Skip to content Skip to footer
TRAngels
TRAngels

Frequently Asked Questions

Close
Before sending your question to TRAngels, we kindly request you to check the answers we have prepared for the following topics. If you have a question other than below, please send us an email.

INVESTORS

As TRAngels, we are an angel investment network accredited to the Individual Participation System affiliated with the Ministry of Treasury. To maintain our identity as a market maker in collaboration with both our angel investors holding the “Individual Participation Investor” license and individual investors, we track projects that will add value to the ecosystem. Investors usually apply us with the reference of investors in our network. In addition, the applications of investors who reach us directly are also assessed by our Investors Group Committee. Investors who join TRAngels pay an annual membership fee, which is renewed yearly. Investors who do not renew their membership will have their membership canceled.
The TRAngels General Secretariat sends a membership invitation, membership application form, and membership agreement to the prospective investor candidates, referred by at least one of our TRAngels Investors Group members. Investor candidates who contact TRAngels directly share their resumes with the General Secretariat of TRAngels. Then, the General Secretariat shares the Investors Group Committee’s assessment of the member candidate with the applicant.
All TRAngels Investors Group members receive information on early-stage projects that have passed the first assessment, advanced projects or projects operating globally. Investors Group Meetings are held at least once a month, and at least two projects are presented to the investors. Investors are updated with the announcements of meetings, investment opportunities, and major ecosystem events through e-mail and Whatsapp groups. Investors assess the projects based on their personal preferences. They can attend the question-and-answer sessions to learn more about the start-ups. Whether they are partners or not, all our angel investors have equal rights to participate in our current committees and be a leading investor. The presentation and contact details of all projects listened are provided with our Investors Group members upon their request.

INDIVIDUAL PARTICIPATION INVESTOR (IPI) LICENSE

TRAngels Angel Investment Network is still one of the few angel investment networks accredited by the Ministry of Treasury and Finance. Endowing all the criteria of the Ministry of Treasury and Finance since we founded seven years ago, our certification was reaffirmed again for another 5 years. Thus, if our investors get an IPI license from the Ministry of Treasury and Finance through our network, they will be able to obtain a tax exemption/advantage of 75 % to 100 % for their investments.

The Ministry of Treasury and Finance have certain conditions for investors getting an IPI license.

These can be grouped into two:

a) Investors with high income or wealth;

Investors with an annual gross income of at least 200,000,- TL in the last 2 years before getting the license, or with a total assets (all kinds of securities and real estates) of at least 1,000,000 TL at the time of license application. Here, assets other than the current residence are considered.

b) Experienced investors;

  • Fund / Portfolio Manager or senior positions in banking & financial institutions
  • Senior executives in big companies (25 million TL yearly income)
  • Experienced executives in local incubations/technology development centers

Individual participation investor (IPI) license is valid for 5 years. At the end of the license period, individual participation investors can request license renewal through accredited angel investment networks and the license period can be extended for another 5 years.

To benefit from tax support and other advantages, individual investors must submit required documents to the Ministry of Treasury and Finance and apply for investment through accredited angel investment network before making an investment. Individual Participation Investor discount application was created with the Temporary Article 82 of the Income Tax Law, and tax incentives were granted to individual participants. The “Communiqué on the Individual Participation Investor Discount” contains detailed explanations of the methods and concepts governing the individual participation investor discount.

According to the regulation in this Communiqué;

  • 75% of the purchase price of the participation shares of fully liable joint stock companies,
  • 100% of the purchase price of the shares of the entrepreneurial joint stock companies whose projects have been supported in the last five years within the scope of research, development and innovation programs determined by the Ministry of Industry and Technology, Tübitak and Kosgeb,

can be deducted from the earnings and revenues declared in the annual declaration as an individual participation investor discount.

START-UPs

You can apply us through the GUST platform on our website. If the project matches our assessment criteria, we invite start-ups to our investment project meetings.

As TRAngels, we are particularly interested in projects that are in the seed stage, as well as those that are in the start-up or incubation stage. We prioritize investing in ventures that we believe have a high chance of success.

During the assessment, we are primarily looking for certain answers

  • Is there a market need for the product or service that the start-up develops?
  • Does the proposed solution fit this need? Does it make a difference?
  • Is it possible to implement this work technologically?

The second and equally crucial criterion for us is to determine whether the entrepreneurs can establish a harmonized team, whether they can implement this business plan, whether they have adequate knowledge and passion, and whether they can sustain the business.

Naturally, the scale of the project’s added value, the business’s growth potential as well as the possibility of expansion in the worldwide market, the market itself and market entrance model, financial projections, and profitability analyses are among the other elements we look for in a start-up.

As TRAngels, we do not make any distinctions based on sector. Our primary investment focus is on whether the project is innovative and open to development, a new technology or an application. In addition to this, we are also interested in start-ups that are pioneering, have the potential to scale and open to global markets.

We share not only our entrepreneurs’ dreams and ideas, but also their risk and success. We embrace our start-ups as our own business since we already experienced that capital investment alone is insufficient for the development of a formation at the start of its commercial existence. With our “leading investor” approach, designed and developed based in response to this demand, we work voluntarily for the best interests of our entrepreneurs. While we invest like a co-op, we also provide our smart money which is the sum of our collective experience and expertise. We provide our start-ups our capabilities, our know-how and our connections gained during our careers in numerous local and global roles in a variety of industries.

First, we use various channels in finding projects. There are projects shared by our members who participate in ecosystem events, in addition to our angel investors who serve as mentors at incubation centers and jury members at “Demo Days”. Also, an investment pool is created through the applications from investors, entrepreneurs, other institutions and via GUST. In our project committee meetings, we have a chance to hear the projects and one or more of our angel investors volunteers to serve as a supervisor for any start-up that is approved to be thoroughly researched. As a result, our volunteer investors coordinate this pre-assessment stage. He/she delivers commercial predictions for the enterprise, the market, and the business model. If this study is positive, the project is presented to the Investors Group.

The start-up, which has high commercial potential, is presented to the Investor Group Project Meeting to understand whether there is enough investor interest to meet the financing needs. At this point, all members of the TRAngels Investors Group have heard about the start-up.

The start-up, which attracted attention during this meeting, is examined in detail by our angel investor who volunteers to be a project manager. If technical expertise is required, TRAngels’ investors and their connections provide mentorship. At this stage, the business plan and financial forecasts are examined in more detail.

After this detailed examination, if the project manager investor confirms that the start-up is compatible with TRAngels AŞ investment strategies and can be assessed, she/he recommends to the Project Committee for investment and gets approval. She/he is responsible of all the documentation represents the start-up in the Investment Board.

  • A team made up of people who are resilient, dedicated, capable of doing business, solution-oriented, have effective communication skills, and have experience in their industry
  • Offering a solution for an opportunity with a high growth potential in the market
  • Having a well-prepared business plan and projection
  • Preparing an exit plan and options for its investors
  • Sharing the first user experience with a minimally working model or prototype
  • Ability to dominate a market with competitive advantage
  • Targeting global markets
  • Being sustainable
  • Providing financial projections and profitability analysis with the market entry model