This is also a small milestone: episode #25 of TRVC.
Across these first 25 episodes, the GPs I’ve hosted have collectively invested over $1B into Turkish startups. It’s been a front-row seat to how this ecosystem has evolved — and where it might be heading next.

💡 What we talked about with Gizem Yağız

• Why deep tech (and especially advanced materials) plays by a completely different VC playbook

• Why this area, largely overlooked by VC, is one of the biggest markets in the world

• How Türkiye’s industrial base is a competitive advantage for deep tech startups

• Why deep tech feels slow early on — and why that’s misleading

• The importance of pilot plants, scale-up, and commercial milestones

• Licensing vs building factories: different paths to scale

• Why strategic exits can be more attractive than IPOs in this space

• The role of non-dilutive funding (and why Europe is ahead here)

• Gaps in Türkiye’s deep tech ecosystem — and what’s needed to unlock it

• What kind of support deep tech founders actually need from investors

🔗 Referenced

• 212 NexT

• Akkök Holding

• Aksa Akrilik

• European Innovation Council

• Haelixa

• Aepnus

📚 Recommended

• The Four Agreements

• Stories That Stick

If you’re thinking about where Türkiye can really build an edge in technology — beyond software — this is a conversation worth your time.

As I look forward to the next 75 episodes to reach my 100 episode goal, I believe this podcast has started to establish a real resource of interviews with the investors that make up the Turkish VC ecosystem.

My goal is simple: map the ecosystem through the people building it.

If you’re a GP investing in or from Türkiye, an emerging manager, or raising a new fund — or if you know someone who should be on the podcast — please reach out. I’d love to hear from you.

Mustafa Keçeli is a senior leader at APY Ventures, one of Turkey’s most active venture capital platforms, operating under Albaraka Portföy. APY has built a broad portfolio across ~70+ startups and manages multiple venture funds (GSYFs), including both in-house and partner funds with institutions like Bilişim Vadisi and T3 Vakfı. In a market still early in its development, APY has become a key builder of Turkey’s VC infrastructure—combining institutional capital yet trying to apply a “think like a VC, not like a banker” mindset.

What we talked about

• Why VC cannot be run with a banking mindset—and what breaks if you try

• How APY scaled from 2 funds to 30+ and built a venture platform inside a bank

• The GSYF structure in Turkey, and how there is even a secondary shares market

• How they evaluate startups: team, market, and real-world traction

• Why Turkey produces strong technical talent but struggles with go-to-market

• The reality of exits in Turkey: why $20M–$50M exits matter more than unicorns

• Why APY sometimes chooses not to invest—even when capital is available

• The coming AI disruption and what founders are underestimating

Referenced

• APY Ventures — https://apy.ventures

• Albaraka Portföy — https://www.albarakaportfoy.com.tr

• Albaraka — https://www.albaraka.com.tr

• TaskRabbit — https://www.taskrabbit.com

• Armut — https://armut.com

• Betterment — https://www.betterment.com

• Robinhood — https://robinhood.com

• Flowla — https://flowla.com

• Scalex — https://www.scalexventures.com/ (+see my episode with Dilek Dayınlarlı)

• Botel (now Cendra) — https://cendra.ai

• Upsonic — https://upsonic.co

• Gardiyan — https://gardiyan.com

Ecosystem / institutions:

• Bilişim Vadisi — https://bilisimvadisi.com.tr

• KOSGEB — https://www.kosgeb.gov.tr

• OSTİM Teknopark — https://ostimteknopark.com.tr

• OSTİM Teknik Üniversitesi — https://www.ostimteknik.edu.tr

• T3 Vakfı — https://t3vakfi.org

• Ankara Teknopark — https://www.ankara-teknopark.com.tr

• Borsa İstanbul — https://www.borsaistanbul.com

• SPK — https://www.spk.gov.tr

Recommended

📚 Book

• An Edible History of Humanity (İnsanlığın Yeme Tarihi) — Tom Standage

🎧 Podcasts

• a16z Podcast — https://a16z.com/podcasts

If you’re trying to understand how venture capital actually works in an emerging market—and what it takes to build a real VC platform inside a regulated institution—this episode is a great place to start.

