Laton Ventures, an ambitious new gaming-focused venture capital firm, has raised $35 million to invest in the game industry in Turkiye and beyond. With a keen eye on the evolving landscape of games and interactive entertainment, Laton Ventures is poised to leverage Turkiye’s rising status as a global hub in these dynamic industries. Laton Ventures is set to become the vital link connecting Turkish and global gaming ecosystems by investing not only in Turkiye but also globally.
Laton Ventures places a strong emphasis on providing operational advisory to its portfolio companies in fields like user acquisition, game design, development and analytics. In addition to the fund team who has hands-on experience in these fields, the fund will also leverage its industry-veteran advisor team and extensive network in supporting portfolio companies. Laton’s strategy is to be a daily ally for its portfolio founders. This approach does not only reduce execution risks, but also enables Laton to have the status of a partner-of-choice among founders as well as fellow investors. Laton has already seen its unique model facilitate access to highly competitive deals.
With a focus on pre-seed and seed stages, the fund will seek out startups of industry-leading talent with an unparalleled vision, robust execution capabilities and hunger for success that have the potential to scale into massive companies. In its investment strategy, Laton will be agnostic towards different gaming platforms as well as content and services, although acknowledging the fund team’s strong background in mobile gaming.
“Laton is experiencing a very robust deal flow, demonstrating the effectiveness of our unique operational advisory model as well as the positioning as a bridge between the Turkish and global gaming ecosystems” Founding Partner Görkem Türk commented. The fund has already invested in five companies in the past six months: 2 in Turkiye, 2 in Europe and 1 in the USA. Notably, the most of these deals were highly competitive where even globally leading funds did not manage to secure allocations. This success in securing allocations in sought-after deals and co-investing alongside some of the best funds of the world is a testament to Laton’s approach and reputation.
Laton brought together highflyers of the game industry with proven track records as well as seasoned investors. The fund is founded and led by Görkem Türk, the former Gaming & Startups Industry Manager at Google. His expertise in partnering gaming founders and extensive industry network are pivotal to Laton’s mission. Accompanying Görkem, Laton has a strong investment team that brings a diverse experience from companies such as Peak Games and Boston Consulting Group. Laton is backed by over 20 prominent figures in gaming and technology industries including Mehmet Ecevit, Co-Founder of Gram Games; Mert Gür, Founder of Loop Games; Mert Can Kurum, Founder of Ruby Games; Fırat İleri, Managing Partner of Hummingbird Ventures; Nevzat Aydın, Founder of Yemeksepeti and Eric Kress, Founder of Gossamer. All these people are investors to the fund, where some of them also act as advisors to Laton’s portfolio companies in addition to being an investor in the fund.
Supercell, creator of games like Clash of Clans and Clash Royale, has also invested in Laton Ventures.
In addition, the fund has secured investment from major financial institutions including 100th Year venture capital arm of İş Bankası (Turkiye’s largest private bank).
Founding Partner Görkem Türk stated:
“As the brightest talent continues to flock to the gaming industry and with the player numbers globally reaching an all-time high, we stand at the beginning of a new era for entertainment experiences. As Laton, we are on a mission to support the best teams looking to tap this exciting opportunity ahead with innovative approaches and unparalleled execution.”
