Turkey’s first investment DAO has been established.

Turkey’s largest incubation centers in the gaming field have united under the umbrella of GamesUP.

Turkey’s largest incubation centers in the gaming field, Game Factory, Gamedev.ist, and Game Circle, have merged under the GamesUP platform for entrepreneurs. The announcement of Turkey’s first Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAO), or investment DAO, was also made at the event. The new investment platform, which will bring together game ventures with GFY DAO, aims to shape the global gaming industry.

GamesUP, established within YTU Yildiz Technopark, is giving a new momentum to the gaming industry by collaborating with three major game companies, providing support in various areas from incubation and acceleration to human resources for game entrepreneurs. The GamesUP Launch Party, which began with the opening speech of YTU Yildiz Technopark General Manager Orhan Tanışman, brought together important entrepreneurs and investors in the gaming ecosystem. The event also introduced Turkey’s first investment DAO, GFY DAO, alongside the collaborations. GFY DAO, which implements a secure investment process for investors in the gaming field, aims to be a new investment address where both game entrepreneurs can be supported and investors can participate without paying large amounts. The decentralized autonomous system, GYF DAO, which is the first of its kind in Turkey, adopts a blockchain-based governance. Each member who owns an NFT also has authority and decision-making power within the mechanism. GFY DAO, aiming for a more advantageous investment process than conventional investment processes, allows those who want to invest in the sector to deposit early-stage game companies.

At the event that brought together entrepreneurs and investors, four entrepreneurs, including Enis Kirazoğlu, presented their new projects for investment support.

“We have more than 10,000 members and 200 start-ups.”

YTU Yildiz Technopark Deputy General Manager İsa Turgut İnci, who expressed that they manage a large gaming ecosystem, said, “We started the GamesUP project about 18 months ago with the support of the Development Agency, and we ignited the first spark at that time. Today, after 18 months, we have a large ecosystem with more than 10,000 members, 200 start-ups, and a value reaching billions of dollars. Our goal here is to manage a large gaming ecosystem created by the teams of Game Factory, Game Circle, and Gamedev.ist, each with their own expertise.” 

“We will bring both exports and investments to Turkey.”

İsa Turgut İnci, stating that they will ensure the relocation of investments to Turkey at the international level, said, “We continue to invest. This time, we have taken our scale to the next level. Our aim is to manage an investment tour that can be decided by its own community, along with up to 13,000 members through NFT ownership. In other words, to enable investment in game and Web 3.0 projects. However, this time, the leadership will be democratic, with all members making their own decisions. It will be a reliable and transparent platform. In addition, our other strong point is internationalization. We have significant offices abroad as well. In the gaming ecosystem, especially Abu Dhabi and all the emirates continue to make significant investments in this ecosystem. The investment side has also made a significant impact abroad. We also invest in each of these start-ups I mentioned. We have a structure where the fixed leg of the intellectual capital compass remains in Istanbul, but we scan the entire global ecosystem with its other leg. Intellectual capital will be in Istanbul, and we will bring both exports and investments to Turkey,” he said.

“We wanted to solve the problems of ‘trust’ and ‘transparency’ with DAO.”

Murat Kahraman, Co-Founder of Game Factory, explained why they used the DAO system as a priority: “There are actually two problems that DAO system aims to solve. One is trust, and the other is transparency. Unlike traditional companies, we do not leave the management solely to a management team; all members of the DAO are involved in the management through voting. The transparency aspect is that all rules are already written in the code, so both the rules and all decisions made are recorded on the blockchain and are completely transparent and accessible to everyone,” he said.

“All members will be involved in both management and ownership.”

Murat Kahraman emphasized that members are involved in both management and ownership, saying, “Our DAO is an investment DAO. Our goal is to raise funds and make crypto investments for early-stage games and Web 3.0. The difference here is that we enter GFY DAO by buying NFTs with a low venture cost, and the money collected from these NFTs forms our fund. Each NFT holder becomes a partner in the DAO according to the number of NFTs they own.”

“If we succeed, we will have a significant position worldwide.”

Kahraman, stating that they can achieve an important position in the industry with GFY DAO, concluded his speech by saying: “There are already very successful traditional game investment funds in Turkey. However, to enter traditional investment funds, an investor must be an accredited investor, a family office, or another fund, and they can enter with very high amounts of money. It is also necessary to lock that money for a long time. However, the main difference of DAO is that it is open to everyone with very low costs. That’s actually the characteristic of DAOs; to create a large community and benefit from the power of that community. Therefore, high entry costs are not created. In fact, at the moment, you can enter the platform with just $80. At the same time, this will enable us to achieve a significant position in this industry worldwide.”