Full episode is in Turkish. Available on Youtube, Spotify, Apple podcasts

Since 2012, GBA has backed 60+ startups, including early investment in Insider.

But what stood out in our conversation wasn’t the amazing outcomes—it was the mechanism behind them.

Early-stage investing is not about access to deals.
It’s about access to founders.

And that access doesn’t come from brand or capital alone.

It comes from something much harder to systematize:
personal trust and direct engagement.

We get into:

• Why angel networks can outperform traditional VC structures at the earliest stages

• The limits of “platform” and “value-add” narratives

• How exits actually materialize (and why they’re rarely predictable)

• Why many startups struggle to move beyond their home market

• What LPs should really look for when evaluating early-stage exposure

If you’re allocating to venture—or thinking about it—this is a conversation worth listening to.

👉 Listen here: Youtube, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts

TRVC – The Turkish VC Podcast
Conversations with the people shaping venture in Turkey

Over the past 15 years, a handful of programs, investors, and institutions quietly laid the groundwork for what is now a fast-growing venture ecosystem.

In the latest episode of TRVC – The Turkish VC Podcast, I sat down with Kenan Çolpan, partner at Boğaziçi Ventures, to trace that journey—from the early days of İTÜ ARI Teknokent and İTÜ Çekirdek, to today’s venture funds investing across the Turkish tech ecosystem.

Kenan was involved at several key moments in that story: helping build startup programs at ITÜ, becoming an early angel investor, and eventually co-founding Boğaziçi Ventures.

In our conversation, we discuss:

• How İTÜ Çekirdek and Big Bang helped catalyze the ecosystem
• The early years of angel investing and VC in Turkey
• How Boğaziçi Ventures built a multi-fund strategy (growth, AI, secondary, pre-IPO)
• Why Borsa İstanbul could become a meaningful exit path for tech companies
• What it will take for Turkey to produce more unicorns

More broadly, we talk about how ecosystems get built: the importance of capital, the role of universities, and why large domestic exits matter for the next generation of founders.

If you’re interested in startups, venture capital, or the future of Turkey’s technology economy, I think you’ll enjoy this episode.

Watch the episode:
Youtube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts

—
Yunus Çelebiler
Host, TRVC – The Turkish VC Podcast

In almost every episode of TRVC — the Turkish VC podcast, one theme keeps resurfacing:

Turkey doesn’t lack startups.
It doesn’t lack early-stage capital.
It lacks growth capital — funds that can write meaningful cheques and help companies scale beyond the early stages.

In this latest episode, I speak with İhsan Elgin, CEO of Finberg (the venture capital arm of Fibabanka) and Managing Partner at Oleka Capital — a platform built specifically to address that gap.

İhsan didn’t just observe the structural weakness in the ecosystem. He acted on it.

In our conversation, we explore:

• His journey from corporate executive at Koç Group to startup founder (with a U.S. exit)

• Launching one of Turkey’s earliest accelerator programs

• Building Finberg into a multi-fund investment platform

• Why DPI now matters more than TVPI in today’s venture environment

• The coming shakeout in VC funds

• Why Turkish founders must think regionally to unlock larger exits

• And how Oleka is using growth equity, SPVs, and venture debt to create a new model of growth financing

This is a thoughtful, strategic discussion about the evolution of venture capital in Turkey — less hype, more fundamentals.

If you’re a founder, investor, LP, or operator building in Turkey and the surrounding region, I believe you’ll find this episode particularly relevant.

You can watch on Youtube, Spotify or Apple Podcasts

As always, I welcome your feedback and reactions.

Best,
Yunus
TRVC – The Turkish VC Podcast

The first episode in 2026 of TRVC – The Turkish VC Podcast is now live, and I’m excited to share it with you. This episode is in Turkish — in the spirit of creating bridges between Turkish partners at VC firms outside of Turkey and the ecosystem in Türkiye.

