Türkiye’s Laton Ventures raises $50M to invest in global game and app startups

Laton Ventures, a gaming and apps focused venture capital firm founded by Görkem Türk, has closed its first fund with $50 million.

The Istanbul venture capital fund is the largest gaming and apps-focused fund in Türkiye, which has become one of the prominent global hubs for the gaming industry, said Türk in a statement.

Laton Ventures will globally invest in pre-seed and seed stage gaming startups, while also backing non-gaming app companies. Back in April, when announced the fund, it had raised $35 million.

Distinguished by its discretionary hands-on operational support model, has experienced significant growth and traction in nearly half of the companies it invested in within its first year.

During its first year, Laton Ventures made five pre-seed and seed stage investments in gaming companies across Türkiye, the United States, and Europe. Two of these companies have achieved significant milestones, raising sizable Series-A rounds.

One of them, Grand Games who is a Turkish mobile gaming company, has achieved securing a $30 million Series-A funding round in a record nine months after its inception. The second portfolio company who also raised a Series-A round is undisclosed for now.

Laton Ventures ranked among the global top 10 most active pre-seed and seed stage gaming VC funds in its first year. Laton’s portfolio includes a diverse set of companies, from cutting-edge mobile gaming studios to innovative social gaming platforms.

The company has made five investments so far. Three of those founders are in Türkiye or the companies were founded by Turkish founders. Three people work full-time for the fund and two work part-time.

Laton Ventures is backed by over 40 exited gaming/tech founders and industry veterans spanning more than 10 countries. Among them are founders or former executives of renowned companies such as Peak, Gram, Loop, and Huuuge. The fund’s investors also include high-profile corporations such as Supercell, the creator of hit games like Clash of Clans, and Tibas Ventures, the venture capital arm of İş Bankası, Türkiye’s largest private bank. In addition, the fund is supported by institutional investors and family offices from various parts of the world.

Founding partner Türk said in a statement, “We believe in talented teams with exceptional vision, developing innovative games, apps, and next-generation entertainment platforms. We are passionate about the mobile platform and its future evolution, driven by the tailwind of AI and integration of social elements.”

Türk said, “We are proud of the achievements of our portfolio companies and the progress made in our first year, which has been a testament to the strength of our focused investment strategy. We feel privileged and excited about supporting the best founders in the gaming and apps ecosystems across Türkiye and the globe.”

Prior to founding Laton, Türk was gaming and startups industry manager at Google, where he led partnerships and growth advisory with gaming/apps startups and ecosystem partners. Türk also has held various roles at companies such as P&G and Value Partners Management Consulting throughout his career.

Asked what the company would invest in, Türk said, “We will focus on the categories with very large audience base in mobile gaming. Similarly, we will focus on non-gaming apps with use cases that appeal to very large audiences.”

He said Laton will not be investing in Web3 and crypto-related business models for this specific fund.

He said, “We will keep working with the best teams.”