Kazakhstan-based Kaspi.kz agrees to acquire a majority share, or 65.4%, of Turkish e-commerce platform Hepsiburada for ~$1.13B, expected to close in Q1 2025
Cate Lawrence / Tech.eu :
Context & Ripple Effects
Kaspi.kz entered this deal after raising more than $1B in its U.S. IPO and reaching an approximately $18B market capitalization, giving its Kazakhstan-based super-app business a newly visible public-market base for expansion.
Hepsiburada had previously raised $470M in its Nasdaq IPO at a $3.9B valuation. In Turkey, it operates alongside a market where Alibaba had already increased its Trendyol holding to 86.5% through an additional $330M investment.
First-order effects
- Subject to closing, Kaspi.kz would gain majority control of Hepsiburada through the 65.4% stake, while the seller side receives about $1.13B for that control position.
- Hepsiburada would move from a standalone public-company trajectory toward ownership by a regional super-app operator, with governance and strategic priorities ultimately shaped by Kaspi.kz.
Second-order effects
- The transaction gives Turkish e-commerce rivals a fresh control-stake valuation benchmark and increases pressure on capital-backed platforms such as Trendyol to sustain merchant, customer, and logistics differentiation.
- For Kaspi.kz, the purchase shifts investor attention from its domestic super-app execution to whether it can operate a majority-owned platform in a distinct national market without eroding the economics that supported its IPO story.
Third-order effects
- If similar transactions continue, public regional platforms could become more important consolidators of national e-commerce leaders, rather than expansion being led chiefly by global technology groups.
- The deal also tests whether super-app operators can turn ownership of marketplace traffic into durable cross-border platform leverage; that outcome remains dependent on post-close execution rather than the stake purchase alone.
The trend: Regional digital-platform groups are using public-market scale to seek controlling positions in adjacent national commerce markets.