The key facts

  • The third GO! GLOBAL Türkiye Summit is taking place in Istanbul from Thursday to Saturday; organizers are DEIK/TAIK and Endeavor Türkiye.
  • More than 50 investment firms with capital exceeding $800 billion (previously $500 billion was announced), 250 startup founders and 900 participants are expected to attend.
  • The main session on Friday at Divan Kurucesme will feature Ministers Ömer Bolat and Mehmet Fatih Kacır; on the third day, Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek will speak.

Summit Opens in Istanbul

On Thursday, the third GO! GLOBAL Türkiye Summit opened in Istanbul and will run until Saturday. It brings together global investors, technology industry leaders, Turkish entrepreneurs and artificial intelligence specialists to discuss international expansion, investment and innovation. The organizer is the Foreign Economic Relations Board of Turkey (DEIK) through the digital working group of the Turkish-American Business Council (TAIK) in cooperation with Endeavor Türkiye.

The Event Has Grown in Scale

According to DEIK, the participating investment firms represent more than $800 billion in capital — higher than the previously announced figure of $500 billion. More than 50 investment firms, 250 startup founders and 900 participants are expected to attend. The program includes over 200 pre-scheduled one-on-one meetings between entrepreneurs and investors, matched by industry, investment priorities, company growth stage and international expansion goals.

Main Session and Participants

The main session will take place on Friday at Divan Kurucesme Istanbul with the participation of Trade Minister Ömer Bolat, Industry and Technology Minister Mehmet Fatih Kacır, DEIK President Nail Olpak, TAIK Chairman Murat Özyeğin and other business and technology leaders. Uber CFO Balaji Krishnamurthy will discuss the company's global expansion in a session moderated by Insider One co-founder and CEO Hande Çilingir. Participation is expected from executives of General Atlantic, Riverwood Capital, Apis Partners and Wamda Capital, as well as representatives of Speedinvest, Hustle Fund, Quest Ventures and MEVP.

Turkish Companies and the Third Day

Among examples of success of Turkish founders are the unicorn companies Trendyol, Peak Games, Dream Games and Insider One, as well as AI companies fal.ai and HubX. The third day of the summit will open with a keynote speech by Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek; investor discussions will take place, along with sessions on international limited partners' approaches to emerging markets and on cooperation between investors and venture funds.

Statements from Organizers

DEIK President Nail Olpak stated that Turkey's technological talent and entrepreneurial ecosystem open up significant opportunities for economic growth: “The momentum we have achieved in gaming, fintech and artificial intelligence demonstrates the country's potential in high-tech production and exports. To turn this potential into sustainable economic value, we must strengthen entrepreneurs' access to financing, international investor networks and new markets.” Murat Özyeğin noted that the summit is designed to directly connect Turkish startups with international investors: the portfolios of participating firms include Airbnb, Spotify, SpaceX, Palantir, Epic Games, Anthropic and Databricks, and among the experts are representatives of more than 10 global technology companies, including OpenAI, Google DeepMind, Apple, Salesforce and IBM.

Views on the Role of AI

Hande Çilingir said that the summit's investor-matching model is designed to align entrepreneurs' goals with investors' priorities in advance and accelerate partnerships and global growth. Endeavor Türkiye Chairman Emre Kurttepeli said that artificial intelligence is changing investment priorities and creating new opportunities for Turkish entrepreneurs: “Turkish entrepreneurs have the talent and innovative ideas to play a significant role in this transformation. Turning this potential into global growth requires early and direct engagement with investors shaping AI investment themes and with companies that have already scaled in this field.” Additional information about the summit is available at goglobalturkiye.com.