VC Funds actively investing in Portuguese Startups (Seed Stage)

10 min readAug 19, 2020

As co-founder and CEO of Infraspeak, co-founder of Founders Founders (scale-up incubator), and former Head of Technology Center and Acceleration Program at UPTEC, I’m deeply involved in the Portuguese Startup ecosystem.

As a hobby, I keep track of the “Hot Startups in Portugal”, “VC Funds actively investing in Portuguese startups in the pre-seed, seed, series A, series B, and late stages” and the most relevant events happening in the Portuguese Startup Scene like “exits”, “funding rounds” and “startup post-mortem articles”.

This article is about the most relevant VC Funds actively investing in Portuguese startups in the seed stage (last update: March 27th, 2021)

Portugal Ventures (Porto, Lisbon)
Investor Type: Governmental
Active funds: Portugal Global Ventures II Venture Capital Fund (10M€ / Oct17)
Total number of Funds: 17
Number of Investments: 194 (33 as lead)
Portuguese startups in the portfolio: 194 (Lovys / Jan21, HiJiffy / Nov20, Nutrium / Oct20, DefinedCrowd / May20, and more)
Relevant Portuguese exits: 3 (Fyde / Nov20, B-Parts / Sep20, Anubis Networks)
Website, Crunchbase

Armilar Venture Partners (Lisbon)
Investor Type: Venture Capital
Target sectors: Generalist (invested previously in Security, Education, Healthcare, Software, and more)
Active funds: Armilar Venture Partners TechTransfer Fund (45M€ / Feb19)
Total number of Funds: 5
Number of Investments: 61 (20 as lead)
Portuguese startups in the portfolio: 41+(Outsystems / Feb21, Automaise / Jan21, Feedzai, Science4You, Codacy, Tonic App, and more)
Relevant exits: 1 (Heart Genomics to Impact Lab Group / Feb21)
Website, Crunchbase

Caixa Capital (Lisbon)
Investor Type: Venture Capital
Target sectors: Generalist
Active funds: Unknown (Unknown / Unknown)
Total number of Funds: Unknown
Number of Investments: 31 (10 as lead)
Portuguese startups in the portfolio: 30 (Infraspeak, Codacy, Unbabel, Prodsmart, and more)
Relevant exits: 1 (Farfetch by IPO / Sep18)
Website, Crunchbase

Bynd Venture Capital (Lisbon, Porto, Madrid)
Investor Type: Venture Capital
Active funds: FCR BA Venture Fund (Size: 10M€ / Nov19), FCR Leading Ventures (Size: 2,5M€ / Jul15)
Total number of Funds: 2
Number of Investments: 32 (10 as lead)
Portuguese startups in the portfolio: 20+ (Legalvision, DefinedCrowd, Didimo, Doppio, Casafari / Sep19 and more)
Website, Crunchbase

LC Ventures (Lisbon)
Investor Type: Venture Capital
Active funds: LC Ventures I (€5M / Jul18), LC Ventures II (€1.2M / Nov15) and LC Ventures III (€5M / Nov16)
Total number of Funds: 3
Number of Investments: 32 (12 as lead)
Portuguese startups in the portfolio: 20+ (Landing.jobs, Sensefinity, Didimo, Coverflex, Bitcliq, and more)
Relevant exits: 1 (DoDOC to Envision Pharma Group / Mar21)
Website, Crunchbase

Faber Ventures (Lisbon)
Investor Type: Venture Capital
Active funds: Faber Tech II (€20.5M / Nov20)
Total number of Funds: 2
Number of Investments: 30 (3 as lead)
Portuguese startups in the portfolio: 19+ (SWORD Health / Jan21, Apres / Jan21, Codacy / Oct19, Unbabel / Sep19 and more)
Website, Crunchbase

PME Investimentos / 200M Co-investment Fund (Lisbon)
Investor Type: Governamental / Co-investment
Target sectors: Generalist
Active funds: 200M Co-investment Fund (100M€ / 2019)
Total number of Funds: 1
Number of Investments: 13 (0 as lead)
Portuguese startups in the portfolio: 13 (Biosurfit, Bizay, Platforme, Barkyn, EatTasty, Codavel, TonicApp, IndieCampers, Zenklub, PICAdvanced, Aptoide, Landing.jobs, Didimo, and more)
Website, Crunchbase

