Turkey is a country that is surrounded by three seas and whose capital is located partly in Europe and Asia. It has a very rich culture and an incredibly long and bumpy history, as I am sure most people are well aware. However, not everyone knows that Turkey is also a country where you will find many opportunities for fundraising and developing ambitious startups. It ranks as country number 10 for startups in Eastern Europe and its startup ecosystem is a regional leader in innovation. It’s also an ideal place to accelerate companies from Transportation, Ecommerce & Retail and Energy & Environment. So it is no wonder that this country is full of potential to develop your business with the support of venture funds, business angels, as well as accelerators.
And it is the latter that we will focus on in this article, introducing you to the best active accelerators and incubators in Turkey that have open calls and are ready to push your startup towards dynamic growth.
Startupbootcamp Istanbul
Startupbootcamp Istanbul is a leading accelerator that targets startups from any technology sector. During the three-month program, the participating startup receives relevant funding and incubation space along with intensive mentoring focused on the Shape, Build, and Sell stages of product and business development. Moreover, there are a number of benefits and discounts available for the participants, including over €500k in exclusive partnership agreements with companies such as Amazon, HubSpot, and SendGrid. In addition, Startupbootcamp Instanbul offers €15k in cash per team to cover living expenses during the program. At the very end there is a Demo Day when you will have a chance to present your company to more than 250 global investors and partners.
The entire program is led by Çiğdem Toraman, who has extensive experience in technology, marketing, media and commerce. She leads a team of more than 200 mentors who are ready to help startup founders turn their ideas into profitable and growing businesses.
QNBEYOND Acceleration Program
QNBEYOND Acceleration Program is a tailored accelerator for startups to boost their growth and provide investment opportunities. Participants of the QNBEYOND program have the possibility to benefit from networking in the office space and sessions with mentors and advisors from the bank and ecosystem. The company also provides a wide range of training, marketing and advertising support or the opportunity to receive investment from QNBEYOND Ventures. Finally, thanks to the cooperation with EFSE DE, it is possible to get up to €10,000 in total for trade fairs and conferences organised abroad.
Innogate
Innogate is an international seed acceleration programme connecting Turkish companies in technology industries with potential clients, investors, and business partners from a number of global markets. The program provides Turkish companies with training, mentoring and coaching to help them expand internationally. It lasts six weeks and is divided into two phases. First 4 weeks are dedicated to different themes - a.o. GTM Narrative Creation, GTM Assets / Channel Creation, Test & Learn – First Iterations, Test & Learn – Optimizations. Then, for the final 2 weeks, the selected startups have the opportunity to travel to the UK to meet with potential investors, clients, and partners.
Innogate is part of the ITU ARI Teknokent Science Park, believing in 'planting culture' and 'adding value' through its activities and developed programs.
KWORKS’21 Accelerator & Pre-Accelerator Programs
KWORKS’21 Accelerator & Pre-Accelerator Programs are developed by KWORKS Koç University Entrepreneurship Research Center for promising startups in their early stages. The programs are primarily aimed at technology companies (mainly web / mobile app, B2B or SaaS) that have a scalable business model, diversified streams of revenue and, above all, a huge market potential.
During 12-month period participating companies are provided with very extensive support in terms of business model validation, customer acquisition, go-to-market strategy, corporate partnerships, product-market fit and access to funding. Startups applying to the KWORKS accelerator should be ready for commercialisation, have KPIs for users or revenue, and be distinguished by an excellent team in both technical and business aspects. For the KWORKS Pre-Acceleration program, on the other hand, they select start-ups that meet the above requirements within the first year of operation at the latest.
TIM-TEB Startup House
TİM-TEB Startup House is a leading brand in the Turkish market, supporting up to 20% of all technology startups across the country, offering a wide range of entrepreneurship services with various innovative and sustainable programs. The company contributes significantly to Turkey's growth in exports, operations, and technology. TİM-TEB Startup House offers services to startup entrepreneurs and technology companies, as each of its numerous programs is designed to best address the biggest problems of the Turkish startup ecosystem. The programs are run twice a year and offer incubation or acceleration advice, as well as office support, technical mentoring, networking, commercial opportunities, corporate partnerships, investor relations, events, and advertising support.
