The State of Turkish Startup Ecosystem 2025 (Invest in Türkiye (startups.watch))
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Invest in Türkiye (startups.watch)Summary
- The ecosystem has created five unicorns and two decacorns, with CVCs participating in one-third of all investment rounds.p.4
- Only 79 VCIFs were established between 2016 and 2020, while 497 new funds came online in 2021–2025, bringing active VCIFs to 552.p.11
- Gaming investment dipped to $35M across 50 rounds in 2023, then climbed to $129M in 2024 and reached $181M by 2025, with 757 active studios in Istanbul.p.13
- Türkiye has 1,222 active AI startups and 835 active fintech startups, and 221 AI startups secured early-stage funding.p.14
- Turkish-founded startups operating abroad raised $1 billion in 2025, $900 million of it in Q3, and total capital mobilized exceeded $1.5 billion.p.18
- Türkiye Development Fund's total allocation to the entrepreneurial ecosystem reached $88 million by the end of 2025.p.19
Key insights
- Total investment volume surged from $20 million in 2010 to $116 million by 2017.p.6
- Between 2018 and 2024, six fund-of-funds were created to target Turkish VCs.p.10
- The majority of VCIFs operate with average fund sizes under $5 million, serving as the foundational liquidity layer at pre-seed and seed stages.p.11
- Equity crowdfunding peaked in 2023 with 60 successful funding rounds, with 28 platforms licensed and 12 active.p.12
- The 2025 exit of Dream Games' investors was a secondary transaction exceeding $2 billion.p.13
- Kaspi.kz's $1.1 billion acquisition of Hepsiburada punctuated the appetite of global giants for Turkish innovation.p.15
- Revo Capital launched its $100 million Fund III with an $86 million first close and plans to invest in 30 startups over five years.p.18
- Midas raised an $80 million Series B in August 2025, the largest fintech round in Türkiye.p.18
- Türkiye Development Fund deployed $20.7 million in direct investments across 21 new startups during the year.p.19
- Pre-seed round size in Türkiye is usually less than $50 thousand, and seed round size is generally $200 thousand.p.24
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