Efe Çakarel is a Turkish entrepreneur, founder and CEO of

MUBI Mubi (; stylized as MUBI; the Auteurs before 2010) is a global streaming platform, production company and film distributor. MUBI produces and theatrically distributes films by emerging and established filmmakers, which are exclusively available ...

. Following his graduation from the American Collegiate Institute in

İzmir İzmir is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara. It is on the Aegean Sea, Aegean coast of Anatolia, and is the capital of İzmir Province. In 2024, the city of İzmir had ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

, he earned his B.S. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

, and an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business. Prior to founding MUBI, he spent a number of years at Goldman Sachs in

investment banking Investment banking is an advisory-based financial service for institutional investors, corporations, governments, and similar clients. Traditionally associated with corporate finance, such a bank might assist in raising financial capital by und ...

. He was part of Turkey's national math team and placed third in the European Math Olympiad. He also has two patents related to monetization of web applications. In February 2025,

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

published a major profile piece on MUBI and Efe Çakarel, positioning MUBI as "a real Hollywood player" following the success of ''The Substance''. At the

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Film Festival (; ), until 2003 called the International Film Festival ('), is the most prestigious film festival in the world. Held in Cannes, France, it previews new films of all genres, including documentaries, from all around ...

in May 2025, MUBI paid $24m for Lynne Ramsay’s psychological comedy-drama ''Die, My Love'', starring Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson, across multiple territories - the biggest deal in to come out of Cannes that year. In May 2025, the venture capital firm Sequoia Capital invested £100m in MUBI, valuing the company at $1bn.

References

External links

Film Comment article
on founder Efe Cakarel
Wired UK article
on founder Efe Cakarel
Talk given by Efe Cakarel at LeWeb London 2012

Interview on Bloomberg TV’s 'The Pulse' (January 2016)

Roundtable interview on CNBC's Morning News (January 2016)
20th-century births Living people MIT School of Engineering alumni Stanford Graduate School of Business alumni Turkish chief executives Year of birth missing (living people) {{Turkey-bio-stub