Originally published in: Fintech Dünyası magazine, 2026 June issue (Turkish edition) — adapted and translated for Fintech in Türkiye
Quick Answer
Revo Capital, one of Turkey’s largest technology-focused venture capital funds, closed the second round of its Fund III at $100 million in 2026 and plans to invest in more than 30 technology startups over the next five years. Founded in 2013, Revo now manages over $250 million in assets, has made 54 investments and 18 exits, and says more than half of all international follow-on investment into Turkish startups between 2021 and 2025 went to its portfolio companies. Founding Partner and Managing Director Cenk Bayrakdar spoke with Fintech Dünyası about the fund’s growth-stage strategy, the metrics it uses to evaluate scalable growth, and why Turkish startups are increasingly built as global-first companies from day one.
Fintech Dünyası: Revo Capital positions itself as a fund focused on growth-stage technology startups. What are the most critical advantages and risks of investing at this stage?
Cenk Bayrakdar: The biggest advantage of investing in growth-stage technology startups is that you can see much more clearly whether product-market fit is real, whether the sales cycle is repeatable, and whether the founding team is actually capable of building a company — and a culture — at scale.
Roughly 1,000 new startups are founded in Turkey every year, and the ecosystem has grown at approximately 12% annually since 2013. Turkey is now home to more than 11,000 active startups. But only 3.4% of companies that raise a seed round go on to reach Series A in Turkey. That figure stands at 16% in the United Kingdom and 21% in Germany. Revo Capital exists precisely to close that investment gap.
Founded in 2013, Revo today manages more than $250 million in fund size, with 54 investments and 18 exits, making it one of Turkey’s leading and largest technology-focused venture capital funds. We closed the second closing of Fund III at $100 million in 2026, and we’re targeting investments in more than 30 technology startups over the next five years.
On the risk side, the growth stage remains a critical period. Higher valuations, competition from global players, regulatory complexity, and the much higher cost of mis-scaling are all real risks. But when paired with the right founder, we believe the Series A/B band in Turkey remains one of the most capital-efficient stages available.
Fintech Dünyası: How do you measure “scalable growth” potential in your portfolio companies? Which metrics matter most to you?
Cenk Bayrakdar: We don’t look at scalable growth through a single KPI — we look at the trajectory of sustainable growth. Revenue growth matters, but what really matters is how efficiently that growth is achieved. Net revenue (not gross or contracted ARR), profit margin, customer acquisition cost, payback period, contract size, net revenue retention, cash burn efficiency, and the share — and growth — of international revenue in total revenue are among our core indicators.
Beyond that, the founding team’s capacity to manage growth and work transparently with investors is just as critical. One of the things that sets Revo apart is that we stay actively engaged after we invest. Through a corporate network of more than 600 C-level executives and relationships with over 750 global VCs, we help our portfolio companies gain access to customers, investors, and business development opportunities.
Over half of all investment into Revo’s portfolio between 2021 and 2025 came from international investors.
International investors are no longer looking at Turkey’s macro picture alone — if they see a global-first company with a strong engineering team and a hard-currency revenue model, they will invest. Turkey today has more than 11,000 active startups, and the ecosystem has attracted a combined $6.5 billion in investment over just the past five years.
Revo’s portfolio companies have raised over $3.5 billion in follow-on investment since 2021, of which 92% came from international investors — meaning more than 50% of all investment into the Turkish ecosystem between 2021 and 2025 went into Revo’s portfolio. In 2025 alone, we facilitated more than 60 strategic, high-conversion-potential customer introductions for our portfolio companies. Over the past three years, we’ve also led more than 25 C-level hiring processes for our portfolio.
For us, the quality of growth isn’t just about what shows up in a spreadsheet — it’s about whether a company can win global customers, build a repeatable sales model in new markets, and become more operationally efficient as it scales.
Under Fund III, Revo has invested approximately $15 million across 14 startups to date.
Fintech Dünyası: Revo Capital’s portfolio has a notable track record of successful global expansion. In your view, what are the most critical inflection points in a startup’s globalization journey?
Cenk Bayrakdar: Our investment thesis has changed significantly over the past five years. We used to invest in companies “founded in Turkey with a vision to go global.” Today, we focus much more on companies built as global companies from day one — typically structured under a US, UK, or Netherlands-based holding company, with strong engineering and R&D teams based in Turkey.