In this episode, I speak with Zeynep Yavuz, Partner at General Catalyst, one of the world’s leading venture capital firms with over $43B under management. Zeynep is a Partner based in London, working with founders from seed stage all the way to IPO.

This was a wide-ranging and thoughtful conversation that goes beyond headlines and into how great companies are actually built.

Some of the topics we cover:

• What investors really look for at the seed stage — and why “why you’re building” matters more than “what you’re building”

• How General Catalyst partners with companies from seed to IPO under one platform

• Europe’s structural challenges around exits and IPOs

• Turkey’s gaming success and the role of “academy companies”

• New funding models beyond equity, including user acquisition financing

• One of the most important emerging trends: AI-driven transformation of service businesses

It’s a candid discussion about venture capital, entrepreneurship, and navigating uncertainty in a fast-changing world.

🎧 You can watch or listen to the episode on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts

As always, thank you for following TRVC. If you find the episode valuable, feel free to share it with others who might enjoy it as well.

Best,
Yunus

We talked about:

• How Inveo balances its corporate roots with startup-style agility

• Why they’re bullish on fintech, cybersecurity, and AI

• Their evolving strategy with external LPs and Fund-of-Funds

• And why founder–investor communication still needs work in our ecosystem

Haluk brings a rare dual perspective — both operator and investor — and shares real, actionable insight into what it takes to scale and back startups in Turkey today.

Whether you’re a founder, investor, or just curious about Turkey’s fast-evolving startup scene, TRVC brings your fresh conversations from the frontlines of Turkish venture capital.

Best regards,
Yunus

🎧 Listen now on Spotify/Apple/etc.
📺 Watch on YouTube:

It’s been almost three weeks since the last episode — thanks for your patience! I’m back with a great conversation that was worth the wait.

In this new episode of TRVC, I sat down with A. Burak Dağlıoğlu, President of the Türkiye Investment and Finance Office. We had a wide-ranging discussion about how global capital is flowing into the country — and where startups fit into that picture.

We talked about:

• How Turkey’s startup ecosystem went from a handful of deals in the early 2010s to attracting $5 billion in the last four years

• Why talent and demographics are Turkey’s secret weapons in tech

• The role of programs like Technology Parks, TÜBİTAK, and BIGG in nurturing early-stage innovation

• Challenges around Series A+ funding and exits, and what’s being done to bring larger funds into the ecosystem

• The opportunity to create not just unicorns, but regional champions that can scale beyond Turkey

• How diaspora networks and dual-hub structures (R&D at home, sales abroad) are strengthening global reach

We also talked about the role of the Türkiye Wealth Fund and Development Fund, and why he’s optimistic about the future despite global headwinds.

🎧 Listen to the episode on YouTube, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts

If you’re new here — welcome! TRVC is my podcast where I sit down with investors and ecosystem builders to explore the stories shaping Turkey’s venture capital and startup scene.

I hope you’ll enjoy this conversation as much as I did recording it.

Yunus Çelebiler

I’m excited to share the latest episode of the TRVC Podcast, another one in Turkish! (Back to English in our next couple of episodes.) This time, I had a fascinating conversation with Hüseyin Oğuz — someone whose journey perfectly captures the highs and lows of startup life.

Hüseyin started out as the 6th employee at Turkish SaaS startup Ekmob, went on to be a late founder at Pulpo AR, where he exited to a U.S.-listed company. Today, he channels all that experience into helping early-stage founders tackle one of the hardest challenges in the game: fundraising.

In our conversation, we dive into:

• Why fundraising is a full-time job that can slow founders down.

• The “dark room” analogy of early-stage entrepreneurship (and why only those who’ve been there can really guide you).

• How international investors are beginning to look at Turkey with fresh eyes.

• Why AI is changing fundraising dynamics faster than most realize.

