Turkey, a bridge between two great continents, with its young and connected population of 82 million, offers the right environment for startups to launch, test and go global. Here find our own Strategy Report for Turkey collaboration with Velox Partner and Startups.watch.
WheelTug PLC Pitch Deck | Investor Insights | April 2024
Technology Investment Opportunity in Turkey - 2019 Q3 Updated
1. Strategy Paper
September 2019
What’s inside?
Turkey, a bridge between two great continents, with its young and connected population
of 82 million, offers the right environment for startups to launch, test and go global.
Significant exits are increasing, offering return ratios above European averages. Angel
and venture capital funding per capita remains below USD 1, leaving room for
investment opportunity.
medium.com/212.vcwww.212.vc
3. 82
76
60
Total Population Mobile Users Web Users
Web and mobile penetration in
Turkey
# of people, mln, 2019 Jan
Growth rate (17-18) 1.1% 4% 9%
Penetration n/a 93% 72%
Source: Datareportal, UN 2018, GSMA 2019Q1, Turkstat 2018, Velox Analysis
Median Age
31
GDP per capita
USD 9K
Urbanization
75%
More than 70% of Turkey’s 80 million
population is connected, urbanized, young
and growing.
Turkey Overview
3
4. Source: MSCI
EM Index
4
Turkey vs Emerging Stock Market Index Comparison
Low cost investment opportunity with a potential upside
Turkish public markets are at a 50%
discount compared to other Emerging
Markets’ valuations.
Private market valuations are also
experiencing a ''Turkish Discount’’.
Global expansion can redeliver a
dramatic valuation uptick for a Turkish
startup.
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MSCI EM Index BIST-100 Index
5. 0
10
20
30
40
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60
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80
0 200,000 400,000 600,000 800,000
AverageGrossSalary,‘000USD
Total # of Developers
Turkey
Source: Stackoverflow, Nexten.io Software developers in Europe & the world, The state of European Tech, Micheal Page, Glassdoor
According to Stackoverflow, the population
of developers in Europe is 5.5 mln.
Turkey’s talent pool for developers is on par
with that of Europe but with a significantly
lower salary rate, creating great opportunity
for startups to hire and manage costs.
Last year alone, more than 3% of EU’s tech
talent came from Turkey, making it the #1
resource for talent acquisition outside of the
EU.
Low-cost with a well
performing talent pool
Countries with the most economic
salaries .
5
Switzerland
Israel
Germany
France
Netherlands
Denmark
Sweeden
Finland
Belgium
Czechia
Spain
Poland
Italy
Russia
Romania
Hungary
Ukraine
6. Source: Stackoverflow, Nexten.io Software developers in Europe & the world, The state of European Tech, Micheal Page, Glassdoor
Ecosystem Snapshot
Accredited
Angels
471
Angel
Networks
24
Accelerator
Fund
10
VC, CVC,
CIO
163
GE, PE,
FDI
19
Techno
park
81
Non. Gov.
Organizations
19
R & D
Center
770
Incubator,
Accelerator
50
The development of a country's tech ecosystem is key to becoming a mature market. Turkey’s tech
ecosystem has had remarkable growth in the last decade. Today, Turkey's venture capital and technology
infrastructure can support startups of all sizes.
INVESTMENT
ENABLERS
6
9. Source: Startup.watch, Velox research. Includes companies received investment prior to exit.
Top 10 VC transactions in Turkey
Company Industry
Modanisa E-commerce, fashion
Zingat Proptech, SaaS
Mikro Yazılım Business Intel., SaaS
Insider Marketing-tech, SaaS
Hurriyet Emlak Classifieds, Proptech
Foriba Fintech
Vivense Ecommerce, furniture
iyzico Fintech
Albila Biotech
oBilet Travel
Investment Volume 2018 - 2019 Q3(USD, mln)
9
4
4
4
15
12
12
8
5
5
5
10. Source: Startup.watch, Crunchbase, Velox analysis
Funded startups in Turkey are
quicker to exit.
Startups with capital infusion compared to boot
strapped companies grow faster and exit
quicker.
Capital injection is a catalyst for exits,
with funded startups exiting in less than 4
years as opposed to the industry average of 6-
7 years.
