“We establishedย 212 in 2012 to invest inย HighTech companies inย Turkey. Our thesis was that there isย entrepreneurial and technicalย talent in Turkey to createย worldwide success stories. We’ve confirmed that withย investmentsย such asย Insider,ย iyzico,ย HotelRunner, andย Solvoyo.
In our second fund, we will prove that these success stories are repeatable. We aim to invest a minimum of 50 million euros in 15ย enterprisesย over the next 15 years.
We believe Turkey is a great hub forย entrepreneurs, and our investment thesis is simple: ” Test Local, Go Global”.
The local developer talent pool is sizable and affordable.ย creating a greatย launchpad for upcomingย startups, especially for their R&D work (Research &ย Development). There continues to be tremendous potential in Turkey due to theย positive transformation happening in the last five years in theย startup ecosystem with 770 R&Dย centers, 19 GE, PE, and FDI’S, 63 Techno parks, and more than 50 incubators &ย accelerators.
Even though the per-capita investment amount is well below $1 ( compared to the $30 European union average) Turkey delivers, out of the top 11 VC-backed regional exits in 2018, 3 are from Turkey ( Gram Games, Trendyol Group, and opsgeni).
We are impressed by the local talent daily, have a very strong pipeline, and remain bullish on Turkey.”
An interview withย Ali Karabey,
Founder ย & General Partnerย at 212,
about “The state of Turkish Startup Ecosystem”,
forย Investment Office,
Presidency of The Republic Ofย Turkey
