Turkey’s Startup Ecosystem Investment 2021-H1 Report

Pioneers Investors – StartupCentrum has published a report on investments in startups in Turkey for the first half of 2021. According to the report, a total of $704 million was invested in startups in Turkey within 6months. The startups that received the most investment were gaming startups. “The Turkish game industry is one of the most attractive markets in the world for mobile devices,” said Yves Kucuk, CEO of Game Factory, an incubation center for game developers. He spoke.
According to the StartupCentrum report, the majority of investments made in Turkey in the first half of 2021 were in gaming startups.
Investments in Turkish entrepreneurs increased 7 times
In the first half of 2021, 121 startups received a total of 124 investments. The investment amount was announced in 124 of these 68 investment rounds. According to the announced data, the investments made in Turkey in the first half of 2021 increased 7 times compared to the previous half and amounted to $704 million. The average lifespan of startups that received investments during This period is 4.3 years
The gaming industry has received the largest number of investments.
According to the report, in the first half of 2021, the largest number of investments were made in Turkey in gaming startups. This semester, 20 gaming startups have received investment, thus the gaming industry has overtaken the finance industry and taken the lead. After the gaming industry, the sectors that received the most investment were finance, healthcare, CRM, sales, and data and analytics, respectively.
The number of game studios that have received investment with support from Game Factory is 9
Yves Küçük, CEO of Game Factory, an incubation center for game developers, said 2021 game studios within their organization received investment in the first half of 2019. Küçük emphasized that his doors are open to everyone in order to bring more people and studios into the game industry.
“The first half of 2021 was also very active for the Game Factory teams. 9 game studios in the Game Factory incubation center have received investments and the investment is continuing in 7 more studios. In the second half of 2021 we want to bring more of our team to the level of investment and continue in participating in these fun adventures. Great adventures await for Game Factory itself next year. It has always been our dream to train more people and studios in the game industry. We want to become stronger together by doing more for everyone.”
The gaming industry received 34% of the total investment
In the first quarter of this year, Getir received an investment of $428 million, putting the delivery industry in the lead in terms of investment amount alone. After the delivery industry, the gaming industry was among the sectors that received the most investment, at $236 million. Thus, 34% of the total investment made in the first half of this year was made in the gaming industry. The financial sector, which came after the gaming sector, received 1% of the investment.
“The Turkish gaming industry is one of the most attractive markets in the world for mobile”
Efe Küçük, CEO of Game Factory, the incubation center for game developers, stated that Turkey’s increasing technical knowledge should be directed to advanced games.
The Turkish gaming industry has become one of the most attractive sites in the world, especially in the mobile field. We are advancing day by day as technical know-how and culture. I think we should and will direct this general knowledge and resources to more advanced games. In the first half of 2021, we see that a total of $236 million was invested in the gaming industry. With this amount of investment and the strengthening of the current winds, it is entirely possible that we will see the gaming industry always take first place among the most invested sectors in the coming years.