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Burak Basel is a Cypriot entrepreneur and investor with nearly three decades of experience building and backing technology companies. As founder and Chairman of Basel Holding, he leads a global investment firm with portfolio companies spanning fintech, smart city infrastructure, and enterprise software across the United States, the United Arab
Emirates, and Europe. Basel began his career in 1996 developing CRM software for the tourism industry before pivoting to financial technology, working with financial services firms worldwide on home banking, payment systems, and revenue management. It was through that experience that he identified the role fintech could play in powering the next generation of smart cities, and Basel Holding was born from that insight. Through Basel Holding, he provides strategic capital and operational support to companies building citizen-facing infrastructure, from Citizen-to-Government payment platforms and digital public services to smart kiosk networks. Portfolio highlights include Jova Digital, whose Smart Teller kiosks transformed access to government services across the UAE, and CorPayss, a payment technology platform built by veterans of the card industry. Basel was named Tech Venture Finance Officer of the Year at the 2019 Global CFO Excellence Awards, and Basel Holding was recognised by CIO Review as one of the 20 Most Promising Smart City Solution Providers globally in 2020. Away from the boardroom, he is the founder of the Denkay Basel Social Development Foundation - established in memory of his late father - which has funded a fully equipped rehabilitation centre for children with disabilities in Kyrenia and sponsored the FIRST LEGO League Junior competition in Northern Cyprus. He is based in London.
