BAU Student to Represent Türkiye with a Social Network for University Students

Bahçeşehir University Department of Economics student Batuhan Karakuş will represent Türkiye at the Global Student Entrepreneur Awards (GSEA) in Bangkok with Stubridge, an app that enables students in the same class to share course notes more easily through online channels and to communicate easily.

The number of social networks targeting specialized audiences has been increasing recently; Stubridge, which makes university life easier for students, stands out in this field. With Stubridge, students connect with classmates taking the same course, share course notes, exchange ideas about exams and share their opinions on topics of their choice on the university wall.

Membership in Stubridge is only possible with .edu e-mail addresses; this way, each student can connect with fellow students studying at their own university.

SELECTED FROM AMONG 1,700 STUDENTS

Bahçeşehir University student Batuhan Karakuş has earned the right to represent Türkiye with the Stubridge app at the Global Student Entrepreneur Award (GSEA)in Bangkok. As one of 50 entrepreneurs selected from among 1,700 students, Karakuş will compete for a cash prize of 20 thousand dollars and support for developing his business.

Founded by Batuhan Karakuş and Sarp Keskin in the second quarter of 2015, Stubridge today has a 4-person software team and a 5-person marketing-research team, supported by nearly 100 volunteer team members from 6 universities. It is currently available at Koç, Sabancı, Boğaziçi, Bilgi, Bahçeşehir and Özyeğin Universities and has 12 thousand registered university students. Stubridge aims to reach at least 30,000 students at its member universities by June.

FIRST IN EUROPE, NOW HEADING TO BANGKOK

The social network, which received early-stage investment from Emrah Kaya in September 2015, is now testing itself in the international arena. Having competed in the European leg of the EO Global Student Entrepreneur Awards in Berlin and been selected as Türkiye's winner, the start-up is currently building teams in the global market at Mumbai in India, Paris Sorbonne in France, and UCLA and Stanford Universities in the United States, and is preparing to test Stubridge at universities abroad. At the same time, it is excited to represent Türkiye at the GSEA Global Final to be held in Bangkok, Thailand on 10-12 May.

"WE WILL TEST STUBRIDGE IN THE GLOBAL MARKET"

Stubridge Founder Batuhan Karakuş said: "To have an easier, more enjoyable and more productive university experience, you should value sharing. Stubridge makes this possible. The opportunity to connect with winners from other countries in Bangkok will give us a great opportunity to test Stubridge in the global market. We have not proven anything yet. We believe that this competition will increase our opportunities to prove ourselves."

"WE SUPPORT YOUNG ENTREPRENEURS"

Gamze Cizreli, Türkiye President of the Entrepreneurs' Organization (EO), the organizer of the competition, said: "We support young entrepreneurs like Batuhan and are pleased to contribute to the further development of entrepreneurship culture among young people in our country."