Global Turks Fuel Türkiye's AI-and Expose a Funding Gap at Home

How the Turkish diaspora is driving Türkiye's AI ecosystem forward

Türkiye's AI scene is young, ambitious, and moving with intent. The latest data shows a clear pattern: the domestic base is growing fast, while the biggest wins and larger checks are coming from Turkish founders abroad. That split isn't a weakness-it's an opportunity to connect two engines into one network.

The 2025 Turkish AI Ecosystem and Global Impact Report gives a clean snapshot of where things stand. The message is simple: align capital, trust, and talent, and the flywheel starts turning.

A regional leader at home

Türkiye now leads Eastern and Southeastern Europe in AI entrepreneurship and is the only country in the region to have produced an AI unicorn. There are 1,188 active AI startups, and almost 70% were founded after 2020. That youth gives teams the advantage of building on current architectures and global demand. It also means many are still early-stage, with thin access to large checks and enterprise deals.

Diaspora: fewer companies, bigger outcomes

Turkish founders abroad have formed a parallel ecosystem-smaller in company count, larger in impact. There are 274 active diaspora-led AI startups, mainly in the US and UK, operating close to capital, customers, and research. In 2025, they raised $712 million across 29 rounds, averaging $24 million per round. At home, startups raised $17.4 million across 69 rounds, or roughly $252,000 per round.

This gap reflects market structure, not a lack of ambition. The diaspora shows what's possible when global access meets Turkish talent.

The capital constraint

Türkiye currently has five funds dedicated exclusively to AI. That leaves most founders stitching together small seed checks and trying to grow without true runway. The report also flags confidence: local investors rated the global vision and competitiveness of Turkish AI startups at 2.71 out of 5. Caution leads to small bets, which leads to slow progress-then back to more caution.

Corporate demand, weak local integration

On the demand side, 53% of corporate firms in Türkiye say they've integrated AI into their processes. Yet only 6.25% use solutions from local startups. That trust gap matters. Without reference customers at home, startups struggle to sell abroad and miss the feedback loop that fine-tunes product-market fit.

Early-stage engine: AI Startup Factory

There is bright movement at the start line. Yapay Zeka Fabrikası (AI Startup Factory), backed by İşbank, has completed 27 investments since early 2024 and is now a go-to entry point for first-time founders. The median check is modest, but the pipeline is real. What's missing is the bridge from first traction to global-scale funding and distribution.

Talent is the bottleneck

Founders, investors, and corporates all point to the same choke point: experienced AI talent is scarce and expensive. To earn global relevance, teams need to build for international markets from day one-security, compliance, pricing, and support included. Here, the Turkish AI diaspora is more than a success story; it's an extension of national capacity and a playbook for scaling.

What to do next (for founders, investors, corporates, policymakers)

• Founders in Türkiye: Go export-first. Price in USD/EUR, meet SOC 2/GDPR from day one, and ship to a narrow, high-value use case. Co-sell with diaspora founders, apply to global accelerators, and keep a clean metrics sheet (ARR, gross margin, payback, retention).
• Diaspora founders: Set up Turkey-based R&D pods for cost-effective velocity. Share playbooks on enterprise sales, security reviews, and hiring. Angel or scout-check local teams and open doors to your investors and design partners.
• Investors: Form AI-focused syndicates with real follow-on reserves. Use standard, founder-friendly terms (e.g., SAFEs) and bring foreign co-investors to later rounds. Back export-first theses and reward technical defensibility and clear unit economics.
• Corporates: Allocate a fixed slice of your AI budget to pilot with local startups. Define a short vendor path (security checklist, sandbox, 90-day KPI trial) and agree to be a reference if targets are met. Plug into programs like AI Startup Factory for deal flow.
• Policymakers: Expand matching funds and R&D tax credits, modernize stock option rules, and open national datasets and compute credits for startups. Use public procurement to validate domestic AI where quality meets spec. Create structured diaspora bridges for co-investment and talent circulation.
• Engineers and product leaders: Level up on MLOps/LLMOps, evals, prompt security, and cost control. Build a portfolio of shipped features, not just models. If you want structured upskilling, browse course tracks by skill at Complete AI Training.

Useful references

• Global funding and research context: Stanford AI Index

Outlook

The signal is clear: Türkiye has the volume; the diaspora has the velocity. Connect them with later-stage capital, enterprise trust at home, and a deeper talent bench, and more billion-dollar outcomes will follow. The path is practical-export-first products, credible local procurement, and a shared pipeline from seed to scale.