Prosus Found-HER Challenge Türkiye

Opens Its Doors to Women Entrepreneurs

Prosus, in partnership with Endeavor Türkiye – which has contributed to Türkiye's entrepreneurship ecosystem for 20 years – and iyzico – leading financial technology company and online payment gateway – today announces the launch of the Prosus Found-HER Challenge in Türkiye. The programme aims to accelerate the growth journeys of technology-focused ventures with a female founder or co-founder. Applications opened on 23 September, via the Endeavor and Prosus websites, and awards will be presented at a closing pitch event on 18 November.

Having previously reached more than 1,300 women founders across India, Africa and Romania, the Prosus Found-HER Challenge aims to ease access to capital — one of the biggest obstacles facing women founders — while giving selected ventures non-dilutive grant funding as well as access to Prosus's global business network and greater visibility.

Applications for the Prosus Found-HER Challenge Türkiye will close on 16 October 2026, on which the first-stage evaluation of applications takes place. Following the evaluation process, ten selected ventures will present their business models and growth plans to investors, industry representatives and the press at an event on 18 November 2026. Following these pitches, a jury evaluation will determine which ventures receive the equity-free grants.

The inequality in women founders' access to capital is also clearly visible in current data. According to global data compiled by Founders Forum Group, of the approximately $289 billion invested in startups worldwide in 2024, only 2.3% ($6.7 billion) went to ventures run solely by women founders; although women founders made up 6.4% of ventures, they received a far smaller share of total capital.

Women founders' access to capital remains one of the most pronounced gaps in the ecosystem in Türkiye, just as it is globally. According to 2025 TÜİK data, only 18% of entrepreneurs in Türkiye are women. The picture is even narrower on the technology side: according to startups.watch's Türkiye Startup Ecosystem 2025 Annual Review, 22% of ventures founded during the year had at least one woman founder, and only a quarter of investment went to a venture with a woman founder. Programmes such as the Prosus Found-HER Challenge aim precisely to change this picture and accelerate women founders' access to capital.

Aslı Kurul Türkmen, Managing Director of Endeavor Türkiye, said: "The number of women founders in Türkiye's entrepreneurship ecosystem is growing every year, but there is still a significant gap in access to investment. The Found-HER Challenge, which we have launched together with Prosus, steps in at exactly this point: while easing access to capital — one of the biggest obstacles facing women entrepreneurs — it also opens the door to a global network and greater visibility. As Endeavor, which has supported Türkiye's strongest founders since 2007, our aim with this programme is to ensure our women founders' stories are heard more widely and to accelerate their growth journeys."

Orkun Saitoğlu, CEO of iyzico, said: "At iyzico, in line with our vision of democratising financial services, we care about going beyond being simply a payments infrastructure company with every step we take. With this understanding, we support women's stronger participation in production, the economy and the entrepreneurship ecosystem; through initiatives such as the iyzico Women Entrepreneur Support Programme, under which 543 women entrepreneurs have so far generated more than TL 200 million in business volume, we stand alongside women as they strengthen their businesses in the digital economy and build sustainable models. Having witnessed the growth stories of hundreds of ventures over the years, we have seen that the obstacle in front of the boldest ideas is often not talent itself, but who believes in that talent and when — and we believe in the potential of women entrepreneurs in our country. The Prosus Found-HER Challenge offers an opportunity to demonstrate that potential concretely. We are excited and proud to be part of these new stories."

Prosus Chief Sustainability Officer Prajna Khanna, said: “We know women founders across Türkiye are already innovating and solving real problems. With Tech FoundHer Türkiye, we welcome you to join the challenge — the spotlight and the backing are here."

About Endeavor

Headquartered in New York and operating in more than 45 countries in support of high-impact entrepreneurs, Endeavor has been identifying scale-up-stage ventures in Türkiye since 2007 and accelerating their growth with the support of its Board members and mentors. With a global network of more than 3,000 entrepreneurs and more than 4,000 mentors, Endeavor's selected companies from Türkiye include successful names such as Codeway, Getmobil, Yemeksepeti, Insider One, iyzico and Midas. Emre Kurttepeli, founder of Mynet and Vuvy, serves as Chairman of the Board of Endeavor Türkiye. For more information: https://turkiye.endeavor.org/

About iyzico

Having begun offering AI-based digital payment systems services alongside Virtual POS in the e-commerce world in 2013, iyzico today serves more than 40 sectors through 185,000 member merchants, and is Türkiye's leading financial technology company with 10 million digital wallet users and an annual transaction volume exceeding TL 400 billion. With its user-friendly and reliable infrastructure, offering innovative payment solutions and an end-to-end integrated shopping experience, iyzico gained global strength in 2019 upon joining Prosus. Supporting business growth through virtual and physical payments, B2B collections and financial solutions, iyzico offers users a fast, secure and easy shopping experience through iyzico ile Öde (Pay with iyzico). For more information, visit www.iyzico.com.