2025 Review and Outlook for the Future

2025 was a year in which not only trends but also priorities and power balances in the technology and investment landscape were redefined.

2025 was a year in which not only trends but also priorities and power balances in the technology and investment landscape were redefined. Despite growing uncertainty in global and local markets, heightened geopolitical risks, and volatile financial conditions, we closed the year with a strong performance by maintaining our technology focus and deepening our investment strategies—particularly around artificial intelligence. The scalability of our portfolio companies, the new investments we executed, and the contributions we made to the ecosystem positioned Boğaziçi Ventures once again among Turkey’s most active and influential investment firms in 2025.

Throughout the year, we refined our investment approach to be more selective, more focused, and more global. Through close collaboration with entrepreneurs, we supported our portfolio companies in strengthening their competitiveness in international markets. At the same time, we consistently improved our fund performance, remaining committed to our goal of creating sustainable, long-term value for our investors. Through the events we organized, our international engagements, and our ecosystem-driven initiatives, we continued to contribute to the global visibility of Turkey’s technology ecosystem.

In this article, we share the tangible outcomes we achieved in 2025, the key inflection points across the ecosystem, and our strategic priorities for the period ahead. We move forward with a clear focus on creating new opportunities, contributing to the ecosystem, and sustaining growth.

Message from the CEO 2025 Review & Looking Ahead to 2026

We leave behind 2025 as a year undeniably dominated by artificial intelligence on the global technology agenda. From the United States to Korea, Europe to the Middle East, countries around the world are formalizing national AI strategies and rapidly increasing public and private sector investments. What we are witnessing is no longer a trend, but a multi-layered, high-velocity, and irreversible global technology race.

The focus of this race goes far beyond the pursuit of “human-level AI.” Mass production and deployment of household robots, the integration of fully autonomous vehicles into daily life, the scaling of robotic systems to replace human labor in factories and agriculture, and the question of who will produce the underlying hardware, software, energy, and logistics infrastructure are all advancing simultaneously. Artificial intelligence is no longer just a software issue; it has evolved into a systemic competition encompassing hardware, energy, manufacturing, and supply chains.

Unfortunately, 2025 was also marked by ongoing wars and geopolitical conflicts worldwide, particularly in regions close to Turkey. These developments created strong—and at times severe—macroeconomic waves across global financial markets. We expect this environment of uncertainty to persist into 2026. Accordingly, we design our investment and growth strategies with the assumption that high volatility is a permanent variable.

At the same time, it is clear that the technology race will accelerate and intensify further in 2026. From startups to governments, all actors are entering a period where sharper, bolder, and more decisive actions are required. Leadership in artificial intelligence is no longer merely a competitive advantage; for many countries and companies, it has become a matter of survival. We view 2026 as a pivotal year in which technological leadership will be fundamentally redefined.

Our focus at Boğaziçi Ventures and our affiliate BV Portfolio Management is clear: technology. We are among the most active investment platforms in Turkey, providing both capital and hands-on support to technology startups while playing an active role in their global expansion. At the same time, we manage funds that connect Turkish investors with publicly listed global technology companies.

2025 was a year in which many of our funds outperformed their benchmarks, and in which we achieved category leadership in fully technology-driven statistical arbitrage funds. We closed the year with strong growth momentum, surpassing TRY 10 billion in assets under management. At the very end of the year, we launched BV Growth II, a fund investing in early- and growth-stage AI startups in Turkey and Korea. The fund had an exceptionally strong start, quickly attracting high-quality investors and completing its first investment before year-end.

Our 2026 objective is clear and ambitious: to further accelerate our growth, sustain our differentiated performance in technology-focused investment strategies, and generate unique outcomes at both local and global scale. We see the coming period as a powerful opportunity to position ourselves not only as a growing platform, but as one that sets standards, shapes direction, and creates long-term value.

Launching next-generation funds that address Turkey’s strategic needs and generate high value—such as Greenwise, focused on climate technologies, and the Carbon Harvest fund, targeting carbon emission offsetting—during the first half of 2026 will be one of the most tangible steps toward realizing this vision.

2025 Overview of Turkey’s Startup and Investment Ecosystem

In 2025, Turkey’s startup and investment ecosystem stood out with a “selective growth” dynamic: while deal count followed a cautious trajectory, total investment volume was carried by a small number of large rounds. In the first nine months of the year, approximately 240 investment rounds amounted to a total volume of around USD 0.5 billion. The resilience of total volume was driven by clear concentration—large rounds such as Midas’s USD 80M and Good Job Games’ USD 60M accounted for a significant share of total funding. Meanwhile, the median deal size remained around USD 700K, indicating that growth was not broad-based but rather concentrated in a limited number of large transactions.

