Turkish start-ups closed 2022 with an investment of approximately 1.8 billion dollars. While start-up investments decreased worldwide, the performance of local start-ups attracted attention According to the 2022 Turkey Start-up Ecosystem Investment Report published by the global enterprise platform StartupCentrum, 322 domestic start-ups received approximately 1.8 billion dollars of investment in 2022. The total investment amount, which was 1.6 billion dollars in 2021, increased by 200 million dollars to 1.8 billion dollars in 2022.
Most Investments Are In The Gaming Industry
The gaming industry, which attracted attention with the investments it received in 2021, became the sector that received the most investments in 2022. 30 startups in the gaming industry received $437 million in investment. Along with the gaming industry, another sector in which the most investments were made was artificial intelligence and machine learning. 30 startups received a total investment of 140 million dollars. Insider, which is in the sector, became Turkey’s new unicorn by receiving an investment of 1 billion dollars last year.
According to the sector analysis made in the report, the sector with the highest increase in investment in 2022 was the blockchain sector. While 7 blockchain start-ups received investments in 2021, this number increased to 18 in 2022. It was noted that these start-ups work in the gaming, finance, web3, metaverse and NFT verticals.
Half Of Institutional Investors Are Foreign
Of the 307 institutional investors investing in start-ups in 2022, 157 were foreign investors. 63 institutional investors from the USA and 43 from Europe invested in Turkish start-ups. When the distribution of start-ups receiving investment by province is examined, 246 from Istanbul, 37 from Ankara, 14 from Izmir, 6 from Bursa and Kocaeli, 3 from Eskişehir and Konya, 2 from Adana and Antalya, 2 from Çanakkale, One start-up investment was received from Kayseri and Trabzon. Interest in start-ups in Anatolia has increased relatively in 2022. It was stated that crowdfunding platforms and technoparks are among the factors that make it easier for start-ups in Anatolia to receive investment. Although start-up investments decreased by 35 percent worldwide in 2022, a slight increase in Turkey increased the expectations in the ecosystem for 2023.