Istanbul, Turkey continue ever-growing rise in startup ecosystem
Ever-growing interest has enabled Turkey and its largest metropolis Istanbul to keep rising in the venture ecosystem, proven by the fact that around $509 million was invested in 62 startups from January through March
has managed to place itself among Europe’s Top 10 countries in regards to the inflow of angel and venture capital investments from January through March, according to data compiled by startup monitor, startups.watch.
In the Middle East and North African region, the country ranked second only to Israel.
What’s more, the rise of Istanbul also continued as the metropolis ranked seventh among the European cities that received the most investment in the first quarter of 2021, the data showed.
Continuing from where it left off in 2020, despite the pandemic, the JanuaryMarch period marked another record period for the Turkish startup ecosystem.
Namely, investment deals worth $509 million (around TL 4.11 billion) were made in 62 rounds in the said period, the startups.watch data showed, with fast delivery startup Getir and Dream Games leading the way.
Getir raised a total of $428 million in two investment rounds in the first quarter, namely $128 million in January and $300 million in March.
The latest round valued the startup at $2.6 billion, enabling it to become Turkey’s second unicorn, a term for startups that pass the $1-billion mark.
In the ranking made by startups.watch by cities, Istanbul maintained its leadership. Forty-nine of the 62 investments made in the first quarter of 2021 were made in ventures based in the metropolis.
After the successful sales deals of Peak and Rollic in 2020, the dynamism in the gaming industry has continued.
From January through March, 15 gaming ventures broke records after receiving an investment worth around $60 million.
Dream Games, which ranked second after Getir in the first quarter, received the largest investment in a single round with $50 million.
Again, Brew Games was among the other gaming startups that received a high amount of investment at the seed stage.
INSTITUTIONS’ INTEREST
After a new regulation, institutional investments have surged along with the increasing interest of institutional investors in the venture ecosystem in Turkey.
Banks also attracted attention in investments. Apart from fintech investments, Getir also got the lion’s share of the investments.
Thanks to corporate venture capital firm Finberg’s participation in Getir’s $128 million investment tour, corporations were involved in $154 million worth of investments in 18 investment rounds from January through March.
Alesta Yatırım has become the corporate investment company with highest investment in the first quarter.
Speaking at the startups.watch online event, Alesta Yatırım co-founder Ibrahim Özer underlined that they invested in 39 different startups in their portfolios and that the number will reach 50 by the end of the year.
Özer stressed that they invested in startups in the early stage with Alesta, in those in the growth stage with Escort and another investment company in crowdfunding.