Local startups become the priority of investors
KPMG Turkey announced the 4th of the ‘Turkey Start-up Investments Report’, prepared in collaboration with 212. The report, which includes quarterly reviews covering the second quarter of 2021, sets out the key trends, opportunities and challenges facing the venture capital market globally and in Turkey. KPMG Turkey M&A Advisory Leader Gökhan Kaçmaz said that: “With the vaccination, the global macroeconomic situation started to stabilize. While uncertainty about the future decreased compared to previous periods, the global venture market surpassed the record investment volume in the first quarter of 2021, breaking a new record. Therefore, we can say that the second quarter of 2021 is a period of recovery and optimism.”
212 founding partner Ali Karabey said that: “The total investment received by 57 startups in the second quarter of 2021 reached 727 million USD, breaking the all-time record. Looking at angel investment and venture capital investments per capita, in the second quarter of 2021, 8.8 USD per capita was invested in Turkey. This figure was 1 USD two years ago. The addition of five new funds of 91 million USD established in 2021 indicates that investments will continue at an accelerated pace. KPMG Turkey M&A Advisory Senior Manager Özge İlhan stated that:
Two unicorns emerged in the first half
“The volume of startup investments in Turkey increased by 43% compared to the first quarter of 2021, reaching a transaction volume of 727 million USD with a total of 57 transactions, breaking a record on a quarterly basis. In the second quarter of 2021, there were two mega-transactions, which accounted for 97% of the total investment volume and exceeded 100 million USD in investment. The first of these was Getir, which is one step closer to becoming a decacorn with a valuation of 7.5 billion USD with an investment of 550 million USD and the second was Dream Games, Turkey’s third unicorn, which received a 1 billion USD valuation and an investment of 155 million USD.
Excluding the investment rounds completed by Getir and Dream Games, a total of 55 startups received investments of 22 million USD in the second quarter of 2021. Turkey produced two different unicorns in the first half of 2021, Getir and Dream Games. Considering that the total number of unicorns born in Turkey was three as of June 2021, the first half of 2021 was an exceptional period. Getir raised 550 million USD in its Series D round in June 2021 and nearly tripled its valuation to 7.5 billion USD, including new capital, just three months after the last funding round. While Sequoia Capital and Tiger Global, which took part in the last investment round, continued their investments in Getir, Silver Lake, DisruptAD and Mubadala Investment Company became the new minority partners of Getir. After being a unicorn in the first quarter of 2021, Getir took a quick step towards becoming a decacorn in the second quarter, accelerating its international activities. Dream Games raised 150 million USD in Series B funding in June 2021 led by UK-based investment firm Makers Fund and US-based investment firm Index Ventures. Dream Games is the third startup in Turkey to reach a valuation of 1 billion USD and is the second startup after Peak Games, the unicorn in the field of gaming.”
Gaming industry maintains its priority
According to the report, global startup investments broke a new record by reaching 136 in the number of new unicorns in the same period, as well as the record investment volume of 153 billion USD in the second quarter of 2021. Fast delivery and logistics, gaming, marketplace and fintech were the sectors that attracted the most investment by transaction volume, respectively. In terms of transaction count, the gaming industry led the way, as in the first quarter, followed by fintech, healthcare technologies and SaaS. Turkey’s startups in the gaming industry also continued to grow and remained popular with investor interest. Three of the top ten transactions in the second quarter were Dream Games, Uncosoft and Veloxia transactions in the gaming industry. Five of the top ten transactions in the second quarter of 2021 were acquisitions and the rest were investments. The two most prominent acquisitions were the acquisition of GarajSepeti by Mexican Kavak Intermediate Holdings for 25 million USD and the gaming company Uncosoft by Rollic Games for 20 million USD.
