The Digital Company Committee

On 12 March 2024, our managing partner Mümtaz Hacıpaşaoğlu was invited to the Digital Company Committee (Dijital Şirket Heyeti), convened to assess the “Digital Company” initiative from an ecosystem perspective.

The committee gathered to collect views and proposals on the scope and approach that would create maximum benefit for the ecosystem in implementing the “Digital Company” item set out in Türkiye’s National Technology Entrepreneurship Strategy, which describes the initiative as follows:

“A digital company application will be launched specifically for technology- and innovation-based ventures — with simplified incorporation and dissolution procedures and special tax exemptions — encouraging more Turkish startups to be founded while also making it easier to attract successful ventures from abroad into our ecosystem, by bringing the existing company types to life in a digital environment.”

Committee Participants

The committee brought together public institutions, professional bodies, and private-sector and ecosystem representatives:

• İmran Gürakan — Ankara TEKMER (CEO)
• Mümtaz Hacıpaşaoğlu — Vircon Group – Clemta (Founding Partner)
• Kenan Açıkelli — Mükellef (CEO)
• Onur Ege — KOSGEB (Director, Entrepreneurship Supports)
• Asım Türkmen — KOSGEB (Head of SME Development Department)
• Duygu Kılıç Çanakçımaksutoğlu — TOBB (Entrepreneurship Director)
• Gökhan Mirahmetoğlu — TOBB (Director, Turkish Trade Registry Gazette)
• Hüseyin Karslıoğlu — Sistem Global (Chairman of the Board)
• Eray Kumdereli — PwC Türkiye (Partner)
• Erim Nehir Kargacı — Ventera Partners (Partner)
• Damla Turan — Ministry of Industry and Technology (Head of Technology Entrepreneurship Department)
• Fahri Dağlar — Ministry of Industry and Technology (Expert)
• Muhammed Seyid Pehlivan — Ministry of Industry and Technology (Expert)

Our Contribution: A Cross-Institutional Roadmap

As part of the committee’s work, and in line with the vision of the National Technology Initiative (Milli Teknoloji Hamlesi), we prepared a report on how the “Digital Company” process could be made easier. Starting from the observation that the process depends not on one institution but on several acting in coordination, the report focused on concrete steps four key actors could take, together with international examples:

• Ministry of Trade — running incorporation and dissolution fully online, integrating MERSİS and the Trade Registry into a single window, and clarifying the legal framework for the digital company type.
• Ministry of Treasury and Finance — designing the tax exemptions and incentives for technology ventures to be predictable and aligned with digital-company status.
• Municipalities — operating business-opening, licensing, and local-permit processes electronically and through a single point, consistent with the digital-company model.
• Ministry of Interior — accelerating and digitalising residence- and work-permit processes for founders coming from abroad, so the ecosystem becomes genuinely attractive.

The report drew on international examples adaptable to Türkiye — Estonia (e-Residency), where fully digital incorporation is possible; the United Kingdom (Companies House) and Singapore (ACRA), where a company can be formed online within hours; and the United States (Delaware), known for its speed and predictability — as good practices.

Our View

The “Digital Company” is not merely an incorporation convenience; it is a strategic lever for Türkiye’s twin goals of increasing the number of domestic startups and attracting successful ventures into its ecosystem. Done right — with full inter-agency coordination, a clear legal framework, and a predictable tax regime — we believe this application can give the Turkish startup ecosystem a durable competitive advantage. We were glad to contribute to the committee and will follow the initiative’s development closely.