Türkiye is taking an ambitious step by launching a new investment fund to position itself as a hub for biotechnology and life sciences innovation.
Maxis Venture Capital Portfolio Management, a subsidiary of Türkiye's biggest private bank Işbank, is partnering with internationally recognized health care investment firm BioScience Managers (BSM) to establish the Türkiye BioScience Investment Fund.
The strategic partnership aims to blend local insights with international experience by focusing on innovative technologies born in Türkiye, developed by Turks living abroad, or otherwise connected to Türkiye.
Its mission is to finance science and technologies that can transform health care services and enable these ventures to compete in global markets.
The fund, scheduled for a final closing in the first quarter of 2026, has set a target size of $100 million. With an initial closing threshold of $50 million, the fund anticipates providing seed or growth capital between $5 million and $10 million per company.
The fund plans to invest in a total of 10 to 12 startups, typically acquiring a maximum stake of 20% per company. The investment criteria target ventures in the development and commercialization stages, as well as early-to-mid-growth companies with strong proof-of-concept evidence.
The fund's duration is set for 10 years, with two optional one-year extensions.
Key factors making Türkiye an attractive investment hub for this initiative include low development costs, a strategic geographic location, robust government incentives, and a vast, untapped potential for innovation.
Speaking at the launch, Sezgin Lüle, deputy general manager of Işbank, emphasized that the fund is a testament to global confidence in Türkiye's innovation capacity.
"With this fund, which we see as an investment in the future, we aim to contribute to our country's journey from being a consumer of technology to becoming a global producer of technology," Lüle said.
This fund will build a new center of attraction for scientific excellence."
Işıl Güney, managing partner of BSM Türkiye, summarized their vision as "shaping the future of health technologies by transforming innovation-oriented companies into commercially sustainable global businesses."
The fund's international partner, BSM, has a proven history in health care investments, boasting an Internal Rate of Return (IRR) exceeding 20% over the last 20 years. BSM's globally managed investments and success stories shed light on the potential of this new fund in Türkiye.
Among the investments referenced by the company under its successful track record are: Avita Medical in the field of regenerative medicine, Cynata Therapeutics working on stem cell technologies, Adherium and Canary providing digital health solutions and Saluda Medical developing neuromodulation technologies.
These examples demonstrate that the Türkiye BioScience Investment Fund will similarly target companies that incorporate high technology and have the potential to create a global impact.
The fund is managed by seasoned experts from both the financial and scientific sectors. Investment partners include Güney, who has a background in molecular biology and fund management; veteran business leader Jeremy Curnock Cook; Amanda Gillon; and Geoff Brooke, who brings over 30 years of experience to the table.
Furthermore, the fund receives consultancy from pioneering academics in their fields to ensure scientific depth in its investment decisions. These names include scientists such as professor Aydoğan Özcan, known for his pioneering work in innovation and telemedicine diagnostics, rare disease specialist professor Serdar Ceylaner, professor Phil Beales in the field of medical genetics and neuroscientist professor Hugh Perry.
Türkiye's venture capital (VC) ecosystem continues to expand into deep technology. 212 NexT, the advanced materials investment arm of leading VC firm 212, and Driventure, carmaker Ford Otosan's corporate venture capital unit focused on sustainability and next-generation technologies, have announced a strategic investment in London-based Aibuild.
The funding round was led by existing investor IQ Capital, with participation from 212 NexT, Driventure, and other backers including ACT Venture Partners, Force Over Mass Capital and Atlas Ventures.
Dağhan Çam, co-founder and CEO of Aibuild, described the funding as a turning point.
"This investment accelerates our transition into a new era where AI agents leave the screen and land on the factory floor. For too long, additive manufacturing has been limited by manual processes based on personal experience and undocumented engineering knowledge. We are removing these barriers," Çam said.
"By enabling engineers to integrate AI directly into their workflows, we allow large enterprises to solve their most complex production challenges, significantly reducing lead times and increasing capacity."
Aibuild is the result of over a decade of research. Its software-based, hardware-agnostic structure fills the gap between digital design and physical parts. By integrating with various 3D printer models, materials and production scenarios, Aibuild replaces error-prone manual processes with AI that understands real-world manufacturing constraints.
The platform provides automation, quality assurance and high operational efficiency for manufacturers in critical sectors such as aerospace, automotive, and energy.