At the early stage, TÜBİTAK BiGG played a critical role in sustaining deal activity. Of the 240 rounds in the first nine months, 106 were BiGG-backed, serving as a vital buffer for startup creation and initial financing. When analyzed under a broader “transaction” definition including M&A and secondary deals, KPMG data shows Q1–Q3 totals reaching USD 1.16B across 226 transactions—highlighting the significant impact of large strategic deals on overall volumes. Periods in which foreign investors dominated investment volume (nearly all of Q2, for instance) suggest that international interest in Turkey is concentrated in scalable opportunities with clear and compelling narratives.

Sector-wise, 2025 presented a two-layered picture. Finance and gaming led in total investment volume, while sectors such as health and biotechnology stood out with high deal counts but smaller check sizes. In the first nine months, finance attracted USD 205M and gaming USD 149.8M, signaling investor preference for models with strong scalability and monetization potential. In contrast, despite leading in deal count, health and biotech accounted for only USD 9.4M in total volume, reflecting their predominantly early-stage profile.

On the exit and liquidity front, 2025 was dominated by a few mega deals, alongside a visible number of meaningful mid-sized exits across different sectors. The two standout exits were the sale of 65.4% of Hepsiburada to Kaspi.kz for approximately USD 1.1 billion and the acquisition of Trendyol Go by Uber for USD 700 million. These transactions reaffirmed the value of Turkey-origin platforms in the eyes of regional strategic buyers. Notably, the Uber–Trendyol Go deal alone accounted for more than 80% of total transaction volume in Q2, underscoring how dependent liquidity can be on large foreign acquirers during certain periods.

Meanwhile, transactions such as IdeaSoft–Sipay, Ticimax–team.blue, Apsiyon–Aareon, and SmartPulse–Volue demonstrated growing European demand for Turkish SaaS and critical infrastructure solutions. The Burgeon Biotechnology–Vivacy partnership showed that local deeptech startups can achieve liquidity through technology and revenue-sharing partnerships with global players. Overall, as 2026 approaches, the ecosystem is proving its ability to generate scaled assets that attract international strategic capital, while the funding gap between seed and Series A/B remains a critical challenge.

BV Snapshot: What We Achieved in 2025

In 2025, we made direct investments totaling TRY 471 million in 19 startups operating across AI, HRTech, EdTech, Gaming, Fintech, and other verticals. In addition, to support the sustainable growth of the startup ecosystem, we invested TRY 30 million across three different venture capital investment funds.

Our venture capital funds reached a total size of TRY 4.2 billion, supported by a strong investor base of 650 investors.

Following a rigorous evaluation process focused on quality and scalability, we added nine new startups to our portfolio.

Throughout the year, we evaluated more than 1,500 startups and had the opportunity to meet a significant number of founding teams.

International Engagements Focused on Korea and Japan:

• In 2025, Boğaziçi Ventures connected Turkey’s technology and entrepreneurship vision with international stakeholders across two major Asian hubs. At the 2nd Turkey–Japan Investment Forum in Tokyo, we contributed to strengthening collaborations between Turkey and Japan in technology, creative industries, and innovation. Our CEO, Barış Özistek, shared insights into Turkey’s global potential during the “Unlocking the Creative Economy” panel.

• At G-STAR 2025 Korea in Busan, we analyzed Asia’s rapidly growing gaming and digital entertainment ecosystem on-site. Post-event meetings with investors, financial institutions, and startups in Seoul further strengthened interactions between the Turkish and Korean ecosystems.

• Another key milestone was the World Knowledge Forum 2025 in Seoul, where we showcased Turkey’s dynamic startup ecosystem and investment opportunities to global investors. Our CEO spoke on the panel “Scaling Beyond Borders: The Turkish Startup Ecosystem for Global Investors,” highlighting Turkey’s unicorn and decacorn success stories and Boğaziçi Ventures’ investment strategy in gaming, finance, and AI. The Turkey–Korea Tech Investors Roundtable held during the forum explored bilateral technology collaborations, the global scaling potential of AI startups, and new investment opportunities.

Portfolio Highlights in 2025:

• 2025 was also a year of strong performance and recognition for our portfolio companies. One of the most significant milestones was the exit of Perculus (acquired by Constructor Tech), a BV Growth I portfolio company. This acquisition by Switzerland-based global edtech leader Constructor Tech marked the second exit of our fund in its fourth year, clearly demonstrating the long-term value creation capacity of our technology-focused investment strategy. Serving over 350 institutions, more than 200,000 instructors, and over 2 million users annually, Perculus is now positioned to scale its AI-powered education solutions globally.

• Hiwell expanded its menstrual health brand Hiluna into Greece and launched dietitian services across Turkey, Greece, Portugal, and Spain, increasing international revenues to 50%. With over 1 million users globally, Hiwell continues to grow across nine countries.

