According to information compiled by an AA correspondent, the Turkey Development Fund (TKF), a subsidiary of the Turkey Development and Investment Bank, aims to create strong companies operating in priority strategic sectors and support high-tech startups to contribute to their growth.
Established in 2019 as a subsidiary of the Turkey Development and Investment Bank, TKF focuses on three main investment channels: private equity, venture capital, and funds.
TKF comprises seven different funds named Regional Development, Turkey Development and Investment Bank Capital, Technology and Innovation, Innovative and Advanced Technologies Venture Capital Investment, Development Participation Venture Capital Investment, TÜBİTAK BİGG, and Invest 101. The size of these funds reached 2.2 billion Turkish Liras by the end of 2023.
“We are a portfolio management company,” said TKF Director Merve Yaşaroğlu.
Yaşaroğlu stated that one of these funds is called “Private Equity” and they make “growth capital investments” to profitable SMEs operating in the manufacturing industry.
Pointing out the existence of funds in the venture capital field as well, Yaşaroğlu said, “In this area, we make capital investments to entrepreneurs in investment rounds from seed to series A who have developed a competitive product around a technology axis, want to launch the product to the market, or have already launched it but want to scale globally.”
Yaşaroğlu emphasized that the Technology and Innovation Fund is one of the most active funds within TKF in the venture capital field, with the main investors being the Ministry of Industry and Technology’s Directorate of National Technology and KOSGEB.
Regarding the allocation of resources in this fund, Yaşaroğlu stated, “We allocate the funds transferred and committed by institutions to venture capital investments for technology startups in the growth stage after conducting certain examinations and evaluations.”
Yaşaroğlu also mentioned the “Innovative and Advanced Technologies Venture Capital Investment Fund,” where defense industry and technology companies are investors. She explained that it is a fund where they invest in dual-use technology initiatives in the defense industry that aim to integrate a product developed in the defense industry into civilian areas or those producing in civilian areas.
Yaşaroğlu stated that the funds have different sizes, sharing the following information:
“In our lira-based funds, one of our largest funds is the Regional Development Fund we established in the private equity field. This fund has a size of 525 million Turkish Liras. In our other funds, the Innovative and Advanced Technologies Venture Capital Investment Fund has a size of approximately 10 million dollars, and our Invest101 fund has reached a size of approximately 12 million dollars.”
source: aa.com.tr/ prepared by Melisa Beğiç