The Turkish startup ecosystem gathered this week at an industry monitor startups.watch meeting also attended by multiple government institutions in a rare event to address cooperation, regulations and common goals.

In addition to more than 20 investors, the meeting was attended by officials from the Capital Markets Board (SPK), Competition Authority (RK), Small and Medium Enterprises Development Organization (KOSGEB), Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBITAK), Trade Ministry and the Turkish Red Crescent (Kızılay).

The industry monitor startups.watch also announced the January-September investment data at the event hosted by the Middle East Technical University (ÖDTÜ) Teknokent and supported by a number of prominent companies such as Trendyol, Binbin, TEB and Türk Telekom.

The startups.watch data showed Türkiye ranked second in the world, just after the United States, when it comes to the countries that received the highest amount of investments in the gaming industry in the first nine months.

Talent pool

Addressing the event, Investment Office head Burak Dağlıoğlu stressed the importance of the "talent pool" Türkiye offers in the startup ecosystem.

"It has an important position in the gaming industry. We need to carry the talents in the defense industry and the gaming sector to different sectors. In terms of Türkiye’s investment opportunities, alternatives that will attract new investments are also increasing. Venture capital investment funds and the SPK will also add important opportunities to this investment diversity," Dağlıoğlu said.

"The interest of institutions has increased significantly recently. We better explain to the global investment ecosystem the details about the Turkish ecosystem at international events by using startups.watch data. Our regulatory agencies are also trying to rapidly make arrangements that will support the growth of the ecosystem."

Regulators

Also addressing the meeting, the SPK's Vice Chair Ali Ihsan Güngör highlighted the interest venture capital investment funds are seeing, saying this would help investments to grow further.

Among others, the RK department head Esin Aygün stressed how the global data monopolies created by big technology companies are preventing competition in the market.

Aygün also cited examples of how the authority is acting to prevent the formation of such data monopolies in Türkiye.

Mehmet Kayış, head of the e-commerce department at the Trade Ministry, cited a newly adopted law and said that Türkiye has undergone a significant transformation in the transition to the data economy during the pandemic period.

ÖDTÜ Teknokent General Manager Serdar Alemdar stated that they were proud to be pioneering gaming initiatives with the Animation Technologies and Game Development Center, known as ATOM.

Alemdar underlined that startups that develop solutions for the defense industry also develop games, while he announced they are about to establish a venture capital investment fund.

Alp Eren Yurtseven, who attended the meeting on behalf of TÜBITAK, gave information about the support offered by the institution at the initial and growth stages.

KOSGEB SME expert Kamil Akpınar said the institution has been reaching out to entrepreneurs with offices with different interfaces across the country. Akpınar said that Türkiye was turning to production-oriented industries. He stressed that production was supported in many areas from the defense industry to health.

Erdem Koçoğlu, who participated on behalf of Ankara Investment Agency, gave information about the TechAnkara Project Market and the Digital Project Market.

Investors attending the meeting underlined the importance of healthy growth that they said would foster the industry further.

New startups waiting

For his part, startups.watch Serkan Ünsal reiterated that Türkiye was the second biggest receiver of investments in the gaming sector in the world in the first nine months of the year.

"Although it seems that the gaming sector does not need a lot of investment due to its dynamics, it is a very good development that we are the second in terms of the amount of investment. We have already come a long way in recent years in terms of game studios. Now it is necessary to turn the gaming issue into a state policy and develop special policies," Ünsal said.

The biggest benefit of the Ankara event has been to face the fact that many of the regulations issued by the legislators were unknown to the ecosystem, he noted.

"Therefore, it is necessary to constantly transmit all regulations and changes to the ecosystem in a clear language so that the ecosystem reaches an even better level. For this purpose, it is necessary to increase the number of such events and build a bridge between government agencies and the ecosystem."