Inside Turkey's Unicorn Boom: What’s Driving its Startup Success?

The Turkish startup ecosystem has emerged as a powerhouse characterized by explosive growth surpassing many of its regional counterparts in recent years. Turkey’s first private company to be valued at over US $1 billion and attain unicorn status emerged just 4 years ago in 2020, meaning the era is still young, yet it has already produced several unicorns.

The Turkish unicorn story is both unique and instructive. In contrast to the global trend where the first unicorns are usually fintech or e-commerce players, Turkey’s unicorn saga began with gaming company, Peak Games, indicating not a random deviation from the norm, but rather underscoring the country's sophisticated appetite for gaming.

"Turkish software designers are on a world standard. The presence of highly skilled programmers and designers is essential for a company that wants to enter the global market, and that is why so many Turkish unicorns have appeared in recent years," says Umut Efiloglu, co-founder of up-and -coming Turkish startup, Gamegine.

What is also intriguing is the speed of Turkish unicorns! Turkey celebrated its first unicorn only 4 years ago in 2020, yet in the short time since then, it has birthed a total of 7 unicorns, nearly 30% of which come from the gaming sector. This is especially significant when you consider the intricate development and innovation required in gaming compared to the relatively straightforward domains of fintech and e-commerce.

How did Turkey achieve this? The answer lies in the strategic nurturing of its startup ecosystem over the last decade, with government initiatives aimed at fostering innovation playing a pivotal role. From 2020 to 2023, local tech startups received US $4 billion in investments, accelerating the emergence of Turkish unicorns, all seven of which are homegrown and headquartered in Istanbul.

"We will make sure that 100,000 technology startups are born in Türkiye and 100 of them will exceed 1 billion in value to become unicorns by 2030," says Mehmet Fatih Kacir, Turkey’s Minister of Industry and Technology, as the country has made efforts to become more technologically self-sufficient in response to the recent dominance of global conglomerates.

1. Peak Games 

#HomegrownUnicorn #MadeinTurkey #TurkeyUnicorns

Founded by Sidar Sahin in 2010, Peak Games is a leading Turkish mobile gaming company renowned for its highly successful mobile games, including Toon Blast and Toy Blast, which have consistently ranked among the top-grossing games on the US App Store. By 2018, Peak Games was Europe’s third biggest grossing online gaming company with an audience of over 350 million users worldwide.

Peak Games acquired Saudi Arabian online card game, kammelna, in 2012 and had raised a total of US $18 million over 5 funding rounds by 2013. It then achieved unicorn status at a valuation of US $1.8 billion in 2020 after being acquired by the American social gaming leader, Zynga, which is now a part of Take-Two Interactive Software following a US $12.7 billion deal in 2022.

2. Getir

#HomegrownUnicorn #MadeinTurkey #TurkeyUnicorns

Founded in 2015 by Nazım Salur, Serkan Borançılı, and Tuncay Tütek, Getir is a grocery delivery service that offers ultra-fast grocery delivery, promising to deliver items in under 20 minutes in all 81 cities in Turkey as well as Europe and the US. The service operates through strategically located “dark stores” that stock a limited range of essential items like bread, milk, crisps, washing up liquid and frozen meals.

Getir acquired Turkish and European competitors Weezy, Moov, and Bloc in 2021, followed by Gorillas and Vidyodan in 2022, and raised a total of US $1.8 billion over 7 funding rounds. By 2022, Getir had attained a valuation of US $11.8 billion, establishing itself as a significant player in the tech ecosystem as it reached decacorn status towards the end of the pandemic. However, in 2023, Getir's valuation dropped to US $2.5 billion after raising a down-round due to the broader impact of high-interest rates and the prolonged downturn in venture capital markets globally.

3. Trendyol Group

#HomegrownUnicorn #MadeinTurkey #TurkeyUnicorns

Founded by Demet Suzan Mutlu in 2010, Trendyol Group is a Turkish e-commerce platform that offers a wide variety of products, including clothing, electronics, home goods, and cosmetics. It has evolved into a “super app” that combines its marketplace platform with instant food delivery (Trendyol Go), a digital wallet (Trendyol Pay), and a leading second-hand C2C channel (Dolap).

