A complete of $172 million was once invested throughout 87 investment rounds in Türkiye throughout the primary part of 2026, in keeping with new information launched through trade observe startups.watch. The figures highlighted each the ongoing energy of the rustic’s gaming ecosystem and the demanding situations going through different sectors in quest of expansion capital.
The findings had been offered at startups.watch’s 2026-Q2 Türkiye startup ecosystem tournament, the place trade members mentioned present marketplace tendencies and the longer term route of the rustic’s mission capital panorama.
In keeping with the document, six startups by myself, particularly Grand Video games, TaleMonster Video games, Fimple, Lucida, Dataroid and Brix, accounted for 75% of all funding capital raised throughout the duration.
Gaming stays ecosystem engine
Commenting at the findings, startups.watch founder Serkan Ünsal mentioned the gaming trade is still the main driving force of Türkiye’s startup marketplace.
Of the $172 million invested throughout the primary six months of the yr, $111.4 million flowed into gaming startups, representing just about 65% of overall investment job.
“There is an elephant in the room that nobody talks about,” Ünsal mentioned. “At the moment, gaming startups are still carrying the entire ecosystem.”
The distinction is especially putting in monetary era, or fintech, traditionally one in every of Türkiye’s most powerful startup verticals. After attracting $220.4 million in funding throughout 2025, the field secured handiest $16.6 million within the first part of 2026.
AI awaits its breakout second
Whilst synthetic intelligence continues to dominate mission capital flows throughout Europe, Türkiye stays at a miles previous degree of construction.
Ünsal famous that 49% of the $16.1 billion invested in the UK throughout the primary part of the yr was once concentrated in simply seven wide AI firms. By way of comparability, 33 Turkish AI startups raised a blended $28.6 million throughout the similar duration.
In keeping with Ünsal, Türkiye remains to be within the early levels of creating its AI ecosystem. To compete the world over, the rustic will sooner or later want to produce large-scale investment rounds measured in loads of thousands and thousands, and even billions, of bucks.
‘Waiter-height’ investment hole
Some of the audio system on the tournament was once Tuğrul Tekbulut, founding father of Brand Device and a serial entrepreneur, who shared classes from the world expansion adventure of cybersecurity corporate Timus Networks.
Tekbulut argued that whilst Turkish startups most often have little problem securing seed investment, many come upon vital financing demanding situations when they achieve Collection A and expansion levels.
He described this problem the use of what he referred to as the “waiter-height” downside, a scenario by which firms transform too wide for early-stage traders however stay too small to draw the eye of primary world expansion traders.
“For seed investors, you become an expensive company,” Tekbulut mentioned. “But when you approach international investors, you often fall below their preferred investment window. You end up stuck in between.”
Traders want better chance urge for food
Tekbulut emphasised that Turkish marketers are in a position to constructing globally aggressive applied sciences, however argued that home mission capital companies should transform extra prepared to reinforce startups via riskier expansion levels.
In keeping with him, traders want to settle for the opportunity of failure whilst offering the bigger swimming pools of capital required to construct the world over scalable companies.
He additionally shared insights from Timus Networks’ a success go out technique, explaining that the corporate separated its home and world operations. The trade retained its actions in Türkiye, Azerbaijan and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) whilst promoting its world operations at a better valuation.
Pilot alumni portfolio surpasses $600 million in price
TT Ventures, the mission capital arm of Türk Telekom, is increasingly more focusing its startup investments on synthetic intelligence applied sciences because the telecommunications trade expands past community infrastructure into era construction and mission making an investment.
Startups that experience graduated from TT Ventures’ Pilot accelerator have jointly raised $58 million from traders, whilst their blended portfolio price has exceeded $600 million.
As AI turns into a central driving force of the worldwide economic system, telecom operators international are evolving from infrastructure suppliers into era builders and startup traders.
Whilst primary world operators are committing billions of bucks to AI projects, TT Ventures has established itself as one in every of Türkiye’s main company mission traders via its Pilot accelerator program and broader funding actions.
Since its release, this system has equipped a complete of $3.2 million in money investment and funding reinforce to 131 startups. Of those, 78 graduates have long gone directly to safe a blended $58 million in follow-on investment from exterior traders.
Startups that experience graduated from TT Ventures’ Pilot accelerator have jointly raised $58 million from traders thus far. (Courtesy of TT Ventures)
In combination, the ones firms at the moment are valued at greater than $600 million.
AI takes middle degree
As TT Ventures launches the 14th time period of the Pilot, the main center of attention might be on synthetic intelligence, generative AI, cybersecurity, cloud applied sciences, virtual well being, mobility, power applied sciences and next-generation communications answers.
Past offering early-stage investment, this system gives startups get right of entry to to Türk Telekom’s wide buyer base, alternatives for business partnerships, mentoring, technical infrastructure and reinforce for world growth.
Telecom’s subsequent funding frontier
The surge in investor passion in AI startups during the last two years has additionally formed TT Ventures’ funding technique.
The corporate sees vital alternatives for startups growing generative AI answers throughout buyer enjoy, community control, cybersecurity, operational automation and undertaking productiveness inside the telecommunications sector.
In consequence, AI-driven startups are anticipated to function prominently amongst candidates within the new accelerator cohort.
For telecom operators, synthetic intelligence is now not seen handiest as an rising era but in addition as a strategic funding alternative. Along deploying AI to optimize networks, improve customer support, locate fraud and set up information facilities, operators are increasingly more making an investment immediately within the startups growing those applied sciences.