For me, one of the strongest insights from Hüseyin was that fundraising isn’t just about capital — it’s about storytelling, resilience, and choosing the right partners.

🎧 Listen to the full episode here: Youtube, Spotify or Apple Podcasts

As always, thank you for listening and for being part of this community. I’d love to hear your thoughts based on your experience or vantage point on the ecosystem.

Best,
Yunus

We talked about:

• Why too many startups in Turkey get stuck in the “seed trap” — and how bigger early checks can change the game

• How Metis is building a platform that goes beyond just a fund

• The overlooked power of governance and impact when scaling startups

• And why so many of Turkey’s unicorns have women on their founding teams 🚀

Merve also shared some behind-the-scenes stories about recent investments, the role of exited founders as LPs, and what it really takes for Turkish startups to go global.

🎧 You can listen to the episode on Youtube, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

I’m excited to be back on the mic after a few weeks away, and I think you’ll enjoy this one as much as I did recording it.

Best,
Yunus

We’re back with a new episode of the TRVC Podcast — and this one’s in Turkish 🇹🇷! (From time to time, I record episodes in Turkish with people working in the VC and startup ecosystem outside of Turkey, to help bridge experience, knowledge and insights from those ecosystems.)

In our second Turkish-language episode, we sit down with Ertan Can, founder and managing partner of Multiple Capital, one of Europe’s leading fund of funds investors.

Ertan shares:

• His personal journey from asset management to VC

• Why investing in early-stage startups is hard — and why fund of funds are more appropriate for most investors

• The evolution of the European venture capital landscape — some pitfalls of well meaning public incentives

• The realities of fund-of-funds investing, and how Turkey fits into the global puzzle

Whether you're an LP, a fund manager, or just curious about the big picture of the European and Turkish VC ecosystems, don’t miss this episode.

🎧 Listen now → on Youtube, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts

Thanks for tuning in,
— Yunus Celebiler

🎙️ In this episode:

• How Eksim’s core businesses in energy, food, and infrastructure shape its investment strategy

• The unique challenges and advantages of being a CVC in the Turkish ecosystem

• İnalcan’s journey from working at a startup to investing in them—and what founders should know when pitching to CVCs

This is one of the few in-depth looks at how corporate VCs think and operate in Turkey. If you're a fund manager, investor, or just curious about how on of Turkey’s most active CVC’s operaties, this episode is for you.

👉 Watch now on Youtube or Listen on Spotify

Thanks for tuning in,
Yunus Celebiler
Host, TRVC – The Turkish VC Podcast

I’m excited to share the first-ever Turkish-language episode of the TRVC podcast — a conversation with Şahin Boydaş, a Turkish-American serial entrepreneur and angel investor based in Silicon Valley and Austin, TX.

From time to time, I’ll be recording episodes in Turkish that feature Turks working in venture capital and startups abroad. These conversations aim to share the insights they've gained from global ecosystems — for a Turkish-speaking audience.

In this episode, Şahin talks candidly about his journey from founding startups to becoming an active angel investor, his perspective on backing early-stage teams, and what makes the Turkish ecosystem both challenging and full of potential.

If you speak Turkish — or are curious to listen in — I’d love for you to check it out.

🎙 Listen to the episode on YouTube
🎧 Or on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and more.

Also, note a spiffy new URL for the podcast’s website: turkishvc.org

I hope I’m doing something useful, but if I’ve made a mistake somewhere please let me know. I’ll always do my best to improve.

Thanks as always for tuning in,
Yunus Çelebiler

Proud to share the new episode of TRVC: The Turkish VC Podcast, just out. In Episode #12, I sit down with Ali Çebi, co-founder of Fongogo — Turkey’s first crowdfunding platform that’s evolved into a multi-pronged startup fundraising engine. From launching in a regulation-free environment to raising a VC fund, Ali shares the behind-the-scenes story of building a financial infrastructure that empowers founders and democratizes access to capital.

