Venture Capital Investment Funds: The New Generation of Technology Investment

Over the past decade, the rapid growth of the entrepreneurial ecosystem and the tax advantages provided by the government have led many institutions—from universities to large conglomerates—to establish Venture Capital Investment Funds (VCIFs). In an era where technology is rapidly transforming our world, traditional investment instruments increasingly fall short in meeting investors’ expectations both philosophically and financially. Especially for long-term-oriented investors seeking to invest in future-forward themes, VCIFs have emerged as an appealing alternative.

VCIFs are funds that invest in early-stage or growth-stage innovative technology companies, supporting their development while offering high return potential to investors. While strengthening the entrepreneurial ecosystem, they provide an effective alternative for investors aiming to adapt to technological transformation.

Boğaziçi Ventures: From Tech Entrepreneurship to Turkey’s Leading VC

Founded by technology entrepreneurs, Boğaziçi Ventures established its portfolio management company BV Portföy in 2022, becoming one of the pioneering players investing in innovative tech startups in Turkey.

The team behind Turkey’s first international gaming company acquisition brought its acceleration experience from StartersHub into the VCIF space in 2018, via TÜBİTAK’s 1514 Tech-InvestTR program—solidifying Boğaziçi Ventures’ expertise in the field. The company not only creates VCIFs that invest in technology ventures across various stages with diverse strategies but also actively supports fund setup processes for companies, universities, and institutions.

A Diversified Basket with Strategic Variety – BV Portföy VCIF Options

Boğaziçi Ventures and BV Portföy shape their funds according to investment themes, maturity, and risk levels—adopting vertical or sector-agnostic strategies tailored to contemporary needs. Leveraging their experience in tech entrepreneurship, they have reviewed over 10,000 startups to date.

Our VCIFs appeal to a wide range of investors, including the Ministry of Treasury and Finance, universities, pension funds, technopark companies, and individuals or institutions seeking alternative investments.

BV Portföy Boğaziçi Ventures VCIF (BVG)

The first VCIF of BV Portföy, BV Growth (BVG), was launched at the end of 2020. The fund invests in early-growth startups with technological and business model innovations, focusing on sectors like gaming, fintech, retail, digital health, education, and HR technologies. Fourteen out of the 39 companies invested in so far are meaningfully integrated with AI technologies.

The average ticket size is around $500,000, increasing up to $2 million in successful follow-on investments. Beyond capital, the fund offers strategic support to startups.

BVG has a 7-year lifespan, with the first 5 years allocated for investments. In its 4th year, it completed its second exit through the sale of the edtech company Perculus to Swiss-based Constructor Tech.

Investors include the Republic of Turkey Ministry of Treasury and Finance, universities, pension funds, leading Turkish conglomerates, and individual investors.

BV Portföy Sinerji VCIF (BSG)

Sinerji VCIF is a practical investment alternative for companies seeking to fulfill R&D incentive obligations. It has no investment minimum and allows commitment-based participation. With a sector-agnostic structure, it welcomes all types of investors.

Its investment strategy is built on three pillars:

• Secondary Investment: Acquiring shares from founders or current investors of successful, high-potential startups at discounted valuations. Though common in developed ecosystems, this method is rare in Turkey but offers strong return potential.
• Co-investment: Investing alongside Turkey’s most reputable and experienced investors, expanding access to high-potential deals.
• Profit Distribution: Allocates part of the commitments to high-yield, liquid instruments to provide annual profit share distributions, offering investors both cash flow and long-term capital appreciation.

Launched on September 18, 2023, Sinerji VCIF has a 10-year term and a target return of 25% annually in USD. It’s a $20 million structured fund.

Investments have been made in various fields such as gaming, fintech, digital health, space, robotics, and sports tech. In the second half of 2025, the fund plans to target sustainability-driven sectors like energy, mobility, recycling, and battery technologies.

Its diverse investor base includes global R&D firms, local automotive and tech companies, technopark entities, and individual investors.

BV Portföy Joygame Pre-IPO VCIF (JOY)

Specializing in gaming, Boğaziçi Ventures launched Joygame VCIF on March 1, 2024, aiming to make Joygame—Turkey’s only local game publisher—the first publicly listed gaming company in the country.