All Exits Top 10 Exits
Time from
foundation to exit
5.4 years 9.7 years
Time from first
investment to exit
3.8 years 5.5 years
10
11. Source: Startup.watch, Crunhbase, Velox analysis
Top 10 exits in Turkey
Company Industry Year Acquirer
Trendyol Ecommerce, fashion 2018 Alibaba
Yemeksepeti Meal delivery 2015 Delivery Hero
OpsGenie DevOps 2018 Atlassian
Gram Games Game 2018 Zynga
gittigidiyor Marketplace 2011 eBay
iyzico FinTech 2019 PayU
Markafoni Ecommerce, fashion 2011 Naspers
Masamo Game 2019 Miniclip
Citus Data Database 2019 Microsoft
Pozitron Mobile 2014 Monitise
Investment Volume (USD, mln)
728
589
295
250
183
165
146
100
100
100
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13. iyziPOS
VirtualPOS with AI enabled fraud
prevention and PCI-DSS auth.
iyziBazaar
Marketplace payment provider for
businesses of all sizes.
iyziLink
Payment issuer w/out a shopping
medium.
iyzico App
Online shopping assistant for consumers .
Source: TC, 212, Iyzico press publications, crunchbase
Region’s Leading Payment Platform
DevOps - SaaS
Incident Management
Platform
FinTech - SaaS
Simple, seamless, secure payment solutions for online
businesses to maximize conversion rates and accept
payments in their local currency.
HQ Istanbul 140 Employees
Op. 15 Countries 30k+ Merchants
2013
Seed
USD 1,4 mln
2014
Series A
USD 1,4 mln
2015
Series B
USD 6,2 mln
10 mln valuation
2018
Eastern Europe Exp.
USD 4 mln
>150 mln valuation
2017
Series C
USD 15 mln
~45 mln valuation
Previous Investors
13
2019
Exit
USD 165 mln
valuation
14. Source: TC, 212, Insider case studies, Crunchbase, e27
Born Local, Go Global
Insider Growth Management Platform (GMP) empowers marketers to deliver personalized journeys across
web, mobile web, mobile apps, and ad channels. Thus helping digital marketers drive growth across the
funnel, from Acquisition to Activation, Retention, and Revenue.
DevOps - SaaS
Incident Management
Platform
MarketingTech - SaaS
The first integrated Growth Management
Platform (GMP) for online marketers
HQ Singapore 400 Employees
R&D Turkey & Ukraine 20 Active Markets
2005
Angel
USD 900k
2016
Series A
USD 2.5 mln
USD 10 mln
valuation
2018
Series B
USD 8 mln
USD 40 mln valuation
Global brands from diversified industries that trusted Insider’s technology.
Unparalleled growth followed by best-in-class VC back-up
14
2020
+USD 300 mln valuation
15. DevOps - SaaS
Incident Management Platform
HQ Washington / USA 70 Employees
R&D Ankara / Turkey 40 Developers
Source: OpsGenie official webpage, Webrazzi, Bizjournals, Crunchbase, GazateSu, Velox research
Test Local, Go Global
OpsGenie is an alerting and on-call management tool that enables DevOps teams to manage, escalate,
solve any alert and work in harmony with any other monitoring tools.
2005
Foundation
ODTU Technopark
2012
HQ Move
Washington DC
2016
VC Intake
USD 10 mln
2018
Exit
Full stakes USD 295 mln
• Company transformation from custom IT solutions to
SaaS provider.
• Trend in the market that all-in-one incident monitoring
becomes the new norm.
• Reaching 1000 customers with a startup and
enterprise mix.
• System integration with giants in monitoring market.
• Sales&Marketing to grow customer base to 4k.
• 50% of revenue generated from USA.
• Atlassian buys full stakes of the company, keeps and
expands R&D in Turkey.
15
16. Fin-Tech
Payment
Marketing
Tech
212 at a glance
212 is a leading VC teaming up with entrepreneurs going global, based in Istanbul, Doha,
and San Francisco.
2011
Fund I $ 30 m
2018
Fund II € 50 m
www.212.vc
Startups
12
Invested
$ 23m
Value Created
$550m
Hotel Channel
Manager
Logistics
Tech
Geography
CEE, Turkey, MENA
Strategy
Test Local & Go Global
Team
Global Ambition
Stage
Scale-up
Sector
B2B Tech
16
Invested
€4.5m Software as a
Service
Marketing
Tech
MALL
Software as a
Service
17. www.212.vc
“There is a tremendous yet untapped potential in MENA
and Eastern Europe. The best enterprises were born at
times of crisis. We support the founders who find
comfort in this chaos .”
– Ali Karabey, Partner @212
17
19. medium.com/212vcwww.212.vc
A good player plays where the puck is.
A great player plays where the puck is going to be.
– Wayne Gretzky
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