Turkey provides ‘highest tax incentive in the world’ for angel investors, WBAF’s chairman says

ISTANBUL – Anadolu Agency

A meeting of international suppliers of seed money for enterprises such as start-ups and entrepreneurs, attended by hundreds of the world’s business leaders and industry experts, began in Istanbul on Feb. 19.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the Angel Investors Conference 2018, World Business Angels Investment Forum (WBAF) chairman said Turkey provides “the highest tax incentive in the world” for angel investors partnering with entrepreneurs through capital support.

Baybars Altuntaş, the head of the WBAF, said the country offers 75 percent or 100 percent tax exemption on income tax basis to investors that partner with entrepreneurs.

Altuntaş said angel investors are the only source of “smart finance,” which requires startups, scaleups and entrepreneurs.

“Today, it will be a good step to reinvent money in Istanbul as ‘smart finance.’ This means, putting in startups is good but if you put your know-how, mentorship and network for them to invest, this is smart finance,” the chairman of the WBAF said.

Stating that Istanbul hosted a number of business empires and comes second after New York for having the most diplomatic missions, Altuntaş said the city is the correct place for the event gathering angel investors, which are “real empires of the 21st century.”

He added that the Global Entrepreneurship Congress is also going to take place in April in Istanbul.

The WBAF 2018 will focus on angel investors partnering with family offices and wealth management institutions.

The two-day event, officially partnered with the Visegrad Group—the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia—hosts 26 panel discussions, 17 keynote speeches, nine fireside chats, five presentations, one governmental meet up, two workshops, two master classes and one short course.

The forum will discuss the benefits and challenges of the angel investment community, ways to connect the early-stage market ecosystem and to facilitate the democratization of finance by expanding access.