Trendyol acquired Turkish second-hand fashion marketplace, Dolap, for US $20 million in 2018 and raised a total of US $1.9 billion over 6 funding rounds. It emerged as Turkey's third unicorn and its second decacorn in 2021, and was most recently valued at approximately US $16.5 billion. In 2023, Trendyol took over sponsorship of the Süper Lig and TFF First League football leagues from Spor Toto in "the biggest sponsorship deal in the history of the league," according to FF President Mehmet Büyükekşi.

4. Dream Games

#HomegrownUnicorn #MadeinTurkey #TurkeyUnicorns

Founded in 2019 by Soner Aydemir, Serdar Yilmaz, Eren Yanik, and Mark Muller, Dream Games is a mobile gaming company best known for its first mobile puzzle game, Royal Match, where users progress through levels to help a king decorate his castle. Royal Match has become one of the top-grossing mobile games globally, consistently ranking in the top 10 in major markets such as the US and UK, generating approximately US $20 million per month from in-game purchases with 6 million monthly active users.

Dream Games had raised a total of US $467.5 million over 4 funding rounds before it reached unicorn status in 2022, and was most recently valued at approximately US $2.75 billion. In 2023, Dream Games opened a London office with global expansion plans while appointing Anju Sethi, who’s held executive positions at Activision Blizzard, King, and Google as Chief People Officer, and decades-long marketer Richard Hocking as Chief Marketing Officer.

5. HepsiBurada.com

#HomegrownUnicorn #MadeinTurkey #TurkeyUnicorns

Founded by Hanzade Doğan Boyner in 2000, HepsiBurada is an e-commerce platform that offers a wide variety of products across multiple categories, including electronics, fashion, and home goods. It operates as a comprehensive online marketplace, integrating both direct sales and an e-marketplace model where various businesses can open their own stores, while offering HepsiPay, its proprietary online payment service, and HepsiJet, a logistics service.

In 2021, HepsiBurada became the first Turkish firm to IPO on Nasdaq, hitting a US $3.9 billion valuation and becoming the 5th Turkish unicorn. in 2023, Hepsiburada launched its "Trade and Technology Empowerment for the Earthquake Region" program to achieve sustainable welfare in the region struck by recent earthquakes, aiming to create a total sales volume of TRY 10 billion from the region to Türkiye and to the world in two years.

6. Insider

#HomegrownUnicorn #MadeinTurkey #TurkeyUnicorns

Co-founded by a team of Turkish entrepreneurs in 2012, Insider is a prominent Turkish technology company specializing in artificial intelligence and marketing solutions. Insider offers a platform for personalized, cross-channel customer experiences through AI-driven technology that helps enterprise marketers connect customer data across various channels, predict future behavior, and orchestrate individualized experiences. The platform is used by major global brands such as McDonald’s, Unilever, L’Oréal, and Adidas.

Insider attained a unicorn valuation just over US $1.1 billion in 2022, and has raised a total of US $272.1 million over 8 funding rounds. Its latest funding rounded raised US $105 million, the funds from which will be used exclusively for acquisitions such as that of Turkish business messaging platform MindBehind in 2023.

7. Papara

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Founded in 2016 by Ahmed Karslı, Papara is a FinTech that offers a comprehensive payment application for users to make digital payments, transfer money, and manage their finances without the need for cash. Besides its key features, users can also earn cashback and rewards on their transactions.

Papara had only raised a seed round of US $2 million in 2016 before it became Turkey’s first FinTech unicorn in 2023, and has acquired Tukland Bank, SadaPay, Yuvarla, and Rebellion Pay. Papara is now evolving into a one-stop financial super-app for the digital-native generation through a partnership with DriveWealth, which will provide Papara’s 20 million users with the ability to invest real-time in U.S. stocks on the Nasdaq and NYSE.

Takeaway

As Turkey continues to mark its territory on the regional startup map, the potential for further breakthroughs and unicorn births appears limitless. As we watch Turkey's startup ecosystem evolve in parallel with other key countries in the region, the question remains: What new heights will Turkish entrepreneurs reach by 2030, and who will lead the unicorn charge in the MENAPT region?

If you want to find out more, check out our other unicorn story for the UAE, here.