Synthetic intelligence reduces worker time beyond regulation
A generative AI answer evolved through Cerebrum Tech for Doğa Sigorta is now dealing with workloads an identical to two times that of 5 workers, illustrating how synthetic intelligence is reshaping operations around the insurance coverage trade through bettering potency quite than changing experience.
Banking, monetary products and services and insurance coverage are a few of the sectors being remodeled maximum impulsively through synthetic intelligence. One instance is the answer collectively evolved through Doğa Sigorta and its era spouse Cerebrum Tech to streamline inside operations and strengthen worker productiveness.
The platform, referred to as ODIS (Targeted Virtual Communique Processing Machine), makes use of AI to straight away bring together responses to complicated buyer and company inquiries through bringing in combination coverage knowledge, claims histories and different related information.
In keeping with Bahar Eren of Doğa Sigorta’s Data Applied sciences Division, growing insurance coverage insurance policies calls for workers to stick to a lot of complicated regulations, making the method extremely labor-intensive when treated manually.
Explaining the corporate’s virtual transformation efforts, Eren mentioned Doğa Sigorta got down to create a virtual dual of those operational processes. The AI platform, evolved with Cerebrum Tech and in use for about 8 months, has considerably exceeded preliminary expectancies.
“We originally implemented this application to distribute the workload of five employees,” Eren mentioned. “Today, it is capable of handling work equivalent to twice the workload of those five people on its own. That has been a tremendous achievement for us.”
Knowledge stays inside of Türkiye
Eren mentioned the machine has diminished the time workers spend collecting engineering and operational information to round one minute.
The most important receive advantages, she added, is that workers are now not required to paintings past common place of work hours.
She additionally introduced a sensible lesson for organizations embarking on equivalent AI initiatives, noting that making ready and organizing the knowledge required to coach AI fashions can take as a lot effort and time as device construction itself.
Tolga Tunç, an govt at Cerebrum Tech, mentioned the corporate was once constructing agentic AI infrastructure that was once changing into immediately built-in into organizations’ day by day operations and decision-making processes.
For extremely regulated industries reminiscent of finance and insurance coverage, information sovereignty is a crucial attention, he mentioned. Thru a partnership with NGN, Doğa Sigorta’s information is processed inside of a safe home infrastructure with out leaving Türkiye, he added.
Income-building trade
Tunç summarized the mission’s collaborative manner through announcing, “We didn’t provide Doğa Sigorta with insurance expertise – they provided us with insurance expertise, while we contributed the AI know-how.”
He defined that Cerebrum Tech’s group successfully attended a crash path in insurance coverage, studying trade terminology and operational practices immediately from corporate workers sooner than growing the answer.
In keeping with Tunç, some of the primary causes workers followed the platform so briefly was once that it integrates immediately into current workflows quite than requiring customers to change to split packages or interfaces.
He additionally addressed the rising value of running wide AI fashions, together with {hardware} necessities and API token intake.
Tunç argued that AI will have to evolve past being seen merely as an rising era and as a substitute ship measurable trade results through expanding earnings, bettering productiveness and lowering running prices.
Over 70% of Turkish customers depend on AI for journey making plans
Synthetic intelligence is changing into an increasingly more well-liked device for making plans vacations and work journeys, however its rising position may be growing new cybersecurity dangers.
Whilst customers are turning to AI to save lots of time and in finding higher journey offers, safety mavens warn in opposition to phishing assaults, faux knowledge and the careless sharing of private information.
International cybersecurity corporate Kaspersky has launched the findings of a find out about analyzing why lively AI customers are increasingly more depending on chatbots to regulate necessary duties reminiscent of holiday and journey making plans.
The analysis means that AI has transform an indispensable journey assistant for plenty of shoppers, whilst highlighting the desire for better vigilance in opposition to cyber threats and incorrect information.
Do not accept as true with each and every hyperlink
Lately, vacationers can generate extremely customized itineraries adapted to their personal tastes in only a few clicks the use of AI-powered assistants.
The rising position of AI in holiday and journey making plans may be growing new cybersecurity dangers. (Courtesy of Kaspersky)
Alternatively, cybersecurity mavens warning that knowledge equipped through chatbots will have to all the time be verified via depended on assets. Earlier instances have proven that vacationers who relied completely on AI-generated suggestions with out engaging in impartial analysis have encountered erroneous knowledge and journey disruptions.
Some of the greatest dangers comes to links generated through AI techniques. In some instances, chatbots would possibly produce hyperlinks resulting in malicious or phishing internet sites.
Mavens suggest scanning hyperlinks with respected cybersecurity answers that come with phishing coverage, reminiscent of Kaspersky Top class, sooner than clicking on them.
Be wary when sharing non-public information
AI is increasingly more getting used now not handiest to assemble journey knowledge but in addition to help with lodge reservations, transportation bookings and different travel-related transactions.
In consequence, customers could also be requested to percentage delicate non-public knowledge, together with their identify, touch main points and cost knowledge, with AI-powered products and services.
In keeping with Kaspersky’s analysis, on the other hand, many customers stay wary about entrusting their non-public information to AI techniques. In spite of the ease those equipment be offering, issues over information privateness and safety proceed to constitute some of the greatest obstacles to wider adoption of AI-driven journey making plans.