• Cerebrum Tech stood out in deeptech by bridging academia and industry. Its Cere-Llama-3-8B-TR model ranked first in Turkish natural language understanding (TQUAD) benchmarks, according to the CETVEL study conducted in collaboration with Koç University, Türkiye İş Bank AI Center, and the University of Copenhagen.

• Craftgate became the first company to receive the Ministry of Industry and Technology’s Technological Entrepreneurship Badge, while successfully launching operations in Spain and doubling its year-over-year growth.

• Ono AI-Based HR Platform expanded across seven countries, surpassing 10 million candidates in its talent pool and achieving 3.4x growth year-over-year.

• Mükellef received a USD 500,000 investment from the Ministry of Industry and Technology after being awarded the top prize at Take Off Istanbul.

• Gulliver’s Games reached scalable and profitable growth metrics with its flagship product Word Tiles GO, with over 70% of users coming from Tier-1 markets.

• Liquidity Trading’s technology arm Bull Teknoloji was selected by the Turkish Investment Office as one of only eight fintech companies representing Turkey at the Singapore FinTech Festival 2025. LT managed approximately 5% of Borsa Istanbul’s total trading volume via its quant funds.

• Joygame Publishing advanced toward becoming Turkey’s first publicly listed gaming company, receiving Capital System approval from the Capital Markets Board and completing its IPO application process, targeting a Q3 2026 listing. Operationally, it continued to scale with 8 million MAU, over 50 million mobile downloads, 130+ developers, and 10 game studios, while launching JAI Portal in the consumer AI space.

• Kavaken reached market leadership in Turkey with 15% penetration (2 GW) and expanded into Europe and the UK, entering markets such as France, Germany, Poland, Greece, and Scotland. Strategic partnerships enabled entry into North America, while its AI-driven operational platform delivered measurable efficiency gains.

• Lucid11 Interactive’s Party Club, launched on Steam in March, was added to nearly 4 million libraries and reached over 800,000 unique users.

• Hiwell, Enhencer AI Ads – Meta & Google, Eyedius Technology, and Craftgate were all featured in Forbes Turkey’s “Entrepreneur 50” list.

BV Growth II – Applied Artificial Intelligence Fund

As we closed 2025, one of the most exciting developments for Boğaziçi Ventures was the official launch and first investment of our applied AI-focused fund, Boğaziçi Ventures Second Venture Capital Investment Fund (BV Growth II or BV2).

We believe AI is no longer a promise of the future, but the most powerful transformative force of today. Accordingly, BV2 was designed to partner exclusively with founders who can truly create differentiation in this space. Our first investment fully reflects this vision, marking a strong starting point for the fund’s journey. A detailed press release will follow shortly.

BV2 targets AI-native startups from pre-seed to Series A, focusing on application-layer solutions that solve clear problems, commercialize rapidly, and scale globally. With average investments of USD 1–1.5 million and follow-on capacity up to USD 3.5–4 million, the fund aims to support startups through their most critical early years. Structured with a minimum size of USD 50 million, BV2 seeks to act as a lead investor.

For us, this fund represents not just new investments, but a long-term partnership with the next generation of global technology companies emerging from Turkey.

Boğaziçi Ventures AI Summit 2025 | Colors of AI

Held on October 2, 2025, in Istanbul, BV AI Summit III | Colors of AI positioned itself as one of Turkey’s highest-profile C-level AI gatherings. With 1,240 senior executives among 1,400 invited guests, the summit brought together CEOs, founders, investors, public sector leaders, and technology executives. Eight keynote speeches and eight panels explored AI from global impact to sectoral applications, investment perspectives, and ethical considerations.

The opening keynote was delivered by globally recognized AI investor Pankaj Kedia. More than 300 one-on-one meetings were conducted via the MeetToMatch platform, enabling targeted collaborations among participants.

Reaching nearly 6 million people across traditional media, digital channels, and social platforms, the summit established itself as a strategic reference point for AI discourse in Turkey and the region—further reinforcing Boğaziçi Ventures’ leadership in the ecosystem.

Entering 2026

The picture that emerged in 2025 once again confirms a fundamental truth: sustainable success in technology and investment is built on strong technological foundations, precise timing, and a long-term perspective. As global transformation accelerates around AI, investors and startups alike must adopt more focused, selective, and disciplined strategies.

As Boğaziçi Ventures, we enter 2026 with an approach that acknowledges uncertainty while clearly identifying opportunity. By deepening our technology-focused investment strategies, we aim to create lasting, globally scaled value together with our portfolio companies.

We wish 2026 to be a year of strong collaborations, sustainable growth, and new success stories for our entrepreneurs, investors, and all ecosystem stakeholders.