Istanbul Venture Capital Initiative (iVCi), founded in 2007, is Turkey’s first ever dedicated fund of funds and co-investment programme. The investors in iVCi are the Small and Medium Industry Development Organisation of Turkey (KOSGEB), the Technology Development Foundation of Turkey (TTGV), the Development Bank of Turkey (TKB), Garanti Bank, National Bank of Greece Group (NBG) and the European Investment Fund (EIF). EIF is the adviser to iVCi.
iVCi leverages on the experience of EIF, the European Union’s specialised financial body for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and the risk capital arm of the European Investment Bank Group (EIB Group).
As at 30 November 2011, iVCi has signed seven commitments amounting to EUR 112.5 million. Two further signatures amounting to EUR 32 million are envisaged during the first quarter of 2012 bringing the total portfolio to nine funds and EUR 144.5 million committed to Turkish private equity.