Yağız Sözmen, CFA

Yağız Sözmen is the Co-Founder of Core Finance, an independent investment bank established in 2017, which he has since scaled into one of the region’s leading cross-border M&A advisors. He has led over 25 transactions with an aggregate value exceeding $2 billion, advising founders and global investors across B2B SaaS, Fintech, Defense Tech, and Mobility.

He is recognized for bridging international capital with high-growth companies in emerging markets, working with clients such as TeamSystem (Hellman & Friedman, Silver Lake), Aareon (TPG), PayTR, and DgPays. In parallel, he has overseen investments through Core Ventures into frontier technology companies including QuikNode, 8Sleep, and Umbra Space.

Prior to founding Core Finance, Yağız held senior roles across M&A and venture capital, including Partner at Farazad Investments, where he led the M&A division, and Venture Capital Investor at Smyrna Capital, a Washington D.C.–based fund managing over $500 million in assets. He began his career at BravoSolution, a global procurement software company later acquired by Jaeger.

Yağız holds a BA in Economics from Tufts University, an MBA from London Business School, and is a CFA charterholder.