# Evim.net (2010 – 2015)

- URL: https://girisimcikafasi.com/en/startup-graveyard/evim-net/
- Sector: E-commerce
- Country: Turkey
- Total funding: $5 million
- Cause of closure: Ran out of cash

## What did it do?

Evim.net was a Turkish vertical e-commerce site focused on home decor and household products, launched by Ali Özen at the end of 2010. It started as a members-only shopping club and sold a wide range of products online, including fragile items. In 2013 it raised funding in a round announced as the EBRD's first investment in Turkey, with 212 and Simile Ventures also taking part.

## Why did it shut down?

According to Webrazzi, the e-commerce operation failed to reach the expected profitability and no new funding round could be found. In an interview with Fast Company, Ali Özen said their biggest mistake was raising money too late: funding that should have come in 2012 arrived in 2013 and went on paying off old debts rather than on growth. Other mistakes he listed included the investment arriving in two tranches, the strategy never becoming clear at board level and critical decisions being postponed for months. Özen said they switched to a marketplace model at the last minute and could have done so four or five months earlier. In the year it closed, turnover stood at 12 million TL, far short of the 100 million TL target.

## The story

When Ali Özen looked at e-commerce in 2010, with his family's trading background and his own experience in digital advertising, he found the home category empty. The sector was growing fast but had no strong competitor. With an initial investment of 125,000 TL, he launched Evim.net at the end of December 2010 as a members-only shopping club. As Özen later admitted, the first site was pretty bad, but orders started arriving straight away.

According to his interview with Fast Company, the site closed 2011 with turnover of 3 million TL, but it was not profitable; the focus was always on growth. In 2013 a total of around $5 million came in from the EBRD, 212 and Russian investor Simile Ventures. Webrazzi, the Turkish tech news site, reported that this was the EBRD's first investment in Turkey and the first time a local fund and two foreign funds had joined the same round. At the time of the investment turnover was 13 million TL, and the target was 100 million TL within two years. According to Özen, they were the leaders in the sector at the time, and after the investment the team grew to 55 people.

The target was missed. According to Özen, the money came a year late and in two tranches; it went on clearing old debts rather than on growth. The strategy never became clear at board level, and critical decisions were delayed by four or five months. As Özen summed it up in the interview: "Putting in the right amount of money at the right time is very important." The company switched to a marketplace model at the last minute, but the momentum had long gone.

In January 2015 the e-commerce operation was halted. According to a Webrazzi report from March 2015, the site had moved to a content-focused format, and the company was in talks to sell the rights to its name so that it could pay its debts. Özen said they had prioritised customers' money and that almost all refunds had been made. In the year it closed, Evim.net had turnover of 12 million TL and 50 employees. According to a 2016 review by Turkishtime, the site was by then live as a furniture and decor blog; a 2017 list by Habertürk also named Evim.net among the sites that had moved from e-commerce into publishing. In other words, what closed was the company's e-commerce operation.

What set Evim.net apart was that its founder talked openly about the closure rather than hiding it. Özen's list is a clear lesson in how a fast-growing start-up can lose its way when money arrives at the wrong time.

## Lessons

- Raise money while you have growth momentum; late money finances old debts, not growth.
- Excessive optimism is not a plan; test your target against the metrics often.
- If you need to change your model, do not put the decision off for months; once momentum is lost, it is hard to get back.

## Sources

- [Evim.net halts its e-commerce operation](https://webrazzi.com/2015/03/02/evim-net/)
- [Ali Özen: Where did I go wrong?](https://fastcompany.com.tr/calisma-hayati/ali-ozen-nerede-hata-yaptim/)
- [Two foreign and one Turkish investment fund back Evim.net!](https://webrazzi.com/2013/05/07/evm-net-yatirimcilar/)
- [Turkish e-commerce sites that closed before Markafoni! Why did the online shopping sites shut down?](https://www.haberturk.com/ekonomi/teknoloji/haber/1517700-markafoniden-once-kapanan-turk-e-ticaret-siteleri)
- [50 failed start-ups and 50 lessons from their mistakes (30-50)](https://turkishtimedergi.com/dijital-girisim/%EF%BB%BF-50-basarisiz-startup-ve-hatalarindan-cikarilacak-50-ders-30-50/)
- [Private shopping sites that closed before Markafoni](https://webrazzi.com/2017/06/01/markafoni-kapanisi/)