ISTANBUL Chamber of Commerce (ICOC) made its mark on a critical formation six years ago to support entrepreneurs: the Commercialization Center of Istanbul (BTM). BTM’s primary goal is to contribute to the startups’ business ideas with commercialization potential, and the quest of this center started immediately before the restoration of ICOC’s premises in Eminönü. Indeed, BTM commenced its story with a small staff and unlimited support from ICOC. It continues as a ‘new-generation startup center’ at its three thousand-square meter campus in Fulya. BTM aims to directly contribute to Istanbul’s economy by benefiting from ICOC’s business and industry network advantage, and the center started to function for the commercialization of ideas in the regional and global arena in time. The center has provided and continues all the support for the actualization of the owners of innovative projects during research, idea, invention, discovery and new product design, patent application, registration, revenue model design, commercialization, marketing and expansion stages.

FREE SERVICES

BTM provides free services and does not demand any shares or partnerships from the startups.

The startups that develop their projects with different supports from BTM programs also seize the chance to benefit from the privileges of the world’s first startup center to be established by a commerce chamber and matchless in terms of scale.

The services such as training courses and seminars, mentor support, investor matching, demo day events performed by making presentations for investors, 24/7 office space, and individual consulting services received by startups are free of charge.

PROGRAMS BASED ON STARTUP TYPE

BTM, Türkiye’s first startup center to support ventures at the ideal stage, provides training courses and services specific to every program.

BTM Camp: The candidate entrepreneurs wishing to become startups and take part in the ecosystem,

Pre-Incubation: Startups with innovative business ideas which have relevant products or outputs (software, websites, etc.), 

Incubation: Company owners or entrepreneurs who have already made sales,

Post-Incubation: Startups that received investment and are searching for a second or third round of investment are in this group.

BTM Camp, Pre-Incubation, and Incubation programs last for six months. The duration of the Post-Incubation Program, on the other hand, is a 1-year process. Based on their levels, the startups receiving education in many areas in these programs are entitled to join other programs provided they align with the program criteria. The Pre-Incubation and Incubation startups that complete the processes participate in BTM’s most significant investment startup gathering, the Stage XL event held twice yearly.

COOPERATION WITH THE BUSINESS WORLD

The startups of BTM enjoy the advantage of one-on-one contact opportunities with the ICOC Professional Committees. ICOC, with 750 thousand members, is one of the world’s largest chambers and contains eighty-one professional committees. The entrepreneurs can directly present their business ideas by attending the meetings. In this way, they receive feedback from the most competent people in the relevant sectors and improve their projects while gaining customers or investors.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP TRAINING

BTM also provides certificate courses for people wishing to learn startup culture, and online training courses are open to everyone. The classes are available in both Turkish and English

via the www.btmakademi.com platform. The online training system comprising 13 modules

(10 modules in Turkish and 3 in English) has approximately 700 active users, and some of the subjects are Lean Canvas and Business Plan Preparation, IT Law, Financial Literacy for Executives, Global Business and Technology Trends, Market Analysis Methods, Network Building and Communication Skills, Business Development and Strategic Planning, Patents and Brands, Business and Product Development, Digital Literacy for Startups. Through the collaboration projects it built, BTM supports startups with nearly 100 solution partners in many areas, such as cloud support, payment infrastructure solutions, virtual office, social media and advertising management.

Investment valuation worth TRY 6 billion

Receiving over 20 thousand applications to date, BTM has supported more than 8,500 entrepreneurs and nearly 5 thousand ventures. Since BTM’s establishment, its ventures achieved a TRY 5 billion 868 million valuation. On the other hand, the total sales of BTM ventures exceeded TRY 514 million.

At world’s top 5

The startup ecosystem appreciates BTM's success and its projects. The center’s achievements are crowned with awards such as the Hult Prize Student-Friendly Startup Center of the Year, Imagine Tomorrow Startup Acceleration Center of the Year Award, The Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Türkiye (TOBB) Project Contest Startup Category 1st Prize Winner, ICC World Chambers Federation Best SME and Startup Development Project Category Finalist, Medipol HR Awards Innovation Acceleration Institution of the Year Award and the Investment Platform of the Year award.

In 2019, BTM was selected 'World's Best Promising Center' by Sweden-based UBI Global.

Rapidly reaching the peak aimed by all incubation centers in 2023, UBI Global selected BTM as one of the world's top five centers among 1.895 public and private sector startup centers, including universities.

Programs for women and young people

BTM offers thematic programs in addition to essential programs, and by cooperating with local and international institutions, the center assumed the execution of various platforms such as Inventor Entrepreneur, Grow Up, Winglobal, and Investor Acceleration Platform for women and young people.