Turkey Launches New Hub to Support Women in Tech Startups

By: Women Entrepreneurs Review Team | Wednesday, 21 October 2026

‘Women in Innovation Information Center’ was launched by the Women and Democracy Foundation (KADEM), Istanbul on Tuesday, allowing women entrepreneurs to transform their innovative concepts into technology-oriented enterprises. The objective of the center is to ensure that the women are able to build up their business plans and capitalize upon the existing and new investment opportunities.

The inauguration of the center was done alongside the DemoDay event organized through the help of Istanbul Development Agency (ISTKA). The center will offer a wide array of facilities, which include entrepreneurship education, mentorship, business development support, investor relations, and co-working space. Besides, the center will have a child care room with plans for offering day care and professional care services during the events.

Key Highlights:

• KADEM launches an Istanbul center to help women build and grow technology startups
• Türkiye has supported 85,000+ female entrepreneurs with TL 23.5 billion through KOSGEB
• KADEM’s Women in Innovation Program attracted 429 applications from 22 countries

Chairman of the Board of Trustees of KADEM Foundation, Sümeyye Erdoğan Bayraktar said that the new center is just one more step on the way to improve entrepreneurship among women, which was initiated by “Women in Innovation Program” introduced in 2015. Until now, about 3,000 applications have been registered and more than 235 entrepreneurs visited its camps.

In the tenth year of the program, 429 people from 22 countries applied, expanding the reach of the program globally. As she pointed out, between 2019 and 2025, every fourth funded startup had at least one woman founder, whereas 571 women founders succeeded in raising investments for $1.4 billion.

In his speech to the participants at the launch event, Turkey’s Ministry of Industry and Technology, Mehmet Fatih Kacır discussed the country’s achievements in developing an eco-system that supports entrepreneurship. He highlighted the need for the involvement of women in scientific research, innovations, and manufacturing as a prerequisite for sustainable economic and national development.

Turkey had gained a very impressive position in the international community with regard to the involvement and growth of women. According to him, the country was first in the world regarding the percentage of women inventors among international patent applicants.

In addition, the minister brought out the financial support provided to female scientists by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBITAK). The organization had provided financial aid worth TL 32 billion, which equated to around $645 million, to 233,000 female scientists within the last 23 years.

Indeed, a number of initiatives in form of funding schemes and training have been put in place by the government of Turkey to help the entrepreneurs transform their ideas into ventures. The endeavours are aimed at helping the women’ ventures through different stages of operations, including idea conception, establishment of technological companies and scaling them.

In addition to that, Mehmet highlighted the increasing number of women participating in the areas of science and technology. According to the minister, Türkiye has 13,000 companies operating in the country’s 115 technoparks, employing 36,000 women. Besides, 28,000 women are working in research, development and design centers in Türkiye.