Connecting Istanbul’s startups to the world since 2012.

Start-IST builds the ecosystem around founders in Türkiye and Qatar. We bring investors, corporates and startups into the same room, advise startups from idea to investment and scale, and help companies innovate like startups.

Talk to us See what we do

Connections from IST

YearConnectionWhereStatus
2026TÜRKİYE INNOVATION WEEKISTANBULMODERATOR & CURATOR
2026UNIQUE SUMMIT · GLOBAL STARTUPCITIESGAZIANTEPPARTICIPATED
2026GITEX AI TÜRKİYEISTANBULSPEAKER & MODERATOR
2026PANGEA LAUNCH × TÜRKİYE NOMAD FESTISTANBULHOSTED
2026LONDON TECH WEEKLONDONMODERATOR & CO-HOST
2026EU-STARTUPS SUMMITVALLETTASPEAKER
2026GLOBAL STARTUP AWARDS GRAND FINALVALLETTAGLOBAL JURY
2026SWARM CONNECTION AI FUTURE SUMMITISTANBULMODERATOR
2025INVESTING IN CREATIVE INDUSTRIES · ICDTAZERBAIJANPANELIST
2025TECH ISTANBUL YOUTH ENTREPRENEURSHIP PROGRAMMEISTANBULMENTOR & JURY
2025KIVILCIM SUMMIT · BRAIN DRAIN TO BRAIN POWERONLINEPARTICIPATED
2025KAGİDER WOMEN OF TRADE · GARANTI BBVAISTANBULMC & SPEAKER
2025FINEXT FINTECH ACCELERATOR · DIJITALPARKISTANBULECOSYSTEM PARTNER & MENTOR

2012Founded in Istanbul

200+Events organized

100+Keynotes delivered

2Markets: Türkiye and Qatar

What we do

Six ways we work with startups, companies and international partners, in Türkiye and Qatar.

  • Ecosystem events

    Panels, meetups, summits, hackathons and ideathons that put founders, investors and corporates in the same room. We run the whole thing for audiences of 500 and more: programme, speakers, logistics, marketing and budget.

    For: Companies, institutions, communities

  • Startup advisory and investor matching

    From idea to investment and scale: business model, pitch and investor readiness, growth strategy, and introductions to the investors who fit your stage and sector.

    For: Founders at every stage

  • Corporate innovation

    We help established companies think like a startup. Design thinking workshops, innovation programmes, hackathons and ideathons that produce ideas teams can act on.

    For: Corporates and their teams

  • Community management

    We build and run communities that stay active: founders, freelancers, remote teams and alumni networks, online and in person, from first members to thousands across many cities.

    For: Companies, platforms, networks

  • Ecosystem building

    We help cities, institutions and organizations grow a startup ecosystem around them: programmes, partnerships and international connections, including Türkiye’s edition of the Global Startup Awards.

    For: Institutions, cities, ecosystem partners

  • Entering Türkiye

    Planning to launch in Türkiye? We act as your local partner: market insight, localization and the introductions that open doors. StartupBlink, StarOfService and Doc+ have worked with us.

    For: International companies

Mine Dedekoca speaking at the Global Startup Awards gala in Istanbul, 2024

The Global Startup Awards, in Istanbul

On 24–25 September 2024, the Global Startup Awards held its Grand Final in Türkiye for the first time, in its twelfth year. Start-IST brought it to Istanbul and organized it: a summit at Cemal Reşit Rey, followed by the awards gala at Esma Sultan Yalısı.

Garanti BBVA was the lead sponsor, with support from Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality’s Tech Istanbul. Start-IST has been the Global Startup Awards’ country partner for Türkiye since 2019.

32,000+startup applications
110,000+public votes from 120 countries
12global winners on the night
Become a partner for the next edition Visit globalstartupawards.com
Mine Dedekoca smiling by the Bosphorus, with the Bosphorus Bridge behind her
Portrait of Mine Dedekoca, founder of Start-IST Mine Dedekoca giving a keynote on stage

Founded and led by Mine Dedekoca

Mine Dedekoca is one of the best-known names in the startup community, in Türkiye and internationally. She founded Start-IST in December 2012, after a corporate career in retail and technology at Teknosa, Dixons Group and Best Buy.

Since then she has organized more than 200 events and delivered more than 100 keynotes. She was Elance-oDesk’s Startup Mobilizer in Istanbul (the company is Upwork today), ran StartupBlink’s community programme across 100 cities, and founded Davetpostasi.com, Türkiye’s first digital invitation platform.

Current roles

  • Treeo VCVenture Partner
  • Global Startup AwardsCountry Partner and Global Alumni Lead
  • Remote-First InstituteFounding Member
  • TransformIstanbul Lead Ambassador
  • ComparisonatorInvestor and Advisor

She speaks about

  • Entrepreneurship and startup investment
  • The future of work and remote work
  • AI and the future of work
  • The power of decentralization
  • Gender equality and diversity in business

Named one of Remote.com’s Top 50 Influencers. Digital Business Strategy, MIT Sloan School of Management. Sabancı University.

Mine on LinkedInminededekoca.comWatch: Türkiye Innovation Week 2026

Speaking enquiries are also handled by London Speaker Bureau Türkiye.

Track record

Fourteen years of building Istanbul’s startup ecosystem, year by year.

