Investment Environment in Turkey
While it has gained ground in recent years, Turkey’s transformation has been a long time coming, thanks to a unique mix of cultural, economic and even governmental elements that somehow all add up. A huge factor in Turkey’s startup success are the country’s demographics. An entire half of Turkey’s population is under the age of 30, resulting in a predominantly well-educated workforce and a massive talent pool of early adopters and tech-savvy thinkers. Additionally, mobile penetration in Turkey is through the roof, with more than 68 million people in Turkey owning a mobile device—that’s 84% of the population. Turkey’s mobile users are also reported to be the most active consumers in the world for mobile shopping, mobile banking and QR code scanning, and are third in the world for mobile wallet technology usage. As the country’s population gravitates toward an increasingly mobile lifestyle, consumers are by passing internet and desktop trends of the past, leapfrogging to mobile and embracing its massive potential for innovation.
Turkey’s internal infrastructure has even followed suit, working to become more conducive to entrepreneurship. Local venture capital and angel investor organizations, are recognizing the potential of Turkey’s innovative startups from right on the ground. These indigenous financers have played an instrumental role in constructing the ecosystem, where they have set out to showcase the credibility of Turkish entrepreneurship and have worked to refine the financial investment process in this young market. Local incubator Endeavor Turkey also works to connect entrepreneurs to mentors, investors and even potential partners to keep ideas flowing and people sharing.
All this local VC activity has even caught the attention of various international capital firms. Y Combinator-like funding organizations are beginning to take serious interest in Turkey’s growing startup scene, with Intel Capital, eTohum and even Kleiner Perkins backing promising ideas in the region. With the acquisition of GittiGidiyor by eBay for over $200 million in 2011, people both inside and outside of Turkey’s borders took note.
But what’s really most inspiring is Turkish culture has long been characterized by an inherent entrepreneurial nature, where necessity is undoubtedly the mother of invention and where things that need improving receive improvements. Thanks in large part to social media, young, bright Turks are finding inspiration and guidance from the startup progression in other parts of the world, and are applying this to their own technological endeavors. Young people are meeting in government-funded technoparks to work together, share ideas and house their inventions. Now, technology and innovation are some of the leading industries in Turkey, and are becoming more socially accepted. It’s no longer an anomaly for young people to take up careers in the tech market; in fact, it’s a badge of honor.
Thanks to Turkey’s well-balanced ecosystem, small startups and larger companies have begun working to tap into the country’s massive mobile opportunity, releasing rounds of innovation at an increasingly faster clip. Across every industry, I’ve seen new approaches to mobile take shape, carefully filling a long-existing demand in the Turkish market for mobile-centric technology. Turkey’s m-commerce potential has gone through the roof, and savvy startups are taking the challenge seriously, focusing on wielding mobile to address the country’s unique demands.