Bridge to Global Growth
ITU SEED Acceleration Program boosts startups to go global with countless opportunities in one of the best metropolises in the world; Istanbul.
What is ITU SEED International Startup Accelerator?
At ITU SEED, we hosted thousands of startups over the past 10 years and accompanied them in their global success stories. Join us at the ITU SEED International Startup Accelerator! Develop your early-stage company, take advantage of countless opportunities and fast-track commercializing your products at one of the top 5 university-affiliated incubation centers in the world.
Technology-based qualified human power
Tax benefits
Access to investment
4 billion dolars of ecosystem value in the last 2.5 years
Geographical proximity to both the European and Middle Eastern markets
Cost-efficient environment
Our Ecosystem
What does the program offers to Entrepreneurs? Investors? Stakeholders? Mentors?
Entrepreneurs
Entrepreneurs- Tax exempted office space in Istanbul, ITU ARI Technopark
- Financial Center of Turkey
- Networking with Corporate Companies & Investors
- Mentorship
- Workshops
- Business Development
- Talent Pool
- Prototyping Labs
- Over $49 million in awards, cash and investments
- Access to global market
Investors
Investors- Access to startups in the region
- Demo days specific to investor focus
- Co-investment
- Investment reports
Stakeholder
Stakeholder- Intrapreneurship
- Open innovation
- Connecting with industry-specific startups
Mentors
Mentors- Online Mentorship Platform
- Connection to Hundreds of Startups
- Mentor Club Network
- Open Innovation
ITU SEED with Numbers
7600+
Supported
Entrepreneurs
29+
Different Countries
1050+
Startups
500+
Mentors
49 Million
Euro of Investment
4300+
Employment
Program Journey for Entrepreneurs and Startups
What did they say?
It makes it possible to learn from other people, how to improve our product, how to develop our market strategy so thanks guys for this opportunity.
I’d say you have very professional mentors here. For about four days we collect a lot of insight for the future of our company, possibilities of scaling in Turkey in Istanbul and Europe as well.
Some potential of ITU Magnet is really attractive for us, like Innogate program, maybe to continue to develop our project in United States. I met many interesting people here. I suppose it can be a good place to develop business here and even to use the companies here and cooperate as companies.
The program helps us as having our office here and setting up our tech so we can reach out and make an impact to those markets.
At first I thought it might not be for me. After I checked, it turned out to be really it. Yeah it’s impressive. I really like the friendliness and openness. The most valuable part is that ITU mentors and colleagues are always smiling. That’s one I like the most.
Mentors help with new market research. There are really a lot of opportunities to gain money.
It’s a very interesting program. I like the structure of the program. I think your mentors are really interesting. My product is digital and naturally Turkey is a good country for this kind of product to develop.
It’s a very interesting program. I like the structure of the program. I think your mentors are really interesting. My product is digital and naturally Turkey is a good country for this kind of product to develop.
As Pubinno, we released the world's first artificial intelligence Smart Taps after joining İTÜ Çekirdek, we sold them to 5 countries before they even launched! To date, 20 million glasses of Perfect Beer have been served from Smart Taps.
We delivered 200 thousand test sticks to our customers in 50 countries on the way we started at ITU Çekirdek.
As Arkim, we have reached 100 customers. We registered our product in Japan, USA and Turkey. Our team reached 7 people and our outsourced sales and support team reached 50 people; Our turnover has grown 20 times. We opened branches in the United States; We are actively involved in 16 countries with our products.
We made a sale of 900.000 TL on the occasion of İTÜ Çekirdek, which has supported us in network and office use so far. We also benefited from the İTÜ Çekirdek network in the USA and received an investment of 500,000 USD in the USA. We have already sold over 15,000 mimics with our team located in the USA and Turkey.
We have benefited greatly from this ecosystem. We joined ITU Çekirdek in 2014, Innogate in 2017 and ITU Magnet in 2018. We completed 2020 with 500% growth on MRR basis. 85% of our revenues come from abroad. We received investment from Startup Wise Guys. We were chosen by EIT Digital as one of the Startups to watch in 2021.
After we implemented our first product and business model at İTÜ Çekirdek, we conducted market research and positioning our product in the US market with Innogate. As ITU ARI Teknokent firm; We rapidly expanded our team by using the opportunities offered by Teknokent. Today, we continue on our way as a company that continues to work in Silicon Valley, works with many global companies, and received investments from Silicon Valley and Turkey.