  1. 2026

    Joined the content and speaker curation team of Türkiye Innovation Week and moderated a session on how AI is reshaping entrepreneurship and investment. Spoke and moderated on the main stage of GITEX AI Türkiye as Venture Partner at Treeo VC. At London Tech Week, moderated a panel on female founders going global on the Türkiye Stage and co-hosted a Treeo VC side event with Saïd Business School, University of Oxford. In Valletta, spoke on the investor stage of EU-Startups Summit for Treeo VC and served on the global jury of the Global Startup Awards Grand Final. Moderated the AI startup investment panel at Swarm Connection AI Future Summit in Istanbul. Hosted Istanbul’s celebration of Pangea’s Product Hunt launch, one of 40 cities on the same day, with Türkiye Nomad Fest.

  2. 2025

    Closing keynote at BUSİAD’s Education and Development Summit in Bursa. Represented Treeo VC on a panel about investing in the creative industries, co-hosted by ICDT, SUP.VC and Invest2Create. Mentored young founders in Tech Istanbul’s entrepreneurship programme for youth and sat on its jury. Hosted KAGİDER’s Women of Trade event on Women Entrepreneurs Day, supported by Garanti BBVA. Ecosystem partner and mentor of Finext, the fintech accelerator at Dijitalpark Teknokent, as it opened to startups from the Balkans to North Africa.

  3. 2024

    Brought the Global Startup Awards Grand Final to Istanbul, its first edition in Türkiye.

  4. 2023

    Organized Vivel Network in Cappadocia, a five-day gathering of remote workers, Web3 builders, creators and musicians.

  5. 2022

    Joined the investment committee of baseFunder, a new Turkish crowdfunding platform, and hosted its launch at JustWork with a panel on crowdfunding and investment.

  6. 2019

    Became the Global Startup Awards’ country partner for Türkiye. Moderated the environmental technologies and waste management panel at INTERCLEAN Istanbul, and spoke on digital entrepreneurs at Gebze Technical University’s Entrepreneurship Summit.

  7. 2018

    Ran a hackathon and an ideathon for Tepe Savunma, an innovation workshop for Harvard graduates, and the Women Techmakers Istanbul keynote. Received the Female Entrepreneur Award from Kültür University.

  8. 2017

    Ran the Executive Talks series and Future of Work meetups, spoke at StartupBlink Paris, and ran freelance courses with Toptal and Maharat Center.

  9. 2016

    Taught lean entrepreneurship in Istanbul high schools with the Istanbul Chamber of Industry.

  10. 2015

    Organized Pitch Your Startup at Kadir Has University’s Ineo Incubation Center.

  11. 2014

    Hosted an Upwork meetup for Istanbul’s freelancers and startups.

  12. 2012

    Start-IST founded in Istanbul.

Full event archive, 2014–202051 events

2020

  • Women Techmakers, Google Developers Turkey
  • PMI Türkiye Digital Summit: The effect of remote work on project continuity

2019

  • Tuzla Rotary Club: Digital life and work habits

2018

  • Dotnet Conference
  • Career Talks at Garanti Partners
  • Blockchain Meetup at Garanti Partners
  • The Future of Work Meetup, Workinton Levent
  • Hackathon for Tepe Savunma Güvenlik
  • Innovation Workshop for Harvard University graduates
  • Digital Leadership Summit
  • Ideathon for Tepe Savunma Güvenlik
  • JavaDay Istanbul
  • Remote Work Meetup: Digital leadership, Workinton
  • Management Forum Turkey: Innovation and change in management
  • Global Entrepreneurship Conference: Startup and corporate engagement session
  • Future Summits: Future of Work, Kolektif House
  • Women Techmakers Istanbul keynote: Change the way you work
  • Female Entrepreneur Award, Kültür University
  • Entrepreneurship in High Schools, with ISO and the Directorate of National Education
  • Executive Talks: Serdar Erçal
  • Crossover Remote Work Meetup
  • Executive Talks: Berna Ülman

2017

  • Executive Talks: Barış Karakullukçu
  • Executive Talks: Mert Karaibrahimoğlu
  • Ellis Island Capital EB-5 investment visa meeting, Soho Club
  • Executive Talks: Boğaç Göncü
  • Executive Talks: Mehmet Nane
  • Breakfast with Jon Younger, New York
  • Ellis Island Capital EB-5 investment visa meeting, Izmir
  • Ellis Island Capital EB-5 investment visa meeting
  • Startup Ladies Meetup
  • Digital Entrepreneurship Conference, Economists Platform (moderator)
  • StartupBlink Paris chapter: How to work as a freelancer
  • Startup Ladies Meetup
  • Entrance to Freelance World course, powered by Toptal
  • Freelance 101 course, Maharat Center
  • Ladies Startup Meetup
  • The Future of Work Meetup

2016

  • Retail Sales Techniques and Freelance 101 courses, Maharat Center
  • Be the change during turbulent times
  • Digital Marketing 101 course
  • Transportation Sector Entrepreneurship
  • From Corporate to Entrepreneurship Meetup
  • Lean entrepreneurship course, Rüştü Uzel Vocational High School (ISO)
  • Lean Entrepreneurship Conference, Mektebim Schools
  • Lean entrepreneurship course, Beyoğlu Anadolu High School (ISO)
  • Alternative Careers and Extraordinary Startups, Bümed
  • How to get more media coverage as a startup

2015

  • Pitch Your Startup, Kadir Has University and Ineo Incubation Center
  • E-Commerce 2015 Expectations, KWORKS

2014

  • Upwork Meetup

Who we work with

Corporate clients

Startup portfolio

Affiliate partners

Latest on LinkedIn

What Mine Dedekoca is sharing about startups and the ecosystem.

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Tell us what you’re building

Startups, companies, sponsors and international partners: write to us and we will reply within two working days.

Or reach us directly

info@start-ist.com +90 532 396 70 60 Kalamış, Kadıköy, Istanbul Markets: Türkiye and Qatar