad multidisciplinary thinkers like @sapinker have suggested the "kill-us-all" scenarios are preposterous. The AI researchers, that are most negatively outspoken, say that their voice should count more, because they are closest to AI and know what it can do. Everyone watching this debate should read about Tetlock's work (see below). The generalists (foxes) and much better predictors than the specialists (hedgehogs) who are to close to the problem to accurately predict broader implications. So "no points" for the "we know more" argument. In fact, it works against you.
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Cem Sertoglu retweeted
Introducing Upsy upsy.ai/ Your own cloud computer, shared with your AI assistants. Like a Mac mini, but in the cloud. Connect Gmail, Calendar, Slack and your browser once. Muse, Grokbot and any other assistant can use them. You decide what each one can access. An assistant starts reading through your whole inbox? You get an alert and turn it off in one click. Sessions and keys live in your Google Drive, not on our servers.
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“First comes the dreamers, then the bankers, then the salesmen, then the sharks, then the desperate, and then the thieves." Tommy Norris’s (Billy Bob Thornton) quote from Landman to describe the evolution of a boomtown is a one sentence summary of the current AI landscape.
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From Axios: More venture capital dollars were disbursed to U.S. companies in the first half of 2026 than in any full year, according to data released this morning by PitchBook and the NVCA. By a lot. U.S. companies raised $412.7 billion between January and June, a 29% increase over what U.S. companies raised in all of 2025 and a 15% increase over the all-time record set in 2021. Yes, this was driven by mega-rounds, with over 81% of the H1 2026 dollars going to rounds of $100 million or more. This includes seven $1 billion+ rounds in Q2. The only dark cloud is that Q1 significantly outpaced Q2, although Q2 is where most of the exit activity was found.
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Cem Sertoglu retweeted
Cancel USA vs Turkey. Cancel Germany vs Ecuador. Lock Turkey and Ecuador into a stadium and don't let either team out until one of them scores a goal.
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Cem Sertoglu retweeted
We're hiring to expand our marketing team for @TalkToAshAI. This is your chance to work alongside me (I co-founded @Casper, where we had some of the best marketing in the world) and our head of marketing (ex spotify/airbnb) to figure out how to scale AI to support our mental health. We're looking for talented generalists. You're a builder, you create videos or take ideas from 0 to 1 same day. This is in person, in nyc, a chance to build marketing that changes people's lives at a company that is quite literally changing people's lives. We value speed and iteration cycles over pretty much everything - there is no playbook here, so we have to discover it together. If this is you, drop me a dm or post here with the most interesting marketing you've done personally (portfolio, link whatever). If you know someone incredible and share them, happy to offer a generous referral bonus (maybe an @infinitemachine scooter?) please RT for reach!
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We are excited to announce our new investment: Capsa AI
We are proud to back Capsa AI, today announcing $18M in Series A funding. Danyal, Callum and the team are building the AI operating system for private capital. Learn more: axios.com/pro/fintech-deals/…
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Cem Sertoglu retweeted
Excited to announce our follow-on investment in @viktor_com as they raise $75m Series A led by @Accel. We first backed @frydwia and @peter_albert_ at pre-seed. $15m annualized revenue run rate in 10 weeks. Congratulations to the whole team. Read more: fortune.com/2026/05/19/vikto…
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Cem Sertoglu retweeted
One of our CEOs called VC a market of "violent capital concentration", and is, instead, opting to be profitable, up 3x YoY. He ended his update email: "It is easier to find men who will volunteer to die, than to find those who are willing to endure pain with patience." (Caesar)
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Worked out alright the last time @accel led the Series A of a company we seeded.
Excited to announce our follow-on investment in @viktor_com as they raise $75m Series A led by @Accel. We first backed @frydwia and @peter_albert_ at pre-seed. $15m annualized revenue run rate in 10 weeks. Congratulations to the whole team. Read more: fortune.com/2026/05/19/vikto…
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Cem Sertoglu retweeted
Today, we’re announcing Viktor’s $75M Series A, led by @Accel . @viktor_com was supposed to be a small experiment. It became the AI coworker 10x'ing real businesses. $15M in annualized revenue run rate. In 10 weeks. – Small companies saving millions of dollars – Sourcing hundreds of thousands in new revenue in their first 30 days – Whole teams getting half their week back – Companies running 40% leaner without cutting output Viktor is not another AI tool. It’s the first true AI employee. The vision that has been with us since 2023 when we started the company has finally been shipped. Back then, it was just the two of us, with a very small but dedicated team, iterating for years. Failing multiple times. Showing products that users didn't even want to test! But we never gave up. Our decisions were often wrong. Certainly more often than not! We kept trying. Now we’ve shipped something people love. Worth every sleepless night. Every sacrifice. The best employees don’t need to be told what to do. Neither does Viktor. Grateful to @Accel, our team, our earliest users, and everyone who believed this category could be bigger than chat.
Readers added context they thought people might want to know
Viktor operates a creator program paying users up to $2000 per promotional post on X that includes real product screenshots, with no requirement to disclose the payment. getviktor.com/creators
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Cem Sertoglu retweeted
$75M Series A for @viktor_com. $15M annualized revenue run rate in 10 weeks. Global-winner velocity. Europe keeps proving it can produce companies built for the world stage. Huge congrats to @frydwia, @peter_albert_ and the entire Viktor team 🚀 fortune.com/2026/05/19/vikto…
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Cem Sertoglu retweeted
Grand’s $70m round is a big signal. Two years from founding. Thinking, building and competing globally. More proof that Europe has the talent and ambition to produce global winners. @bek_vc @balderton @latonvc @Bloomberg bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
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Cem Sertoglu retweeted
Replying to @eladgil
BS. Attention was born in Montréal PyTorch in NYC. AlphaGo in London AlphaFold in London ESMFold in NYC Llama 1 in Paris. Llama 2 in Paris+NYC+SV DeepSeek in Hangzhou Plus: DINO in Paris JEPA in Montréal+Paris+NYC SV is 3 mos ahead on topics SV is singularly obsessed with.
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Cem Sertoglu retweeted
.@vonderleyen: Türkiye is: - a core #NATO ally, - a key migration partner, - an energy corridor, - a major defence actor on Europe’s flank, - and a serious regional power. Europe doesn’t get stronger by applying double standards or simplifying reality.
The European Union sought to ease tensions with Turkey after European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen named the country alongside Russia and China, creating the impression that the NATO partner was seen as a potential threat. bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
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I was chatting about this with a friend yesterday. Tech and VC have become rife with transactional behavior. My take is that it's the result of the change in the personalities attracted to tech. It used to be the hackers; now it's the greedy hustlers. Ironically, it makes for an easy filter.
It’s unfortunate to hear some investors - and even founders - argue that early-stage investing is becoming purely transactional…just an “access” game. That view is not only wrong, it’s dangerous. Great companies aren’t built through transactions. They’re built over time—through uncertainty, setbacks, breakthroughs, and the emotional volatility that comes with all of it. What sustains them is trust, conviction, and relationships that hold under pressure. Yes, hard decisions are part of the journey. But how those decisions are made is what defines character—and reflects a true commitment to fiduciary responsibility. This isn’t a rant. It’s a reminder. There are great people building with integrity. Back them. Build with them. Let’s go. 🦾🚀
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Cem Sertoglu retweeted
These are the Twitter/X accounts with the most engagement so far in 2026. I suppose I had some intuition for how bad it was, but jeez, this is what you get when the ecosystem is broken.
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