Türkiye eyes becoming base for technology companies

LONDON

Türkiye is working to become one of the centers of technology venture companies in the world, Industry and Technology Minister Mehmet Fatih Kacır has said.

Kacır was in London last week where he met with executives of international venture capital funds managing a total of $30 billion.

In the short-run, Türkiye aims to attract international entrepreneurs with the Tech Visa program, Kacır told daily Milliyet.

Tech Visa is an exclusive invitation program for talents with critical expertise in technology and startups with innovative business models and technology-based studies.

“As Türkiye, we have recently joined the race with a rising momentum in technological entrepreneurship. Investments in Türkiye’s technology-based startups have increased tremendously in the last three years,” Kacır said.

Earlier Kacır noted that between 2010 to 2020, the annual investment in Turkish tech companies and startups amounted to some $100 million.

From 2020 and 2023, local tech startups received $4 billion in investments, which accelerated the course of the emergence of Turkish unicorns, or “Turcons,” the minister said.

“We will ensure that the 'start-up' economy becomes one of the driving forces in Türkiye’s development,” Kacır told the daily in an interview.

Over 10,000 Turkish technology companies carry out innovation and R&D-oriented work in more than 100 technoparks in Türkiye, according to Kacır.

“We will continue to grow the country's technology and entrepreneurship ecosystems until 2030…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 Turcorn in the same period,” Kacır said.

In his earlier comments on his visit to London, Kacır said that the fast decline in the country’s credit risk premium is one of the indicators that the Turkish economy is on the right track.

“We anticipate that investments in Türkiye will accelerate in the coming period,” the minister said.

Meanwhile, Kacır said in an interview with Bloomberg on May 17 that Türkiye is in advanced talks with Chinese carmakers BYD and Chery for factory investments.

“We would like to complete the talks as soon as possible. We have come a long way with both of them,” he said in an interview with Bloomberg.

Separate negotiations with SAIC Motor Corp., which owns MG, and Great Wall Motor Co. are also underway, Kacır told the news service.

Türkiye is an ideal base for exports into the EU because of its customs union with the bloc and its sophisticated automobile industry, the minister said.

Any decision to open a car plant in Türkiye would bring the Chinese firms “privileged opportunities for battery investments as well,” Kacir said, adding that the talks may or may not yield in a final investment decision.