Indico Capital Partners (Lisbon)
Investor Type: Venture Capital
Active funds: Indico VC Fund I (54M€ / Jan19)
Total number of Funds: 2
Number of Investments: 13 (9 as lead)
Portuguese startups in the portfolio: 12 (Anchorage / Feb21, Zenklub / Feb21, Nutrium / Oct20, Infraspeak / Oct19 and more)
Website, Crunchbase

Shilling Capital Partners (Lisbon)
Investor Type: Business Angels Network
Active funds: Unknown (Fund size: Unknown)
Total number of Funds: 1
Number of Investments: 12 (1 as lead)
Portuguese startups in the portfolio: 12 (Unbabel / Oct16, Barkyn / Apr19, EatTasty / Jul19, Casafari / Sep19 and more)
Website, Crunchbase

Pathena Capital (Porto, Braga)
Investor Type: Venture Capital
Target sectors: Generalist (invested previously in logistics, e-commerce, fintech, insurtech, and more)
Active funds: Pathena Portfolio I (56M€ / May13)
Total number of Funds: 1
Number of Investments: 11 (11 as lead)
Portuguese startups in the portfolio: 11 (HUUB, Bizay, and more)
Relevant Portuguese exits: 2 (Vortal / Aug20, i2S Insurance / Sep19)
Website, Crunchbase

HCapital Partners (Lisbon)
Investor Type: Venture Capital
Active funds: HCapital New Ideas (€20M / Oct 2017) and HCapital Esid Fund (€46M / Jul15)
Total number of Funds: 2 (€66M AUM)
Number of Investments: 8 (6 as lead)
Portuguese startups in the portfolio: 7 (Automaise, Enline, proGrow, LOQR, Omniflow, Glartek, and more)
Website, Crunchbase

Novabase Capital (Lisbon)
Investor Type: Corporate
Active funds: FCR Novabase Capital Inovação e Internacionalização (€11.4M / Jan 2011)
Total number of Funds: 2
Number of Investments: 6 (0 as lead)
Portuguese startups in the portfolio: 6 (HypeLabs / Dec19, Glartek / Mar19, Weezie / Dec18 and more)
Website, Crunchbase

Olisipo Way (Lisbon)
Investor Type: Business Angels Network
Active funds: Unknown (Fund size: Unknown)
Total number of Funds: 1
Number of Investments: 5 (1 as lead)
Portuguese startups in the portfolio: 5 (Reatia / Sep20, EatTasty / Mar18, Climber RMS / Feb18, Sensefinity, advertio)
Website, Crunchbase

SONAE IM (Porto)
Investor Type: Corporate
Target sectors: Security, Retail and Telco
Active funds: Unknown (135M+€ / Unknown)
Total number of Funds: 1
Number of Investments: 28 (14 as lead)
Portuguese startups in the portfolio: 4+(WeDo Technologies, JScrambler, Feedzai, Inovretail)
Relevant Portuguese exits: 1 (WeDo Technologies to Mobileum / Aug19)
Website, Crunchbase

big Start ventures (Lisbon)
Investor Type: Corporate / Venture Capital
Target sectors: B2B (invested previously in Cyber-security, Payments, Insurance, Mobility, and more)
Active funds: Evergreen Fund (investing from its Balance sheet)
Total number of Funds: 1
Number of Investments: 14 (5 as lead)
Portuguese startups in the portfolio: 4 (Loqr, Switch Payments, Coverflex, Habit Analytics)
Relevant Portuguese exits: 2 (James to Google / 2019, Drivit to Zego / 2020)
Website, Crunchbase

Bionova Capital (Lisbon)
Also known as Hovione Capital
Investor Type: Venture Capital
Target sectors: Therapeutics, MedTech, and Digital Health
Active funds: Evergreen Fund (investing from its Balance sheet)
Total number of Funds: 1
Number of Investments: 5 (2 as lead)
Portuguese startups in the portfolio: 4 (Adapttech, Anybrain, CellmAbs and Delox)
Website, Crunchbase

Mustard Seed Maze (Lisbon)
Investor Type: Venture Capital
Target sectors: Impact Investing (invested previously in Healthcare, Education, Circular Economy)
Active funds: Unknown (40M€ / Unknown)
Total number of Funds: 1 (40M€ AUM)
Number of Investments: 6 (6 as lead)
Portuguese startups in the portfolio: 4 (knok, Studentfinance, Kitch, Rnters)
Website, Crunchbase

