Over 63,700 startups launched in Turkey last year

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) – Over 63,700 new companies were formed in Turkey during 2016, the Turkish Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges said in a report released on Friday.

The number of newly-established companies last year dropped by 4.49 percent compared with the previous year, according to the union.

It also said just over 11,000 companies went out of business between January and December 2016, which was a decrease of 8.88 percent compared with the same period of 2015.

Friday’s report showed 4,523 foreign-partnered or foreign-funded new companies were established in 2016, down from 4,729 previous year.

Some 1,764, or 39 percent, of foreign-partnered companies were founded directly by Syrian nationals or by Syrians in partnerships in 2016.

Out of the total number of foreign-funded companies last year, 298 were Iranian-funded, followed by 286 Iraqi companies.

In December, a total of 5,526 new companies were established in the country, a drop of nearly 13 percent compared with the same month of previous year, while 1,073 companies went out of business in that month.