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Country Guide
Turkey
Guest Editor
Serkan Ünsal
Founder at Startups.Watch
Serkan Ünsal is the founder of an investor analytics platform focused on Turkey called startups.watch. The platform has more than 150 clients and covers all funding and acquisition details for the Turkish Startup Ecosystem. He founded his previous startup in 2011 and sold it in 2014. He has also written four books on entrepreneurship.
Guest editors are local ecosystem leaders: successful founders, investors, or thought leaders. Have someone in mind? Nominate a country guest editor.
Disclaimer: all content within the Startup Ecosystem Summary and Editor’s Guide sections is written by and reflects the personal perspective of the guest editor. The guest editor is not responsible for content within the Country Snapshot and Community sections, as much of this content is compiled from external sources and does not necessarily reflect the guest editor’s view.
Startup ecosystem summary
Key Startup Cities
Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir
Connected Country Ecosystems
USA, UK, Germany
Differentiators
- 8000+ startups & scaleups, 50+ Accelerators, 40+ Coworking spaces, 60+ technoparks
- 45% of population is below age 30
Challenges
- Small amount of investors for Series B and later rounds
Editor's Guide
Introduction
Turkey, with a large young population and high internet and credit card usage habits, is the shining star of South Eastern Europe and the Middle East. In terms of location, Turkey is a well-positioned, attractive hub, only three hours by flight away from the most important cities in Europe and many key cities in Asia. Prior to 2010, the Turkish ecosystem had little to speak about, but since then the ecosystem has swelled in size and importance, quickly becoming a key regional startup hub. In the first half of the 2010s, thanks to the growth of brand-new VC funds and angel investors making their first investments, the Turkish startup ecosystem reached annual startup investments of US$100M. In the second half of the 2010s, many of these new VC funds achieved exits and started working to establish their second fund. In this period, the exit time was significantly shortened compared to the pre-2010 years.
Outlook
The Turkish startup ecosystem entered a growth acceleration stage in 2010. In the coming years, we will see more investments, especially through recently established funds. In particular, the gaming industry has been energized the past several months with local gaming company Peak’s ascendancy as a unicorn, combined with Rollic’s acquisition by Zynga. We will see more gaming companies and more game developers in the coming period.
Featured Tech Startups
Editor’s choice of the country’s top 10 emerging tech startups.
Startup Showcase
Editor’s pick of which ‘Featured Startup’ is especially worth following and why.
The grocery delivery startup, which brings 1500 supermarket products to you in 15 minutes with its own warehouse network and courier network, has exceeded 200,000 orders per day as of October 2020. This is proof of how much this startup has been accepted by the market. Getir will become one of the biggest unicorn candidates in 2021 as it opens in other countries.
Focus Industries
Editor’s choice of the industries with the most potential for technology disruption and growth.
DeliveryWith the success of Getir (grocery delivery in 15 minutes) and Yemeksepeti Banabi, this industry is gaining traction every day.
FintechIn recent years, the fintech industry has been one of the most active industries in terms of funding and exits.
GamingA string of recent startup success stories has showcased the potential of this industry: Gram Games' acquisition, Peak's unicorn title via acquisition, and Rollic's rapid exit all showed that the gaming industry is one of the hottest industries in Turkey.
Talent
Editor’s perspective of the maturity level of talent in the ecosystem.
- Technical Talent
- Marketing Talent
- Experienced Talent
- International Talent
Culture and History
Editor’s commentary on how the country’s culture and history have impacted the ecosystem.
The number of technoparks in Turkey began to increase rapidly in the early 2000s. Since 2010, the number of angel networks, angels and VC funds has increased every year, and entrepreneurship has become embedded in Turkish culture, especially on the Levent-Maslak line in Istanbul.
Interested in becoming more involved in this ecosystem and connecting with local ecosystem leaders? Let us know.
Community
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Active Investors
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Incubators & Accelerators
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Startups Raising Capital
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Startups Hiring
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Coworking Spaces/Hubs
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Events
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Government Programs
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Non-Government Organizations
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Universities
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Tech Publications
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Reports & Infographics
Active Investors
Albaraka Fintech Fund (Istanbul)
Angel Effect (Istanbul): Angel network.
Aslanoba Capital (Istanbul)
Boğaziçi Ventures (Istanbul)
BUBA Investors Club (Istanbul): Angel network.
Collective Spark (Istanbul): Generalist fund with Series A focus.
Driventure (Istanbul)
Earlybird Digital East Fund (Istanbul): Generalist fund with Series A focus.
Egiad Angels (Izmir): Angel network.
Esas Ventures (Istanbul)
F+ Ventures (Istanbul)
Galata Business Angels (Istanbul): Angel network.
Geometry Venture Development (Istanbul): Angel network.
Idacapital (Istanbul)
Keiretsu Forum Turkey (Istanbul): Angel network.
Kultepe Invest (Kayseri): Kültepe Investment invests in technology-oriented early stage startups.
Revo Capital (Istanbul): Generalist fund with Series A focus.
Sabanci Ventures (Istanbul)
Sankonline (Istanbul)
ScaleX Ventures (Istanbul)
Startershub (Istanbul)
Teknogirişim (Istanbul)
Teknoloji Yatırım (Ankara)
Türkiye Development Fund (İstanbul)
Twozero Ventures (Istanbul)
WePlay Ventures (Istanbul): Seed stage gaming-focused fund.
Yildiz Ventures (Istanbul)
incubators
ATOM Turkey (Ankara)
Bilkent Cyberpark Kuluçka Merkezi (Ankara)
BTM Istanbul (Istanbul)
Cube Incubation (Istanbul)
İTÜ Çekirdek (Istanbul)
ODTÜ Teknokent Kuluçka Merkezi (Ankara)
TIM-TEB Girişim Evi (Istanbul)
Yildiz Kuluçka (Istanbul)
accelerators
Albaraka Garaj (Istanbul)
Hackquarters (Istanbul)
Türk Telekom Pilot (Istanbul)
Startups Raising Capital
There’s more to be discovered! Help us showcase this startup community by adding information.
Startups Hiring
There’s more to be discovered! Help us showcase this startup community by adding information.
conferences
Startup Istanbul (Virtual/Istanbul)
Webrazzi Summit (Virtual/Istanbul)
meetups
There’s more to be discovered! Help us showcase this startup community by adding information.
Government Programs
1 million jobs: Due to the fact that information technologies are used more and more in every field, companies' need for trained manpower is increasing day by day. Since Turkish manpower in this field is not at the desired level, many companies have started to meet their information technology needs from abroad.
TÜBİTAK BiGG: Grant program for idea stage entrepreneurs.
Non-Government Organizations
Ashoka Turkey: Social entrepreneurship platform.
Endeavor Turkey: High impact entrepreneurship movement in Turkey.
Fintech Istanbul: Fintech entrepreneurship platform for Turkish fintech entrepreneurs.
Girişimcilik Vakfı: Turkish entrepreneurship foundation that works with youth to advance the entrepreneurial culture and to make entrepreneurship a career alternative among young people.
Universities
Bilkent University (Ankara)
Boğaziçi University (Istanbul)
Koç University (Istanbul)
Özyeğin University (Istanbul)
Sabanci University (Istanbul)
Yildiz Technical University (Istanbul)
Reports & Infographics
Check out our Global Startup Ecosystem Database to discover top startups and ecosystem resources around the world!
Country Snapshot
Economy
(Global avg. 3.0%)
(Global avg. 2.3%)
Society
Are we missing something? Help us showcase this ecosystem by suggesting additional content. Join us as a Startup Universal contributor!
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