According to a new report by Startup Centrum, Turkey ranked first in gaming startup investments in Europe in 2022. As the data stated in the report, 61 startups received 1.28 billion dollars of investment in the first 3 months of 2022. Turkish gaming startups became the first in Europe in the gaming sector by receiving 333 million dollars of investment in the first 6 months of the year. Following Turkey, the UK ranked second with 158 million dollars and Norway ranked third with 60 million dollars.
The main reason for the increase in Turkey is investments of $20 million and above. In this quarter, 4 startups (Getir, Dream Games, Insider and Spyke Games) received a total investment of approximately $1.2 billion.
The most invested sectors in Turkey were food delivery with $771 million, gaming with $330 million and artificial intelligence with $122 million. Of this huge investment in food delivery, $768 million belonged to Getir. Thanks to the investments Getir reached a valuation of $ 11.8 billion at the end of the first quarter of 2022, and the company became decacorn.
You can read more about Turkey’s first decacorn in our blog.
The Turkish gaming industry received 266 million USD investment in 2021, and in the first half of this year, it received 333 million USD investment, surpassing the total of 2021 within 6 months. Thus, the Turkish gaming industry both renewed its own record and became the first in Europe.
Turkey Ranked First in Gaming Startup Investments, In this statement, Game Factory Communication Director Rıfat Tellioğlu stated that investments in blockchain and metaverse initiatives have reached $ 20 million and that they will see more investments in the future:
“Although investments in the gaming industry decreased in terms of number in the first half of this year, the amount of investment surpassed the total of 2021. I expect the Turkish gaming industry, which received $ 333 million in investment in 6 months, to close the end of the year with at least $ 500 million. In addition, investments in blockchain and metaverse initiatives in Turkey in the first half of the year reached $ 20 million. We will see more blockchain games receiving investment in the coming periods.”
If you would like to read about Dream Games’ investment you can visit our blog. As we come to the end of 2022, we have compiled all the investment news for you in this article.
Turkey Ranked First in Gaming Startup Investments, Companies receiving the highest investment in Turkey in the first quarter of 2022:
- Getir: $768 million
- Dream Games: $255 million
- Insider: $121 million
- Spyke Games: $55 million
- Manc Games: $50 million
- EsayCep: $11 million
- Midas: $11 million
- Metaverse Game Studios: $10 million
- Fomo Games: $5 million
- Revel Games: $4.5 millionClickme Live $4.4 million
- Düşyeri: $3.7 million
- Ödeal: approximately 3.5 million dollars
Thanks to all these investments Turkey ranked first in gaming startup investments in Europe. Here are a few details about these companies:
Dream Games ($255 million)
Turkey Ranked First in Gaming Startup Investments, Dream Games was founded in 2019 by Soner Aydemir, İkbal Namlı, Hakan Sağlam, Eren Şengül and Serdar Yılmaz, experienced names in the gaming industry. The company, which started its journey by producing puzzle-type games, grew rapidly and became one of the giants of the Turkish mobile gaming industry. Dream Games received an investment of $ 255 million in January 2022, increasing its valuation to $ 2.75 billion.
Spyke Games ($55 million)
Spyke Games was founded in 2020. The Istanbul-based Turkish game studio, which mainly works on the Casual game genre, raised $55 million from a financing round led by Griffin Gaming Partners in January 2022. The company’s last known valuation was approximately $ 245 million.
Manc Games ($50 million)
Turkish mobile game developer Manc Games has received a $50 million investment from digital asset investment firm GEM Digital Limited.
Halit Emre Aydın, CEO and Founder of Manc Games, emphasised that the business is on a rapid growth trajectory and is poised for more than 25 million downloads by the end of next year. “This commitment from GEM Digital will bring Manc one step closer to becoming a global gaming company. Not only in the mobile game application sector, but also in the gaming ecosystem,” he said.
Metaverse Game Studios ($10 million)
Metaverse Game Studios, founded by Erkan Bayol, managed to attract the attention of investors with its blockchain-based Angelic game. In March 2022, the company raised $10 million from an investment round led by Pantera Capital, Animoca Brands, Solana Ventures and Everyrealm.
Fomo Games ($5 million)
Founded by Yunus Güvenen, Emre Teksöz and Yusuf Ceylan, Fomo Games became another game company that received consecutive investments in a short time. The company, which received an investment of 17 million TL in the first quarter of 2021, raised another 5 million dollars from the financing round led by Libertus Capital in January 2022.
Revel Games ($4.5 million)
Revel Games is a fairly new game studio founded in 2021. The company, which develops games in the casual puzzle genre, received an investment of $ 4.5 million from the investment round led by Garena in March 2022.
NDG Studio (3,125 million TL)
Founded by Ufuk Serdar Demir and Emre Ertekin in 2020, NDG received an investment of 3.125 million TL from Boğaziçi Ventures and Mert Fırat in February 2022. The studio, which develops games in hyper-casual and casual genres, shifted its focus to hyper-casual and NFT games after the investment.
