Atanova Ventures

Atanova Ventures is an Izmir-based seed fund that takes a sector-agnostic view of the Turkish startup market, treating digital health as one slice of a much larger thesis that also covers fintech, marketplaces, gaming, proptech, energy, and education. For physician founders, that breadth is the point: Atanova does not pretend to be a clinical specialist, and any conversation will start with the assumption that you understand the medicine while they bring local capital, networks, and an early belief in the team.

The stated thesis is simple. Atanova writes the first or second institutional check into Turkish founders building software-led businesses, and they typically come in alongside other angels and small funds rather than leading. Health, when it appears, tends to be consumer-facing digital health rather than enterprise clinical software, which fits the broader pattern of their sector list. Vampr is one of the portfolio companies Atanova lists publicly, illustrating the consumer-platform leaning of the book.

Check sizes sit below 250 thousand dollars, which positions Atanova as a pre-seed and seed co-investor rather than a round leader. Geography is concentrated in Turkiye, and the fund expects companies to either be headquartered there or to have a clear and credible Turkish operational footprint. International expansion is welcome later, but the entry point is local. There is no public signal that the fund follows on heavily, so founders should plan for additional sources of capital at Series A.

The team is led by founder-side operators who have built and exited Turkish technology companies, though the fund does not publish a detailed partner roster. That keeps the diligence style informal and founder-driven rather than committee-driven, which can be an advantage if you are early and pre-revenue but have a credible product wedge.

Physician founders considering Atanova should approach when they are Turkish-based or planning a Turkish launch, have a working prototype, and are putting together a small pre-seed or seed round where Atanova can sit alongside two or three other investors. Reach them through warm introductions from existing portfolio founders or through Turkish startup programs and accelerators that Atanova has visibility into. Avoid pitching pure clinical AI or regulated medical-device plays unless you already have the regulatory and clinical workstreams figured out, because Atanova will not be the partner who guides you through FDA or CE pathways. They are best understood as patient local capital for digital-health-adjacent consumer or SaaS plays where the Turkish market is the wedge into a larger regional opportunity.