The number of startup investments involving business angel investment networks (BANs) in Türkiye has fallen sharply since 2021, according to industry monitor startups.watch data.
Angel network investments peaked that year at 53 deals, accounting for 15.6% of all transactions, but had fallen to just two deals and a 3.5% share in the incomplete 2026 data. In the intervening years, the figures stood at 35 in 2022, 16 in 2023, 10 in 2024 and 12 in 2025.
Türkiye's picture is part of a broader trend that is also visible globally.
According to a report by Canada's leading angel investor organization, the National Angel Capital Organization (NACO), angel investments in the country fell to a five-year low in 2025, with investment value declining 22% and the number of deals dropping 20%.
The NACO report described the decline as "structural, not cyclical," pointing to macroeconomic uncertainty and trade tensions.
Fewer active angel investors
Startups.watch founder Serkan Ünsal has previously offered some explanation for the trend in Türkiye's startup ecosystem.
According to Ünsal, although the number of registered angel investment networks in Türkiye appears to have increased, the number of networks actually making active investments has fallen to just two.
In other words, while most networks continue to exist on paper, the number that regularly organize investment rounds and connect with entrepreneurs has declined significantly.
Ünsal also said foreign investor interest in Türkiye's startup ecosystem has weakened, while investment funds other than the Scientific and Technological Research Institution of Türkiye's (TÜBITAK) BiGG Fund have remained relatively quiet during this period.
This points to a shrinking role for both angel networks and institutional investors in early-stage financing.
Data from the Treasury and Finance Ministry also supports this picture: the number of new angel investor licenses fell from 158 in 2023 to 98 in 2024 and to 60 in the first nine months of 2025, indicating that the flow of newly licensed angel investors is also slowing.
22 startups race for spots at 14th term of Türk Telekom Ventures' Pilot
One of Türkiye's leading telecoms and technology companies, Türk Telekom's annual Pilot accelerator program brought 22 startups before a jury in an online event for the 14th term selection process.
Jury members faced a difficult task in choosing startups for the 10 available Pilot spots. Even a quick look at the list shows just how broad the scope was.
The startups ranged from a platform using autonomous robots to digitize physical retail to an AI-native IDE designed to modernize legacy software systems operating in regulated, offline environments such as the defense industry; from legal technology aimed at accelerating corporate legal processes to a cybersecurity solution developing post-quantum cryptography for critical infrastructure.
Startups from vastly different sectors, including health care, agriculture, education, HoReCa, e-commerce, financial operations, data infrastructure and operational process automation, had to be assessed against the same criteria at the same table.
AI as common denominator
Yet beneath this diversity, there was one unmistakable common denominator: artificial intelligence.
Almost all of the startups under consideration have placed AI at the center of their business models. Some are using AI to compress compliance certification processes from days into hours; others are automating financial closing and demand forecasting processes running on ERP systems, while some are building autonomous decision-making mechanisms that identify the root causes of production failures within seconds.
This made the jury's task even more difficult in one sense: the question of whether a startup uses AI is no longer a differentiating criterion. Instead, the focus has shifted to how deeply it integrates AI and how effectively it translates the technology into tangible business outcomes.
In other words, AI is no longer a differentiator but an indispensable foundation of the startup world. The real competition is now about who can build the deepest and most actionable value proposition on that foundation.
Today's way of doing business
Throughout the day, jury members weighed technical maturity, market size, team strength and potential synergies with Türk Telekom's corporate ecosystem before selecting 10 startups for the Pilot program.
The resulting list is not just the outcome of a selection process; it is also evidence that AI is no longer a "technology of the future," but has become part of how the business world operates today.
The startups selected for the 14th term will have the opportunity in the coming months to put this transformation to the test on the ground, backed by Türk Telekom's corporate capabilities.
Technology-focused startups accepted into the TT Ventures Pilot accelerator will receive cash support, access to more than 450 expert mentors, including Türk Telekom's business connections and investor network, as well as free office space and technology infrastructure.
Teams that successfully complete the 12-week program will also have the opportunity to receive investment from TT Ventures and participate in a complementary program in the U.S.
Türkiye to open more doors for startups in public procurement
Türkiye is not making sufficient use of its public procurement power to support the growth of local startups, according to a report by the Istanbul Development Agency (ISTKA) that also offered a series of proposals to open up access.
