HELSINKI

Turkish tech startups gathered to meet investors and innovation enthusiasts at this week’s Slush 2024 startup conference in Helsinki, Finland.

Participants from more than 100 countries, including 400 from Türkiye, attended the event to represent their countries.

The Turkish startup ecosystem demonstrated their competence to investors from all around the world in competitions to find opportunities to reach new markets and customers, attract investments, and develop business partnerships with international tech firms.

More than 24 Turkish tech startups were present, including Apra Engineering, Archi's Academy, Bilbordia, From Your Eyes, Hardal, Hiwell, Invamar, Kfobi, Kimola, Mirai Technology, MOVE ON, Pardon, SmartIR, STAGE, Techsign, Tedaarik, Theclio, Tiplay, Wastespresso, Yuppy Games, Newky, Craftgate, and WASK.

Turkish startups at the event introduced their products in artificial intelligence (AI), smart fabrics, fintech, video games and gaming technologies, education, digital health, sports, software, finance, and robotics.

Thoufeeque Saheer, the founder of Archi’s Academy, told Anadolu that he had always wanted to establish a startup in a subject he knows and share his experience and knowledge with others.

Saheer worked in software engineering in the US and moved to Türkiye in 2018 after marrying a Turkish person.

Saheer said Türkiye offers many opportunities as a country with a young population. He said young people in Türkiye lack practical experience to get a job after getting a degree but his company’s education can help them with practical experience.

His company is looking to expand to Europe and the US, as well as other regions down the line, he said.

Rahsan Ilkay Yorulmaz, the founder of Arpa Engineering, told Anadolu that the firm installs smart systems in production stages, as well as creating “virtual engineers.”

“We provide pioneering solutions in industry and we are quite ahead,” he said.

Merve Aydiner, the founder of Invamar, which produces data-collecting smart fabric products, told Anadolu that the firm works on smart textiles which can read people’s health data at all times to monitor their ailments, and that the firm is showcasing its wares to the European market for the first time at the event.

Aydiner said Invamar aims to become a unicorn in half a decade, meaning a startup worth $1 billion.

Ali Ozan Ozcicek, founder of the online therapy platform Hiwell, told Anadolu that the firm came to the event to meet global investors as it aims to be one of the largest health technology firms in Europe in the next five years.

Ozcicek said they offer psychotherapy services in eight countries via 1,500 psychologists, and the firm aims to add doctors to the platform in the days ahead.

Hakan Erdogan, co-founder and CEO of the fintech startup Craftgate, told Anadolu that the firm’s goal is to meet other startups and investors at the event as they are expanding abroad for the first time by opening a branch in Spain, and want to expand to Latin America and Europe in the long term.

Erdogan said Türkiye’s young population contains a lot of talent, urging young people to establish their own startups, especially in fintech.

Slush 2024 started on Wednesday and ends on Thursday.

*Writing by Emir Yildirim in Istanbul