Posted: 4th December 2018

Yigit is a partner at Vela Partners, where he invests in Artificial Intelligence (AI) startups. He studied MSc Computer Science, 2009–10 and was a member of Kellogg College.

Technology has played an ever present and important role in my life. My earliest memory as a 3-year old was seeing my father, a technology executive, carry his desktop computer tirelessly around every night so that he could write code from home.  

As I grew up, I came to observe first-hand that technology and innovation had the ability to revolutionise emerging economies, such as my own in Turkey.  

I have committed my own ambitions towards having as large an impact as possible through the power of innovation and technology.  

Pursuing such ambitions required me to be thoughtful about what I studied, where I studied, and where I worked.  

For undergraduate studies, I enrolled in the Industrial Engineering Programme at Koç University, where I became hooked on the power of software and decided that I wanted additional expertise in the area before entering the workforce.  

I ultimately chose to attend Oxford University due to its centuries long reputation in innovation and strong worldwide recognition. Former DPhil student Yigit Ihlamur

After five years at Google I joined Vela Partners, a venture capital firm investing in emerging technologies. At Vela, my responsibility as a partner is to invest in pioneering startups in the AI and deep learning fields. A natural extension of my studies at Oxford, my graduate AI education is put to use daily in my responsibilities at Vela when it comes to learning about new developments in the AI field, assessing the merits of a startup’s technology, and contributing to AI driven product features in Vela’s own internal AI tools and existing portfolio companies.  

My time at Oxford gave me exposure to individuals and ideas that are pioneering in their field. My Oxford education has been and remains pivotal in helping me shape the future of technology and innovation.