Data pertaining to investment deals made from January through to April of this year show that foreign and domestic investors are continuing to show a great deal of interest in Turkish start-up companies. During the four-month period of this year, 161 angel investors, corporate venture capital investors and venture capital companies made investments in Turkish start-ups according to the data from start-up monitor Startups Watch.
Funding of start-ups
The largest share of this funding was secured by gaming, financial and cloud technologies. Serkan Unsal, the founder of Startups Watch, said that the investor appetite had increased within Turkey, especially since Zynga, a US-based gaming giant, bought two Turkish gaming companies in the year 2020.
Zynga purchased Peak for 15.08 billion Turkish Lira, which is equivalent to 1.8 billion USD, making it a unicorn for Turkey, and Rollic, which was bought for 168 million USD.
COVID-19 did not stop investment
The COVID-19 pandemic has not stopped a record number of investments within Turkish start-ups. A total of 139 million USD was invested in a total of 165 start-ups throughout the year of 2020, according to the monitor’s data.
Investments catapulted within the first of quarter of 2021, and data showed that the deals were worth a mammoth 509 million USD, invested in 62 start-ups in total.
Unsal explained, while underlining that investor diversity had increased by 120% in a year, “Many white-collar angel investors who want to earn high returns and seek alternative investment tools have started to become investors. If we look statistically, 73 different investors have invested in start-ups in Turkey in the first four months of 2020, and this number has increased to 161 in the first four months of 2021.”
Small figures or crowdfunding opportunities?
These numbers also do not include individual investors that were involved in crowdfunding opportunities within the country, Unsal noted.
“We can say that with the widespread use of crowdfunding, white-collar investors will mostly become investors. This means that the options for entrepreneurs will increase significantly. Of course, this does not mean that every start-up seeking investment will find investment. Again, start-ups with high growth potential will receive funding. Therefore, it is very important to find the growth formula. We can say that many sources of financing are now waiting for start-ups that succeed in growing.”
Cameron Deggin 
Founder & CEO, Property Turkey
Cameron Deggin is Founder and CEO of Property Turkey. A former finance professional and FCCA-qualified accountant, he founded the company in 2001 after recognising Turkey’s investment potential. With more than two decades analysing Turkish real estate, Cameron regularly advises international investors and is quoted by media including the Financial Times and BBC.
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