Turkey: The champion of second league in startup investments

Some 17 Turk sh startups rece ved a total of $18.9 m ll on of nvestments n Q1 of 2018, wh ch const tuted the lowest amount n the last f ve quarters, accord ng to Startupswatch data.

However the low level came after a record year for nvestments, as the av d readers of th s column may remember. Turkey saw $103 m ll on n nvestments n 2017, mak ng t the second best after Poland n the Eastern and Southeastern European

Reg on. In Q1 th s year, nvestments n Turkey surpassed Poland and reached th rd place n MENA, after Israel and the Un ted Arab Em rates.

The champ on of Q1 nvestments was

Ins der, a Turkey-based d g tal exper ence del very platform for marketers, w th a

$10 m ll on Ser es B round led by Sequo a Cap tal. Sequo a s known for be ng the f rst nvestor n whatsapp and has nvestments n 1,500 other startups.

For ba, a reg-tech company prov d ng e- nvo ce, e-ledger and other serv ces, also rece ved a $5 m ll on nvestment from a group led by Internat onal F nance Corporat on (IFC).

Corporat ons conducted 15 percent of the early stage nvestments n Turk sh start-ups Doctor Turkey (TT Ventures), e-Vend (Macgal Otomat) , and Garaj Sepet (F nberg). Meanwh le, fore gn nvestors conducted 43 percent of the total, nvest ng n Ins der (Sequo a Cap tal) and Paym. es (DAAL).

Four new VC’s took stage n the startup eco-system. F k ron, establ shed by s nger Mustafa Sandal, F nberg by F babanka ( nvested n Garaj Sepet ), TT Ventures by Turk Telecom ( nvested n Doctor Turkey) and InvesTurco by pr vate nvestor Alper Unler

Here s the l st of startups that drew nvestments n Q1 2018: Ceotudent, Co ny, Expertera, Ins der, Meal Box, Med tatat on App, Nanom k, Olev, Paym.es, Restro d, Scout um, StockMount and Tem zl k Dev .