The most up to date report on the State of Turkish Startup Ecosystem is published by the Investment Office of the Presidency of the Republic of Turkey.

My contribution to the report on Why Turkey and Why Now:

Established in 2015 in Istanbul, StartersHub has invested in over 60 early stage technology startups to date. Our portfolio includes success stories such as Zeplin, Meditopia and Thread in Motion.

Our belief in the Turkish startup ecosystem’s potential to create attractive returns for investors is supported by solid foundations:

1. Strong, young technical and engineering talent with risk taking appetite, at a small fraction of the cost in Silicon Valley.

2. Government R&D support and incentives, public and private university science and technology parks providing fertile ground for innovation

3. Number of underfunded high potential startups and low level of local funding resulting in relatively underpriced entry valuations

4. Big local market, tech savvy and connected nation providing a good starting point for entrepreneurs eager to go global

5. Istanbul acting as a regional hub for numerous multinationals. B2B startups leveraging successful implementations in Turkey to open MNC doors globally.

Why now?

There is an increasing number of second and third time entrepreneurs and a growing number of experienced professionals creating startups. Pre-seed and seed investment culture is growing stronger. Government’s vision to increase number of success stories and investment in expanding the technical talent base.