Equity crowdfunding (paya dayalı kitle fonlaması) in Turkey is structurally interest-free: you buy newly issued shares in a joint-stock company through a platform listed by the Capital Markets Board (SPK), your money sits in escrow at Takasbank until the campaign closes, and the shares are registered in your name at the Central Registry (MKK). What it is not is Shariah-screened. Neither fonbulucu nor Fonangels runs a scholar committee, so the halal work is yours: check the business the company does, the balance sheet it already carries, the share rights in the information form, and the escrow terms. In 2026 a non-qualified investor may put in up to 500,000 TL a year, or 2,000,000 TL with declared income, under SPK Communiqué III-35/A.2.
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The rulebook: SPK Communiqué III-35/A.2
The Crowdfunding Communiqué III-35/A.2 was published in the Official Gazette on 27 October 2021, number 31641, and governs both share-based and debt-based crowdfunding. Only platforms the SPK has placed on its list may operate; the list on spk.gov.tr showed 18 platforms on 23 September 2026, from Vakıf Yatırım (listed 1 April 2021) and Global Kitle Fonlama Platformu AŞ, the company behind fonbulucu (8 April 2021), through Girişim Kitle Fonlama Platformu AŞ, the company behind Fonangels (24 February 2022), to Misyon Yatırım Bankası (27 March 2025) and Fonventure (28 August 2025). A platform needs 15,000,000 TL of paid-in capital for 2026, contracts with the MKK and an escrow agent, and an investment committee of at least three people, the majority with at least five years' experience in finance, entrepreneurship, business, law, technology, industry or trade.
Money can only be raised for new shares issued through a capital increase; existing shares cannot be sold through a campaign, and the shares may be non-voting. All funds must be paid in cash. Non-qualified investors must all receive shares with identical rights, and the information form (bilgi formu) must spell out every right and any privilege. A company may run at most two share-based campaigns in any 12 months, may collect up to 20 percent above its target as additional funding if the form says so, and its founders may not transfer their own shares for three years from the start of the campaign except to qualified investors, among themselves, or by inheritance, matrimonial property rules or enforcement. Our investing hub puts crowdfunding next to the other halal options.
The 2026 limits and the two-day exit
The communiqué's thresholds are revalued every year and announced in the SPK Bulletin. For the 2026 calendar year a natural person who is not a qualified investor may invest at most 500,000 TL across share-based and debt-based campaigns, rising to 2,000,000 TL if the person declares annual net income to the platform; the MKK runs the check using the latest declaration. Campaigns with a target above 9,000,000 TL must have at least 10 percent of the target filled by qualified investors before the target counts as reached, and the same figure triggers the special-purpose audit report. For debt-based projects the per-project cap on a non-qualified investor is 200,000 TL.
A campaign runs from the day the committee-approved information form is published and may not exceed 60 days. From the moment you give a payment order you have 48 hours to withdraw without giving a reason, and the escrow agent must process the refund the next business day. If the target including any extra sale is reached early, the platform may close the campaign only once every investor's 48-hour window has passed. Funds are blocked at the escrow agent in the platform's name during the campaign; on success they move to the company's blocked account, on failure they go back to investors. Fonangels states on its home page that Takasbank is the escrow agent and that failed campaigns are refunded by Takasbank.
What the two platforms publish
fonbulucu is the registered brand of Global Kitle Fonlama Platformu AŞ and its home page on 23 September 2026 pointed to four things: a share-based platform, a separate debt-based crowdfunding platform, a venture capital investment fund and a digital angel network. Fonangels, the brand of Girişim Kitle Fonlama Platformu AŞ in Gebze, lists its SPK authorisation date as 24 February 2022, accepts investments from 1 TL after e-Devlet, TCKN and phone verification, and shows its closed rounds with investor counts: Corbiq raised 10,221,017 TL against a 10,000,000 TL target from 332 investors, MetatechTR 53,771,652 TL against 50,000,000 TL, and a machinery and robotics company 26,400,000 TL against 22,000,000 TL from 948 investors. One campaign, Oylio, was open at 2,529,700 TL of a 5,000,000 TL target with 30 days remaining.
Fonangels answers the exit question honestly: returns can come from dividends, a trade sale, a public offering or a sale on a secondary market that Borsa İstanbul is planning, dividends are at the entrepreneur's discretion, and profit may take three to five years or more. Our fonbulucu versus Fonangels comparison weighs the two venues; this article is about what you do once you are on either.
A six-step halal screen for a campaign
- Confirm the instrument is equity: the campaign must be share-based (paya dayalı), because debt-based crowdfunding (borçlanmaya dayalı) pays a fixed return on money, which the Diyanet's 2020 ruling on interest-bearing loans excludes.
- Screen the business: read the information form's description of activity and revenue and reject alcohol, gambling, interest-based finance, pork, adult content and weapons, and treat tobacco and conventional insurance intermediation as exclusions too.
- Screen the balance sheet: apply the TKBB thresholds that Turkey's halal stock indices use, which our 33/33/5 standard explainer sets out, to the audited or management figures in the form, and ask the platform for the ratio of interest-bearing debt and interest-bearing deposits to total assets.
- Check the share rights: the form must state the rights of the shares you receive; non-voting shares are permitted and acceptable, but any clause that guarantees you a fixed return or a buy-back at a fixed premium turns the investment into a loan.
- Ask about the escrow return: the form must disclose whether the escrow agent earns a return on the blocked funds (nemalandırma) and that return is refunded to investors before transfer; if it is interest, decline it or give it away as the Diyanet's 2020 ruling requires.