🔎 Here’s what we cover:

• How Ali went from investment banking in New York & London to launching a startup in Istanbul

• The early days of Turkish VC and angel investing

• What makes Fongogo a “hybrid” between crowdfunding and venture capital

• Why crowdfunding is a powerful tool to prepare startups for IPOs

• The evolution of Turkey’s startup ecosystem — and what’s still missing

📺 Watch or Listen Now
👉 Youtube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, etc.

⏱️ Chapters include:
00:00 – Ali’s career journey
06:30 – Crowdfunding before regulation
14:35 – Fongogo’s three crowdfunding models
25:00 – Building a VC fund in Turkey
30:00 – Foreign investment & scaling challenges
… and more

Thanks for listening and supporting the show.
If you enjoy the episode, forward this email to a friend or share my LinkedIn post — it really helps!

Best,
Yunus

In this episode with Dilek Dayınlarlı, we went deep on:

• Her journey from telco exec to trailblazing VC

• Betting early on companies like Insider and Picus Security

• How to take Turkish deep tech global

• Building a venture fund (during a pandemic!)

• Why sharing carry with founders just makes sense

Dilek Dayınlarlı is inspiring to me, because she blazed a trail in Turkish venture capital, building a successful venture firm from the ground up at a time when few yet believed it was possible—proving that global ambition, local talent, and relentless determination can reshape an entire ecosystem.

🎧 Listen now on Spotify / Apple / YouTube

Here’s to the builders, the dreamers, and the doers.

Before Facebook dominated Turkey’s social media landscape, there was Yonja.com — a scrappy, fast-growing, and uniquely Turkish platform that connected millions of users before “social networking” was even a phrase.

In our conversation we covered:

• How Yonja launched just months before Facebook and became the go-to social network in Turkey

• Why Tiger Global invested in Yonja — and how that experience led them to become one of Facebook’s earliest and biggest backers

• His journey building CivicSolar into a $60M clean tech business without raising VC money

• His investment thesis today around distributed solar, SaaS, and clean infrastructure

• How he’s connecting founders and funders through SolarAcademy.com

• The remarkable progress, and opportunity around Solar in Turkey

Kerim’s story is a powerful reminder that Turkey’s impact on global tech goes deeper than many realize — and that some of the most important investment theses of tomorrow are already taking shape today, far from the spotlight.

🎧 Listen to the full episode on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts

Thank you for being part of the TRVC community. If you enjoy this episode, please consider sharing it with a friend or colleague who follows tech, startups, VC, impact, Turkey or emerging markets.

Until next time,
Yunus Çelebiler
Host, TRVC – The Turkish VC Podcast

In Uncertain Times, Staying Power Pays Off

In our new TRVC Podcast episode, Aslı Kurul Türkmen, Managing Director of Endeavor Turkey, shared a powerful insight:

"We watched a lot of investors do fire sales and leave. But we stayed — and it paid off."

While many fled Turkey’s startup scene during turbulent times, those who stayed — like Endeavor and a few committed local VCs — saw some of the biggest wins: Peak Games, Insider, Yemeksepeti, and more.

This conversation is a reminder that long-term conviction in ecosystems often outperforms short-term caution.

If you're thinking about where to invest your time, capital, or support — this episode is a must-listen.

🎧 Listen on youtube, spotify, or apple podcasts

In the latest episode of the Turkish VC Podcast, veteran investor and entrepreneur Sina Afra shared a revealing insight about the startup landscape in Turkey: while early-stage funding is relatively accessible, growth-stage capital is alarmingly scarce.

Catch TRVC episode #08 with Sina Afra on youtube, spotify, or Apple podcasts

This creates what many founders refer to as a “Death Valley” — a chasm between promising traction and scalable success, where startups with real momentum struggle to raise their next round.

🚀 Seed is Flourishing…

Afra notes that Turkey has made massive strides in building a healthy seed-stage environment. With thousands of new startups, a growing network of angel investors, and government-backed incentives, early-stage capital is more available than ever before.

That’s the good news.