Prepared in cooperation with the Ministry of Industry and Technology, the "Startup-Friendly Demand-Side Innovation Policies" report puts forward 42 policy recommendations based on an international literature review, a comparative analysis of 15 countries, focus group meetings held in Ankara and Istanbul, and 18 one-on-one interviews.
According to the report, Türkiye's startup ecosystem has long relied heavily on "supply-side" support such as R&D incentives, grant programs and venture capital. But these measures alone have not been enough; the core problem is that the public sector has been reluctant to purchase products developed by startups.
Complex tender criteria, lengthy payment terms, regulatory uncertainty and a lack of pilot programs have emerged as the main barriers to the growth of local technology companies.
Figures show Türkiye lagging behind
According to comparative data in the report, innovative products account for an average 4.5% of public procurement in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, compared with just 1.2% in Türkiye. While small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) account for 40%-60% of public procurement participation in Europe, the figure stands at just 11% in Türkiye.
The number of public procurement projects focused on innovation ranges from 40 to 100 a year in successful countries, compared with only eight in Türkiye.
The report also found that the commercialization rate of the Scientific and Technological Research Institution of Türkiye-supported projects through the public sector remains between 6.8% and 8.5%, while only 45 of approximately 57,000 tenders recorded by the Public Procurement Authority in 2023 were classified as innovation-related.
Common complaint: late payments
Delayed public payments were among the most frequently cited problems in interviews with entrepreneurs.
Participants emphasized that cash flow is critical for early-stage startups and described access to public procurement as "high-risk, slow and uncertain."
Public-sector representatives, meanwhile, argued that startups have yet to reach the scale required to complete projects.
42 recommendations
The report's policy recommendations are grouped into four main areas.
The first calls for amendments to the Public Procurement Law to allow more innovative procurement models. These include greater flexibility for startup-specific tenders, fast-track procurement channels and a maximum 30-day payment standard.
The second focuses on regulatory flexibility and expanding the use of "sandbox" environments for experimental testing.
The third calls for financing and payment mechanisms to be redesigned around risk-sharing, including demand-driven innovation vouchers, public-sector startup matching funds and risk-sharing funds.
The fourth focuses on strengthening data governance, technical standards and institutional capacity. Recommendations under this heading include establishing public innovation offices, deploying Living Lab infrastructure and providing innovation training for public-sector employees.
Provenance raises $500,000 to close financial 'trust' gap
U.S.-based fintech startup Provenance, which targets the financial "trust gap" with an artificial intelligence-powered verification infrastructure, has raised $500,000 from 212, Türkiye's first venture capital fund.
Founded in 2026 by Tuna Üsküdar, Arda Dinç and Chris Risio, Provenance compares financial models and presentations against source documents in real time to identify errors and inconsistencies while ensuring that data can be traced back to its original source.
With the investment from 212, Provenance plans to further develop its product and accelerate its growth across the Middle East, the U.S. and Asia.
As AI becomes more widely used by finance teams, financial models can now be created and modified much faster. But this speed has not been matched by the review processes used to verify the accuracy and source integrity of those models.
Investment banks, private equity funds and corporate finance teams still largely rely on manual, hourslong, line-by-line checks to identify errors and inconsistencies in Excel and PowerPoint files underpinning decisions worth billions of dollars.
Global expansion
Üsküdar, founder and CEO of Provenance, highlighted the problem the startup is seeking to solve.
"As the use of AI by finance teams grows rapidly, models are being created and modified much faster, but review and verification processes have yet to keep pace. At Provenance, we are building a trust, verification and traceability infrastructure for AI-generated financial work," he said.
"The investment is an important step toward scaling our product and establishing a new standard of trust for AI-powered workflows in finance teams. Going forward, we will focus on making Provenance a global reference solution for AI-powered financial model verification and review," he added.
Trust gap in finance
Özge Sevim, investment director at 212, explained the rationale behind the investment in terms of the problem Provenance addresses.
"Provenance is building the layer of trust that financial institutions need, comparing data room inputs with live financial models while creating a clear, auditable trail for every change," said Sevim.
"The early customer interest and market demand are strong signals that the need is real and that the team has the capacity to solve it."