Lawyer Monthly - March 2023

incentives and supporting mechanisms for all investments in Turkey, and in particular for investments in start-ups. For instance, if the share certificates related to the shares acquired through an investment in a joint stock company are held by the investor for at least two years, the income from the sale of such share certificates is completely exempt from tax for real persons and substantially exempt for legal entities. Further, the start-ups and companies carrying out R&D activities have more tax exemptions. As for the venture capital market, the Turkish capital market legislation regulates various financial institutions such as venture capital investment trusts (VCITs) and venture capital investment funds (VCIFs) have many advantages over venture capital investments and, thus, over start-ups. Firstly, the earnings of VCITs and VCIFs arising from their activities, including the purchase and sale of shares, are exempt from corporate and income tax. Secondly, they can provide a mix of debt and equity financing to start-ups, which is a method provided only for the shareholders under Turkish legislation and VCITs and VCIFs. Lastly, carried interest and management fees, which are remuneration incentive mechanisms for the managers, are introduced to enable start-ups to receive professional management support for investment processes from experts in their fields. What do you perceive to be the main challenges for foreign investors looking to invest in Turkish tech start-ups? It would be best to answer this question from a financial and a legal perspective. One of the main challenges that foreign investors may face in Turkey is finding business partners with deep knowledge and expertise in the start-up sector and TRANSACTION INTERVIEW 13 As the world is moving away from conventionality towards a technologycentric understanding, the investments in Turkey are in line with this global trend if not faster.

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