🧨 …But Series A and Beyond? Good Luck

The trouble starts when startups outgrow their seed round and go looking for $3M–$10M to scale — funding typically associated with Series A and B.

In the U.S., this is where institutional VCs step in. In Turkey, however, there are only a handful of funds that can write checks of that size, and even fewer that specialize in tech or have international LPs.

As Afra puts it:

"If you start to search something like $5 million for your Series A, which is nothing, it’s really difficult. Either you go to PEs — and $5M is too small for them — or you go to the few Turkish VCs who can afford it. But there aren’t ten. There are maybe three."

🌍 Why This Matters (Even If You’re Not in Turkey)

This challenge isn’t unique to Turkey. Founders in Brazil, Nigeria, and Eastern Europe face similar bottlenecks. It reflects a broader global issue: venture capital is unequally distributed, both in volume and stage coverage.

It’s also a reminder that startup ecosystems are only as strong as their weakest funding stage. Seed activity creates buzz, but real returns — and ecosystem maturity — depend on a healthy growth-stage pipeline.

💡 What Needs to Change?

• More regional funds with Series A/B capacity

• Stronger bridges between local seed investors and global growth-stage funds

• Policy support for fund structures that attract foreign LPs

• Clear exit pathways — both M&A and IPO — to unlock liquidity

📣 Final Thought

As Sina Afra’s story shows, there's huge opportunity in Turkey. But without more growth capital, many of its best startups may never get a real shot at scale.

The good news is that established Turkish VC firms are raising larger subsequent funds — many are now raising fund III, and crossing or approaching the $100m level. Further, beyond the locally domiciled GSYF funds, a new cohort of internationally-minded prospective GPs are raising their own first funds, promising to create a Turkish VC 2.0, a new wave of world-class Turkish VC firms. Stay tuned for future episodes of TRVC - the Turkish VC podcast, to discover them.

A new episode with a different Turkish VC every week

From founding Markafoni, to making 55 angel investments and achieving 12 exits, in the episode Sina also shares an unfiltered look at:

• Why he left corporate life for startups

• How Turkey's VC and startup scene has evolved

• The real story behind Founder One, Turkey’s first impact-focused VC fund

• Lessons from investing in companies like Dollar Shave Club

Catch the full TRVC episode with Sina Afra, and other episodes, each week with a different Turkish VC on: youtube, spotify, or Apple podcasts

🚨 New TRVC Podcast Episode is LIVE! 🎧

In this episode, I sit down with Cem Baytok, GP at Ida Capital, to talk about:

💡 Building through economic uncertainty
💸 Raising capital in Turkey
🌍 Expanding from Istanbul to London to Kazakhstan
📈 Bootstrapping WorqCompany into a profitable fintech player
🧭 His contrarian take on SaaS and why emerging markets need different models

If you're into VC, startups, or navigating the frontier of entrepreneurship in emerging markets — this one’s a must-listen.

Watch now
Or Listen

If you do find these episodes interesting, please do also Like their posts on LinkedIn, that can help others who would be interested to find out about the podcast. Thanks!

I’m excited to share the latest episode of the Turkish VC Podcast, featuring someone who’s been building bridges across Turkey’s startup world for over a decade: Mine Dedekoca.

Mine is a Venture Partner at Treeo VC and an unstoppable force in the ecosystem — from organizing the Global Startup Awards in Istanbul to pioneering events back when coworking spaces barely existed here.

In this episode, we talk about:

🟡 Treeo VC and their mission to back Turkish and immigrant founders in the U.S.
🟡 What makes Turkey’s startup talent special — and what still holds it back
🟡 Why many founders stumble when going global
🟡 How Turkey is positioning itself as a digital nomad hub
🟡 Mine’s lessons from her own failed startup — and why she’s grateful for it
🟡 What it takes to grow larger VC funds in Turkey

It’s a conversation full of insights, energy, and thoughts on what’s next.

🎧 Listen on Spotify or Youtube or Apple Podcasts
📨 Have someone in mind I should interview? Reach out on LinkedIn