Turkey has genuinely become a strong technology production hub. The country has more than 300,000 active software developers and produces roughly 100,000 engineering graduates a year. On top of that, more than 20,000 Turkish software and AI engineers currently work in the US, a Turkish diaspora of more than 400,000 people, and thousands of globally experienced entrepreneurs together form a serious talent pool.
Today, 84% of our Fund II portfolio consists of globally headquartered structures, and around 70% of portfolio revenue comes from hard-currency international sources. Under Fund III, we’ve invested approximately $15 million across 14 startups so far, 10 of which were structured as global-first companies from inception. Most of these companies are focused on generating hard-currency revenue and building global sales organizations from the very start.
[Editor’s note: “Global-first” refers to startups incorporated abroad — typically in the US, UK, or Netherlands — from founding, with Turkey serving as the engineering and R&D base rather than the commercial headquarters. This structure is increasingly common among Turkish-founded technology companies seeking international investment.]
The most critical issue in globalization isn’t simply “selling the product abroad” — it’s building the right sales model for the right geography. The US offers a single, deep market, while Europe is far more fragmented. The MENA region, in particular, is creating significant opportunities for fintech, compliance, and cybersecurity companies. For example, Onlayer, one of our Fund II portfolio companies, has grown rapidly in the Gulf region with its merchant risk and compliance infrastructure built for banks and payment institutions. FileOrbis has gained strong traction in MENA thanks to data localization and regulatory requirements in the region.
Fintech Dünyası: We’re seeing Turkish startups attract more international investment in recent years. What are the key dynamics behind this shift?
Cenk Bayrakdar: I think the most important shift is that startups coming out of Turkey are now being evaluated on their global revenue potential. International investors are no longer looking at Turkey’s macro picture alone — if they see a global-first company with a strong engineering team and a hard-currency revenue model, they will invest.
Turkey today has more than 11,000 active startups, and the ecosystem has attracted a combined $6.5 billion in investment over the past five years alone. Revo’s portfolio companies have raised more than $3.5 billion in follow-on investment since 2021, 92% of it from international investors — meaning more than 50% of all investment into the Turkish ecosystem between 2021 and 2025 went into Revo’s portfolio.
Midas is one of the best examples of this. Revo was one of the company’s first institutional VC investors; it later raised a combined $140 million from international investors — a $45 million Series A led by Portage in 2024, followed by an $80 million Series B led by QED Investors in 2025. Midas now has more than 4 million users, and in addition to trading access on Turkish and US exchanges, the company will offer access to European exchanges starting in 2026. This shows that platforms coming out of Turkey are no longer viewed as purely local success stories, but as globally scalable technology companies.
[Editor’s note: Midas is a Turkish investment and brokerage app offering retail access to domestic and international stock markets.]
Fintech Dünyası: How would you describe the relationship you build with your portfolio companies? To what extent are you involved in management processes, and what kind of strategic guidance do you provide?
Cenk Bayrakdar: We see our relationship with portfolio companies less as a classic “board seat” relationship and more as a strategic partnership. We don’t get involved in day-to-day operations, but we work very closely with founders on critical areas like senior hiring, global expansion, customer acquisition, and investor relations.
One of the things that sets Revo apart is our focus on ecosystem-building. Our Building Bridges event now brings together more than 650 attendees, over 380 companies, and investors from multiple countries. Through the annual events we co-host with Microsoft, we connect our portfolio companies directly with CEOs, CIOs, and enterprise technology leaders. We want founders to see us not just as a source of capital, but as a platform for market access, credibility, and global network — because for us, creating value isn’t just about investing. It’s about accelerating our companies’ path to global scale.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much has Revo Capital invested through Fund III so far? As of 2026, Revo Capital has invested approximately $15 million across 14 startups through Fund III, following a $100 million second closing.
How many startups does Revo Capital plan to invest in over the next five years? Revo Capital plans to invest in more than 30 technology startups over the next five years, according to Founding Partner and Managing Director Cenk Bayrakdar.
What share of investment into Turkish startups has gone to Revo Capital’s portfolio? Revo’s portfolio companies raised more than $3.5 billion in follow-on investment between 2021 and 2025, of which 92% came from international investors — representing more than 50% of all investment into the Turkish startup ecosystem in that period.
Why are Turkish startups increasingly structured as “global-first” companies? Founders and investors are structuring companies under US, UK, or Netherlands-based holding entities from inception to access international capital and customers more easily, while keeping engineering and R&D teams in Turkey, which offers a large, cost-competitive technical talent pool.
This article is based on an interview originally conducted by Fintech Dünyası in Turkish. It has been translated and adapted for an international audience by Fintech in Türkiye.
