Just months after 2016's attempted coup and the subsequent political crackdowns, Turkish startups received 43 funding rounds, investments from Middle East-based VCs and big-money IP-focused seed funds. Raising capital to grow beyond seed stage, however, remains a key obstacle for local companies. "Most international investors are more cautious about investing in Turkish startups, which makes later-stage rounds harder to raise," says Firat Ileri, partner at Hummingbird Ventures.
Virtual-reality platform Teleporter specialises in the live entertainment industry. It launched a service, available on VR devices, that uses augmented reality to make sports, eSports and music events more social. The startup opened a San Francisco office in June 2017. teleporter.tv
Social-media site Scorp launched in 2015; since then, more than 23 million short videos have been created on the platform. Aimed at 18- to 24-year-olds, it has ten million registered users and revenue has grown by 100 per cent. It's also popular in Mexico after shaky launches in Germany and the US. scorpapp.com
Rıfat Oğuz wants to get more people into theatres with Sinemia, a cinema-subscription service. Premium members can see one film a day for the price of two tickets a month and get access to special events and discounts. It raised $1.5 million (£1.17m) from Revo Capital for US expansion and plans to launch in 20 countries in 2017. sinemia.com
Launched in 2011 by Meric Akdamar, Erkan Dogan and Kudret Turk, Apsiyon helps landlords and property managers streamline accounting and billing with tenants. It recently raised $2.5 million and its mobile app, launched in 2017, was downloaded 50,000 times in its first five months. apsiyon.com
Aggregate payment platform Iyzico was founded in 2012; in that time it has gone from three to 94 employees, gained more than 200,000 seller accounts and, in the past year, raised $15m. It's aiming to become the "payment champion" of any location within three hours' flight time from Istanbul. iyzico.com
Beyoğlu-based Kolay IK wants to streamline the human-resource departments of Turkey's three million SMEs by integrating employee meal cards, insurance providers and banking details for a monthly fee. It raised $450,000 in July 2016 and plans to expand into at least one more country in 2018. kolayik.com
"In my first startup, BiTaksi, we sent customers taxis within three minutes," says co-founder Nazım Salur. "I thought, 'What else can we send?'" Getir delivers 700 items to customers in an average of ten minutes, through its franchise network. It's on track to hit two million orders by autumn 2017. getir.com
This small device and its accompanying app uses machine learning to sort and store photos by face or content. Since making our 2016 list, it has generated $900,000 in revenue from 94 countries, shipped 7,500 units to early backers and raised $400,000. Its next move: bringing its AI support to video. getmonument.com
Insider's algorithms help tailor marketing for every website or app visit, with clients including Toyota and UNIQLO. Following a $2.2 million funding round in September 2016, it raised an undisclosed amount from 500 Startups in January. It also plans to be in 25 countries by the end of 2018. useinsider.com
Launched in 2014 by Melis Guctas, Modacruz is an online marketplace in which visitors can buy and sell pre-owned luxury womenswear and other fashion items. The site has 1.5 million members and hosts more than five million products. It recently launched a sister site aimed at parents, called Bebecruz. modacruz.com
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
