04.05.2018
The gong was struck at Istanbul Stock Exchange on May 4 for the Teknogirişim Enterprise Capital Investment Fund established by KT Portföy for the aim of building Türkiye’s future together with entrepreneurs. Teknogirişim GSYF was supported by investments made by Kuveyt Türk and Vakıf Katılım, the leading participation banks in Türkiye.
Teknogirişim Enterprise Capital Investment Fund, established by KT Portföy providing portfolio management services in accordance with the participation financing principles, was unveiled at an opening ceremony held at Istanbul Stock Exchange on May 4. Supported by investments made by Kuveyt Türk and Vakıf Katılım, the leading participation banks in Türkiye and therefore having the honor of being a first in the banking industry, Teknogirişim Enterprise Capital Investment Fund (GSYF) aims to help scalable technologic and innovative business ideas to be turned into enterprises having a high potential of providing value-added and creating high profile jobs. With is volume of TL 10 million, Teknogirişim GSYF was designed to invest in enterprises providing technologic solutions in finance technology, health technology and transportation technology fields and other fields of service and commerce.
In his speech at the opening ceremony, Himmet Karadağ, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Borsa Istanbul A.Ş. (Istanbul Stock Exchange), congratulated the creators of Teknogirişim GSYF. He explained that his company had established the BIST Enterprise Capital Fund as part of its Turkish Asset Fund to support technology and innovation as strategical priorities of Istanbul Stock Exchange and to finance investment opportunities in various fields of the value chain. He explained that the BIST Enterprise Capital Fund aims to support realization of strategical investment opportunities of new enterprises, especially those involved in finance technology, and focuses on investments developing technology and, therefore, value-added for this country, especially fintech-oriented startups and small- and medium-sized businesses.
Tayfun Özkan, Managing Director KT Portföy, emphasized that their aim is to build Türkiye’s future together with entrepreneurs, adding: “The view on entrepreneurship has significantly changed in recent years in this country. Both the private sector and the government support it now. KT Portföy works for spreading the entrepreneurship, partnership and collective earning culture which is the essence of participation banking and for contributing to both the economy and the echo-system of entrepreneurship. This fund makes us enjoy the honor of putting into effect the GSYF regulations for the first time in this country in terms of early stages of investments. Another pioneering aspect of this fund is that two leading participation banks have invested in it. Teknogirişim GSYF will invest 1% to 30% in enterprises. Thus enterprises will provide majority share of their capitals.”
Commenting on this fund, Ufuk Uyan, Managing Director Kuveyt Türk, said: “Being aware of the importance of the role played by enterprises in the growth of the Turkish economy, we have been working to participate the echo-system of entrepreneurship for a long time. As the only bank operating two R&D centers in Türkiye, innovation and technology have always been our focus. Entrepreneurship is compatible with this spirit. We took the first steps to entrepreneurship with the Hackathon we organized last year to help young people to turn their ideas into projects. Then we established Lonca Entrepreneurship Center in September 2017 to support entrepreneurs developing scalable business ideas focusing on technology to turn those ideas into commercial activities in a sustainable and quick way. We wish the TL 5 million we invested in Teknogirişim GSYF to be auspicious for this country and entrepreneurs.”
Ikram Göktaş, Managing Director Vakıf Katılım, said: “As Vakıf Katılım we believe the future of Türkiye is based on digitalization. Therefore it is our basic strategy to invest in digitalization and technology. We built a R&D center in our only second year and began to work on projects that will create high value-added for this country. We believe that if they are given the right opportunities and supports, Turkish entrepreneurs would achieve successful projects and create brands competing in the worldwide. Therefore, we established the Teknogirişim Enterprise Capital Investment Fund in cooperation with Kuveyt Türk as the first step without losing time. Created by the two leading actors of the participation banking industry, this fund will serve as an important building block in the growth of participation finance in Türkiye.”