With over 15 years of experience and a team of 180, Joygame is both a developer and global publisher. It operates 14 studios, has over 50 games, and more than 4 million monthly active users. It distributes content in 30 languages across 200+ countries and achieves 40% annual USD-based growth.

The fund aims to take Joygame public within 5 years, targeting a valuation premium through IPO and supporting post-IPO institutional growth. With global gaming companies averaging 14x–15x EBITDA multiples, Joygame VCIF aims to deliver 5x USD-based returns via staged exits.

With a target size of $7 million, the fund finances Joygame’s post-2026 content pipeline.

Investors include individual and institutional backers, local and international gaming companies, and sectoral funds.

BV Portföy LT Pre-IPO VCIF (BVS)

The second single-asset fund from BV Portföy, LT Pre-IPO VCIF, is preparing high-frequency and algorithmic trading (HFT & quant) firm Liquidity Trading for a public offering.

Founded by experts with over 15 years of experience, Liquidity Trading employs 45 people including financial engineers and data analysts. It provides HFT infrastructure and algorithmic trading systems to leading Turkish investment firms for trading on BIST.

The AUM of funds managed on the LT infrastructure approaches ₺6.5 billion. Among the 11 statistical arbitrage funds on TEFAS, the top 3 performers use Liquidity Trading’s technology.

A leader in HFT within Turkey, the company aims to expand globally with this fund, planning prime brokerage agreements with major exchanges like Nasdaq, Eurex, Tadawul, and ADX, and aiming for direct trading relationships with Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan. R&D is central to its ambition to become a global HFT player.

Issued on May 31, 2024, the fund targets $8 million. Notably, nearly half of its capital is invested in Liquidity Trading’s internally developed absolute return funds—offering substantial capital protection.

The IPO is planned for 2027, targeting a 10–13x EBITDA multiple and a 5x return on investment in USD terms. Its investors include both public and private investment firms utilizing its infrastructure.

A Star Is Born: BVG II / AI Fund

As artificial intelligence nears human-level capabilities over the next five years, Boğaziçi Ventures and BV Portföy are evolving their experience from BV Growth into the BV Growth II Fund (BVG II). Of the 39 investments in the first fund, 14 were AI-centric. The new fund targets producing at least two unicorns.

In 2024, the firm further strengthened its AI leadership by hosting AI Summit events (with nearly 3,000 attendees) in February and December, and launching the publicly accessible Technology Variable Fund (BVV) on TEFAS.

BVG II will begin investing in the second half of the year, focusing on early-stage startups with AI at their core and transformative business models. The aim is to create global tech leaders and unicorns with strong teams—offering investors high returns and strategic tech opportunities.

Key strategies:

• Sector-agnostic investments in 18 AI-centric startups, with priority sectors including fintech, retail tech, industrial tech, agtech, gaming, and health.
• Targeting early-stage (pre-seed to Series A) investments.
• Providing 24 months of capital runway for product development and growth.
• 70% of investments planned for Turkey, 30% for diaspora and international markets—South Korea is a priority.
• Minimum target fund size: $50 million.
• Fund duration: 12 years (first 6 for capital commitments).
• Return target: 35–55% annually in USD.

BVG II is currently open to investors via LOI (Letter of Intent), with first close targeted by the end of 2025.

The growing number of VCIFs driven by tax advantages presents an attractive opportunity for investors. However, effective fund management demands significant experience—making it critical for investors to assess a fund manager’s expertise, especially in technology.

With a strong background in entrepreneurship and acceleration, Boğaziçi Ventures provides strategic and legal support to visionary founders through all its funds—contributing to the startup ecosystem while delivering strong value to investors.

Today, BV Portföy manages multiple VCIFs with distinct strategies and nearly 500 mostly institutional investors, offering quarterly reports and annual meetings for full transparency. As a BV Portföy investor, you can become a partner in the technologies of the future and benefit from the high-return potential of next-generation investments.

The most effective way to confidently manage your investments, diversify your portfolio, and minimize risk is through the expertise of BV Portföy.