Building Fonzip from Istanbul

Erdi Yerebasmaz

I build software for organizations that raise money for other people.

Since 2012 that has mostly meant nonprofits — associations, foundations and NGOs doing serious work with small teams and smaller budgets. Before that I was a test engineer at Huawei and studied computer networks at KTH in Stockholm. The problems in this corner are unglamorous and the constraints are real, which is most of why I like them.

Currently

Fonzip puts fundraising and CRM in one platform — donation pages, memberships, recurring giving, events and ticketing, automation. A few hundred organizations run on it, across several countries and currencies. My time goes to product and engineering.

Experience

  1. Fonzip ↗ 2016 — Now
    Co-founder

    Fundraising and CRM for nonprofits. Donations, memberships, recurring payments, events and ticketing, email and SMS, automation. Multi-currency and multi-language.

  2. Yuvarla 2012 — 2022
    Co-founder · Acquired by Papara

    An electronic charity box for e-commerce checkouts — shoppers could give to an NGO in a couple of taps while paying for something else. Acquired by Papara in 2022, the first acquisition of a social enterprise in Turkey.

  3. Huawei 2010 — 2011
    Software Test Engineer

    Testing on the Social Media Platform and Service Delivery Platform projects, and teaching test engineering fundamentals to new starters.

  4. Nortel Netaş 2008
    IT Intern

    Built the internal library system employees used to reserve books.

Education

  1. KTH Royal Institute of Technology
    MSc, Computer Networks · Stockholm
    2010 — 2013
  2. Yeditepe University
    BSc, Computer Science and Engineering · Istanbul
    2005 — 2010

Recognition

  1. Turkey's Changemakers Program
    Sabancı Foundation
    2016
  2. Metro Social Entrepreneurship Awards1st place
    Metro Gross Market · Self-employment category
    2015
  3. Çözüm Kumbarası1st place
    Intel Turkey, Ashoka Turkey, Endeavor, GBA
    2014
  4. Social Investment Program1st place
    Sabancı University & J.P. Morgan Chase Foundation
    2014
  5. Arçelik Yazarkasa HackathonJury award
    Arçelik, Ardıç Tech, Intel Turkey
    2014
  6. Young Social Entrepreneurs Award
    Bilgi University, International Youth Foundation & Sylvan/Laureate Foundation
    2014

Off the clock

Şizofren ↗ 2014 — Now
Guitar

Thrash and heavy metal in Turkish, out of Kadıköy. Three records so far.

Sistem Hatası · 2017 XYY · 2018 Kurmaca Resitali · 2024

Otherwise: action and RPG games, and science fiction and fantasy novels.

Say hello

Always glad to hear from people building for nonprofits, fintech, or anything adjacent. LinkedIn is the surest way to reach me.