Trustlife Ventures

Trustlife Ventures is an Istanbul-based specialized health technologies fund focused on systems biology and AI-supported drug development, operating across pre-seed, seed, and Series A with checks in the $1M to $5M range. AI is an explicit focus, and the fund’s positioning in pharma, biotech, and AI/ML in healthcare distinguishes it from most generalist Turkish VCs. The thesis depth is real: this is a healthcare-specialized fund in a region where specialized health investors remain rare. The right founder for Trustlife is a scientist-founder or technical operator with deep credentials in systems biology, computational biology, AI for drug discovery, or pharmaceutical R&D technology, often emerging from Bogazici, METU, or international academic and industry research backgrounds, with a defensible technical position and a credible path to global pharma or biotech market relevance. The wrong founder is a consumer wellness brand, a generic digital health software team without scientific depth, or a Series A-plus company looking for an institutional lead at scale outside the AI-and-biology thesis. Intro paths run through Turkey’s biotech and pharma research networks including Bogazici University, METU, and the broader Turkish university system, frequent co-investors and follow-on partners including European biotech investors such as Sofinnova Partners, Forbion, and Apollo Health Ventures, US-based pharma technology investors, and Turkish growth capital including Earlybird Digital East and 212. Direct outreach from credentialed scientist-founders is reasonable, with warm intros from biotech operators or academic affiliations materially accelerating diligence. In the pitch, lead with the science: target validation, mechanism, IP strategy, the publication record of the founding team, and the realistic preclinical, computational milestone, or pharma partnership that the round will fund. Be specific about FDA or EMA strategy, since Turkish-only therapeutic markets do not generate venture returns, and about the path to clinical sites or pharma partnerships in the US, EU, or both. Show realistic capital intensity for AI-and-biology businesses which can be modest at the platform stage but expand quickly into Series B. Caveats include the structural FX volatility that affects all Turkish venture, the limited follow-on syndicate depth for biotech-and-AI deals within Turkey, and the reality that founders should plan to redomicile the holding company in Delaware, the UK, or another acceptable jurisdiction early. For credentialed Turkish or CEE scientist-founders working at the AI-biology interface, Trustlife is one of very few thesis-aligned regional partners.