- Size the position to the law and to loss: stay within the 500,000 TL or 2,000,000 TL annual limit, assume the shares are illiquid until Borsa İstanbul's secondary market exists, and invest only what a total write-off would not harm.
Step three is where most campaigns fail or pass quietly. An early-stage company often has no interest-bearing debt at all, which makes it cleaner than most listed shares, but a company that has already taken a conventional bank loan and plans to raise crowdfunding equity to service it is a different proposition. The information form's use-of-funds section is the place to look, and the SPK requires the platform to confirm you have read the form before your order is accepted. Our guide to halal stock screening on BIST uses the same ratios on listed companies if you want a worked example.
What the Diyanet texts say about this kind of investing
There is no Diyanet ruling on crowdfunding by name, but the building blocks are all decided. The High Board's 19 December 2018 ruling on participation banking describes partnership (muşareke), where parties put in capital together and share profit and loss, as a legitimate form of investment, which is exactly what buying shares in a joint-stock company is. Its 4 December 2017 ruling on crypto assets supplies the general tests for any new financial product: major uncertainty (garar) in how it is produced and issued, use as a tool of deception (tağrir), and unjust enrichment of a particular group. A regulated campaign with an audited information form, Takasbank escrow and MKK registration passes the uncertainty test by design; the deception test is about the founders, which is why the committee's approval report matters. Our summary of Diyanet's fatwas on banking and money collects the texts with their dates.
Crowdfunding against the other halal routes
| Route | What you own | Liquidity | Halal governance | Legal cap for a retail investor |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Share-based crowdfunding | Unlisted shares registered at MKK | None until a secondary market opens; dividends at founder discretion | None at the platform; your own screen | 500,000 TL a year, or 2,000,000 TL with declared income (2026) |
| Debt-based crowdfunding | A debt instrument with a fixed return | Repayment schedule | Interest-based; outside the Diyanet rulings | 200,000 TL per project for non-qualified investors (2026) |
| BIST katılım shares or funds | Listed shares or fund units | Daily on the exchange or TEFAS | TKBB screening by index and fund rules | No cap |
| Participation bank account | A mudarabah deposit | At maturity, with early withdrawal limits | Bank advisory committee and BDDK rules | No cap; TMSF cover to 1,200,000 TL |
The comparison is not meant to put crowdfunding last. It is the only route on the table that gives a retail investor a direct partnership stake in a Turkish operating business at the seed stage, and for a founder it is the only regulated way to raise equity from the public without a bank, which is why it belongs in the business financing toolkit as much as the investing one. It simply carries the illiquidity and total-loss risk that partnership always has.
The decision: who should invest this way
Invest through crowdfunding if you already hold a diversified halal portfolio, can leave the money untouched for five years, and are willing to read a 30-page information form before every order. Keep the total to a small fraction of your investable assets regardless of the 500,000 TL legal ceiling, favour companies with no bank debt and a clear halal product, and use the 48-hour window if anything in the form contradicts what the campaign video promised. A fixed-return promise, a guaranteed buy-back or a debt-based instrument is not a halal equity investment, however the campaign page describes it.
Avoid it if you need liquidity, if you cannot judge a balance sheet, or if the platform cannot tell you whether the escrow earns interest. For most readers the right order is a participation account first, a TEFAS katılım portfolio second, and crowdfunding as the satellite that makes the portfolio interesting. Facts checked against spk.gov.tr, fonbulucu.com, fonangels.com, kurul.diyanet.gov.tr on 23 September 2026.
Frequently asked questions
Is equity crowdfunding halal in Turkey?
Share-based crowdfunding can be, because you buy newly issued shares and share in profit and loss, which matches the partnership form the Diyanet's 2018 ruling describes as legitimate. The platforms do not screen for Shariah, so you must check the company's business and its interest-bearing debt yourself. Debt-based crowdfunding pays a fixed return on money and falls outside the rulings.
How much can I invest in crowdfunding in 2026?
A natural person who is not a qualified investor may invest up to 500,000 TL in a calendar year across share-based and debt-based campaigns, or up to 2,000,000 TL after declaring annual net income to the platform, with the MKK enforcing the limit. For debt-based projects the cap is 200,000 TL per project. These are the 2026 revalued figures from SPK Communiqué III-35/A.2.
Can I get my money back after investing in a campaign?
Within 48 hours of your payment order, yes, without giving a reason; the escrow agent must start the refund the next business day. After that your money stays blocked at Takasbank until the campaign closes: if the target is not met it is refunded, and if it is met you receive shares registered at MKK, which are illiquid until a secondary market opens.
Where is my money held during a campaign?
At the escrow agent, in an account opened in the platform's name, blocked until the campaign ends. Fonangels names Takasbank, a Borsa İstanbul subsidiary, as its escrow agent and states that successful rounds are transferred to the company and failed rounds refunded by Takasbank. The information form must say whether the blocked money earns a return, and any return is refunded to investors.
Do fonbulucu and Fonangels have a Shariah board?
No. Both are SPK-listed platforms whose structure avoids interest on the share-based side, but neither publishes a scholar committee or screens campaigns against a halal standard. fonbulucu also operates a separate debt-based platform. The halal screen is the investor's job, using the information form and the TKBB ratios applied to the company's figures.
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Will I receive dividends from a crowdfunded company?
Only if the founders decide to pay them. Fonangels states that dividend decisions belong to the entrepreneur and that profit from a start-up may take three to five years or longer. Returns otherwise come from a trade sale, a public offering or a secondary market sale, and the SPK requires the company's financial information to stay published on the platform for five years after the campaign year.
