Türkiye Invests in Sovereign AI Infrastructure to Reduce Tech Dependence
Türkiye is making a strategic push to establish a fully independent artificial intelligence infrastructure, aiming to bolster domestic tech companies and lessen reliance on foreign technologies. This initiative signals a growing commitment to technological sovereignty in a critical sector.
A leading venture capital firm, Ena Venture Capital, is spearheading this effort, with plans to become a major investor in early-stage AI startups within the country. According to a strategy advisor at Ena Venture Capital, the fund views establishing Türkiye’s sovereign AI capabilities as a national priority.
The fund’s investment strategy focuses on companies operating in the fields of AI, cloud computing, and cybersecurity, specifically targeting those in the pre-seed and seed stages of development. Speaking at the Take Off Istanbul 2025 startup event, the advisor highlighted the firm’s current portfolio.
“We are participating in Take Off Istanbul with four firms,” the advisor stated. These include Orbina, specializing in agentic AI; Enlighty, focused on customer and market insights; MagicPay, developing a payment processing system; and CloudFlex, offering a hybrid cloud computing infrastructure.
Orbina has already demonstrated significant success, securing large projects within the finance sector – serving both insurers and banks – as well as in the public sector. The advisor emphasized the firm’s efficiency gains through automation. “Orbina’s offerings enable institutions to work more efficiently by automating tasks,” they explained. A key differentiator for Orbina is its development of a Turkish large language model (LLM), designed to provide AI agents that excel in understanding and responding in the Turkish language.
Another key investment by Ena Venture Capital is Nuvena, a company dedicated to building the foundational infrastructure for Türkiye’s sovereign AI. The advisor explained the rationale behind this investment.
“What we noticed when making the investment fund is that all AI startups we invest in unfortunately face infrastructure needs – they try to bridge the gap outside of Türkiye, so we said, ‘Let’s make an investment in Türkiye and create our own sovereign AI infrastructure,’ since, this way, our startups can use this as a base instead of reaching for abroad,” they said. “And we want to achieve this goal with Nuvena.”
The Nuvena investment is centered around creating substantial data center capacity within Türkiye and constructing an AI layer on top of that infrastructure. The ultimate goal, the advisor stated, is to enable Turkish firms and startups to source their capacity and hardware needs domestically, rather than relying on foreign solutions. This move represents a significant step towards technological independence and a thriving domestic AI ecosystem.
