Turkey moves up to the billions’ league with single transaction
$61 billion has been added to global venture investments through 4,260 transactions from January through March this year, before the coronavirus pandemic hit most countries in the world, according to the “Venture Pulse 2020” report prepared by KMPG, a global network of professional firms providing audit, tax and advisory services.
While a downturn is expected in the second quarter, the amount of investment made in Turkish companies in the first half of 2020 exceeded $1.9 billion, with most of it coming from Zynga’s acquisition of Peak for $1.8 billion.
With the effect of COVID-19, startups operating in the fields of biotechnology, digital health, medicine and life sciences, artificial intelligence modeling for disease prediction and MedTech are expected to shine further in the coming period.
According to the startup monitor startups.watch data, the venture ecosystem in Turkey received $42.3 million in the first quarter of 2020 with 32 transactions. With 21 investments in the second quarter, the total investment amounted to some $1.9
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billion. Startups in the U.S. and Europe have also received strong investments. The biggest transaction in the second quarter was Peak’s acquisition by Zynga. Peak has thus become Turkey’s first unicorn – a startup company valued at over $1 billion.
FINTECH INVESTMENTS
According to the “Venture Pulse 2020” report, which evaluated the development of the venture ecosystem in the first quarter of 2020, prior to the COVID-19 crisis, fintechs remained globally popular during the first three months.
U.S.-based Chime, which provides digital banking services, and U.K.-based Revolut both received $500 million, followed by Sweden-based Klarna with $200 million and Australia-based Xinja with $160 million.
Insider, a marketing technologies startup with 20 offices in various countries around the world, has also received investments from Riverwood Capital, Endeavor Catalyst and Sequoia Capital through an investment tour of $32 million completed in June. Insider became one of the leading companies of 2020 with a total investment of $46.1 million since its establishment.
PAYMENT SYSTEMS
The second-biggest acquisition of 2020 in the Turkish venture ecosystem also took place in June. The domestic payment platform Payguru was acquired for $40 million by the mobile payment company TPAY Mobile, which attracts attention with its large investments in the Middle East and Africa.
Turkish housing complex and apartment management software venture Apsiyon attracted a $5 million investment and stated that the cash obtained from the investment would be used to open up to international markets.
Waymo, the U.S. driverless car-calling application, raised $2.25 billion, and Generate Capital, a company that offers sustainable infrastructure solutions, raised $1 billion. In Europe, the U.K.-based financial technology company Revolut attracted $500 million, while Lilium, which provides mobility services, received $240 million.
THE RISING TRENDS
The traditional venture investment is expected to slow down significantly in the next quarter. Venture segments that may be attractive to investors are health and biotechnology, digital health, medicine and life sciences, artificial intelligence modeling to predict the spread of diseases and MedTech.
Given the increase in online services, companies that focus on efficiency solutions, logistics and delivery, advertising technologies, online entertainment, cybersecurity and data protection will also attract attention.