Çağlar Urcan, managing partner of 212 NexT, said their focus is to add value through their industrial investor network to the global growth journeys of deep tech solutions that will shape the future of industries.
"The critical threshold for additive manufacturing to reach its true potential is a radical increase in the automation and reliability levels of production processes."
Ilknur Ilkyaz Gül, general manager of Driventure, emphasized to fully unlock the potential of next-generation manufacturing, bridging the gap between large industrial enterprises and digital innovation is "more important than ever."
"Supporting next-generation technologies is a key priority for us at Driventure. Aibuild's platform provides the physical AI infrastructure that simplifies complex additive manufacturing workflows and drives true digital transformation," Gül said.
Aibuild is already being utilized at the Ford Otosan Yeniköy Plant for 3D part production.
"This investment represents a step toward deepening this collaboration. As Driventure, we are proud to invest in this venture, which offers an efficient and sustainable solution for additive manufacturing processes and the industry at scale," Gül said.
As the global cloud computing market is projected to surpass $600 billion as of this year, the concept of data sovereignty has become a matter of national security.
Against this backdrop, one of Türkiye's leading telecoms and technology companies Türk Telekom and the Informatics and Information Security Advanced Technologies Research Center (BILGEM) under the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye (TÜBITAK) have announced a critical partnership to develop an open-source, national cloud platform.
The initiative aims to ensure that Türkiye's data remains within its borders while offering institutions cost and security advantages aligned with global standards.
As digital transformation accelerates, cloud services have become the largest item in corporate technology spending. According to data from global research firms like Gartner and IDC, more than 50% of enterprise workloads are projected to migrate to cloud platforms by the end of 2025.
However, this growth brings two major challenges: rising foreign currency-based licensing costs and heightened data security concerns.
To create a local shield against these global risks, Türk Telekom joined forces with TÜBITAK BILGEM. The new domestic cloud solution is built on open-source technologies, aiming to reduce license dependency and make digital transformation more flexible, secure and cost-effective for organizations.
The most striking aspect of the project is its open-source architecture, which reduces reliance on proprietary foreign software. While global "hyperscaler" providers continue to dominate the market, this move allows public and private sector entities to store their data on local infrastructure protected by nationalized security protocols.
Gökhan Evren, deputy general manager in charge of IT at Türk Telekom, highlighted the strategic importance of the collaboration.
“In line with our vision to lead the digital transformation era, we are bringing domestic solutions to our customers alongside global ones. Thanks to this strategic cooperation, which combines the R&D power of Türk Telekom with TÜBITAK BILGEM, one of our prestigious technological institutions, we have launched a local and reliable cloud service developed by Turkish engineers," Evren said.
"This platform has proven its worth by being utilized within Türk Telekom as well," he added.
Evren also emphasized that this infrastructure provides a foundation for future technologies like 5G, contributing significantly to Türkiye's digital independence.
Ali Görçin, president of TÜBITAK BILGEM, stated that the project represents a national vision beyond its technical success.
"This step will not only help reduce foreign dependency in cloud infrastructure but also ensure that the reliable services needed by the public and private sectors are met with domestic resources," Görçin noted.
"By deploying this cloud on Türk Telekom's infrastructure, we are adding significant momentum to our country's digital transformation journey."
As Türkiye's logistics industry expands, managing operations has become increasingly complex. From order placement to delivery, and from freight calculation to payment, fragmented software systems, manual processes and disconnected data flows are driving up costs and slowing decision-making.
Komyoon, a logistics technology company born out of field experience, is addressing this structural challenge with its end-to-end digital solutions, introducing a "single data line" approach to the sector.
The logistics industry in Türkiye has become one of the areas where the pressure for transformation is felt most intensely due to rising costs, the difficulty of finding qualified vehicles and operational chaos.
Responding to this need with a platform built on field experience, Kamyoon is rapidly advancing toward becoming the "new operating system" of logistics, offering a comprehensive digital infrastructure ranging from truck procurement to services for individual truckers.
Volkan Özdemir, founder of Kamyoon, points out that the fundamental problem in logistics today is data management rather than just vehicle.
"Today, the biggest hurdles in logistics are fragmented software, intense phone and email traffic, delayed data flow and uncontrolled empty miles. At Kamyoon, we unify the entire operation from the field to the office on a single data line," Özdemir said.
"All processes, from order to delivery and invoicing to payment, are managed in a time-stamped, verifiable and digitally traceable manner."
