TRVC #10: Kerim Baran | from Yonja to Solar
In the latest episode of TRVC – The Turkish VC Podcast, I sat down with Kerim Baran, the founder of Yonja.com — a pioneering Turkish social network that launched months before Facebook — and current angel investor in Solar focused SaaS companies.
Before Facebook dominated Turkey’s social media landscape, there was Yonja.com — a scrappy, fast-growing, and uniquely Turkish platform that connected millions of users before “social networking” was even a phrase.
In our conversation we covered:
How Yonja launched just months before Facebook and became the go-to social network in Turkey
Why Tiger Global invested in Yonja — and how that experience led them to become one of Facebook’s earliest and biggest backers
His journey building CivicSolar into a $60M clean tech business without raising VC money
His investment thesis today around distributed solar, SaaS, and clean infrastructure
How he’s connecting founders and funders through SolarAcademy.com
The remarkable progress, and opportunity around Solar in Turkey
Kerim’s story is a powerful reminder that Turkey’s impact on global tech goes deeper than many realize — and that some of the most important investment theses of tomorrow are already taking shape today, far from the spotlight.
🎧 Listen to the full episode on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts
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Until next time,
Yunus Çelebiler
Host, TRVC – The Turkish VC Podcast