Hackquarters
Hackquarters is an accelerator that brings together startups and corporates to create the businesses of tomorrow. Their programs help founders scale their companies globally through international partner networks and facilitate partnerships and collaborations between startups and big companies. Some of the Hackquarters programs include the Visa Innovation Program, which is an equity-free pilot-centered collaboration platform enabling fintechs access business opportunities in Spain and Europe, as well as dedicated mentorship by prominent experts and financial perks up to $200 000; Workup Batch 10 - a startup acceleration program powered by İşbank that welcomes tech startups with scalable business models providing the opportunity to work with a bank, be connected to business angels and VCs or receive appropriate support from qualified experts and mentors; WorkupAgri - a 6-month startup accelerator implemented by Türkiye İş Bankası, agriculture-oriented, aiming to support the development of technology startups with a business model that is sustainable and scalable; and HackZone Open Insurance, which is a one-month program created by Allianz's Turkish team, dedicated to startups that want to explore and integrate existing Allianz APIs and create innovative products in the insurance industry.
Girişim Fabrikası
Girişim Fabrikası (or Fit Startup Factory) is Turkey's first business acceleration program launched under the auspices of Özyeğin University in 2011. The program aims to enable entrepreneurs in Turkey to create high-potential and sustainable technology companies and test their business ideas in the shortest time and with the minimum number of activities, using a lean business methodology and customer-driven development. Its accelerator programs are created for startups in the growth phase with customers and users, which are supported by training, networking, mentoring, meetings with investors, coworking zones and business, product and sales development.
Lonca Girişimcilik Merkezi
Lonca Girişimcilik Merkezi was established to enable technology entrepreneurs to turn scalable business ideas into commercial activities in a sustainable model. Applications for the program are accepted throughout the year and are dedicated to project-focused teams with knowledge and experience in the field. Participating startups are provided with training and mentoring, monthly evaluation meetings and a cash grant of up to TL 100,000.
Cube Incubation
Cube Incubation, being a part of Teknopark İstanbul Science Park, is the first acceleration and incubation centre in Turkey focused on deep technology. It created an ecosystem where entrepreneurs, investors and other stakeholders with innovative business ideas come together with common goals and motivate each other. Alongside the motto 'Incubation Center for Deep Tech Entrepreneurs', it provides startup founders with expansion opportunities and offers acceleration programs according to their stages, verticals, and scope of internationalization helping them to overcome various market challenges. To date, more than 450 entrepreneurs have received incubation services and more than 850 took part in acceleration process.
Viveka
Viveka is a full-service accelerator that designs, develops and runs pre-incubation, incubation and acceleration programs for corporations, NGOs, and investors. Its services include developing training and workshops based on the program’s needs and organising in-depth mentoring sessions with a wide network of experts. In addition, Viveka designs and implements customised programs and processes to achieve innovation and supply chain goals.
İTÜ Çekirdek
Founded in 2011, İTÜ Çekirdek is an incubation centre that supports technology startups with the aim of making them fast-growing companies with scalable business models. This centre was created by combining the strengths of ITU and ARI Teknokent. It is the right place for all entrepreneurs and startups who not only have technological and cutting-edge products or business ideas, but also believe that their solution is innovative and suitable for commercial success. İTÜ Çekirdek offers a range of programs in which it provides providing training, consulting, mentoring, networking, corporate business partners, press & PR support and services to inspire technology startups at different stages and contribute to their success in the market.
Workup by Türkiye İş Bankası
Workup by Türkiye İş Bankası helps startups develop their solutions through its Workup Girişimcilik programme. Companies operating in areas such as Decentralised Finance, Crypto Assets, Open Banking, Metaverse, Insurtech, Artificial Intelligence Solutions, Payment Systems and New Payment Solutions, Wallet Applications, Behavioural Finance, PFM & API Performance Measurements are most in demand. The company's mission is to widespread adoption of technology-oriented ways of doing business and the realisation of value-added digital business models. Startups who are interested in joining should be convinced by benefits such as the opportunity to work with banks, access to angels investors and VCs, product and business advice, support from experts and mentors or legal consultations.
Want to discover more accelerators and incubators from other countries? Check out the list below.
Top Accelerators and Incubators from:
- Round-up Of The Best Accelerators In The CEE Region
- Albania
- Austria
- Belgium
- Bulgaria
- Croatia
- Cyprus
- Czech Republic
- Denmark
- Estonia
- France
- Finland
- Germany
- Greece
- Hungary
- Ireland
- Italy
- Latvia
- Lithuania
- Netherlands
- Norway
- Poland
- Portugal
- Romania
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- Spain
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Ukraine
- United Kingdom
- Western Balkans.
Related Posts:
Best Startup Accelerators And Incubators In Belgium (by Katarzyna Groszkowska, Editor, Vestbee)
Round-up Of The Best Accelerators In The CEE Region (by Valerie Stupnikova, Vestbee)
Best Startup Accelerators And Incubators In Italy (by Valerie Stupnikova, Vestbee)