EDP Ventures (Lisbon)
Investor Type: Corporate
Target sectors: Generalist with special focus on Energy
Active funds: EDP Ventures Brasil ($8M / Jun18)
Total number of Funds: 2
Number of Investments: 19 (10 as lead)
Portuguese startups in the portfolio: 3 (DefinedCrowd, Hypelabs, Enging)
Relevant Portuguese exits: 1 (Drivit to Zego / 2020)
Website, Crunchbase

Green Innovations (Lisbon)
Investor Type: Venture Capital
Target sectors: Generalist
Active funds: Unknown
Total number of Funds: 1
Number of Investments: 4 (0 as lead)
Portuguese startups in the portfolio: 3 (SWORD Health, Findster, CBR Genomics)
Relevant Portuguese exits: 1 (DoDOC to Envision Pharma Group / Mar21)
Website, Crunchbase

Innovation Nest (Krakow)
Investor Type: Venture Capital
Target sectors: B2B software (invested previously in Hospitality, Proptech, Human Resources and more)
Active funds: Innovation Nest II (€42M / Jan17)
Total number of Funds: 2
Number of Investments: 57 (9 as lead)
Portuguese startups in the portfolio: 3 (Infraspeak, Prodsmart, Climber RMS)
Website, Crunchbase

Join Capital (Berlin)
Investor Type: Venture Capital
Target sectors: Generalist
Active funds: JOIN Capital Fund I (Unknown / Nov17)
Total number of Funds: 1
Number of Investments: 21 (10 as lead)
Portuguese startups in the portfolio: 3 (Valispace / Apr20, Prodsmart, Codacy)
Website, Crunchbase

Wisenext (Lisbon)
Investor Type: Venture Capital
Target sectors: Generalist (invested previously in AI, Martech)
Active funds: 2 active funds including SEED FUND (Unknown / Jul18) and PRE-SEED FUND (Unknown / Jan17)
Total number of Funds: 2
Number of Investments: 7 (1 as lead)
Portuguese startups in the portfolio: 3 (Reatia / Sep20, Mindprober, Mobrand)
Website, Crunchbase

All Iron Ventures (Bilbao)
Investor Type: Venture Capital
Target sectors: Generalist
Active funds: Fund I (80M€ / May19)
Total number of Funds: 1
Number of Investments: 43 (8 as lead)
Portuguese startups in the portfolio: 2 (Zenklub, Barkyn)
Website, Crunchbase

FundersClub (San Francisco)
Investor Type: Venture Capital / Business Angels Network
Target sectors: Generalist
Active funds: Unknown (Unknown / Unknown)
Total number of Funds: 3
Number of Investments: 422 (2 as lead)
Portuguese startups in the portfolio: 2 (Unbabel, Habit Analytics)
Website, Crunchbase

Kibo Ventures (Madrid)
Investor Type: Venture Capital
Target sectors: Generalist
Active funds: 2 active funds including Kibo Ventures Fund III (€100M / Oct20) and Kibo Ventures Fund II (71M€ / Sep16)
Total number of Funds: 3
Number of Investments: 78 (17 as lead)
Portuguese startups in the portfolio: 2 (DefinedCrowd, Hole19)
Website, Crunchbase

LocalGlobe (London)
Investor Type: Venture Capital
Target sectors: Generalist (invested previously in almost everything)
Active funds: 4 active funds including Latitude ($180M / Nov18)
Total number of Funds: 4
Number of Investments: 247 (58 as lead)
Portuguese startups in the portfolio: 2 (Stratio Automotive, Kencko)
Website, Crunchbase

Adara Ventures (Madrid)
Investor Type: Venture Capital
Target sectors: Generalist (invested previously in Deeptech, Big Data, SaaS)
Active funds: Adara Ventures III (€65M / Jul19)
Total number of Funds: 4 ($193M AuM)
Number of Investments: 48 (28 as lead)
Portuguese startups in the portfolio: 1 (Apres / Nov19)
Website, Crunchbase

Alpac Capital (Lisbon)
Investor Type: Venture Capital
Target sectors: Generalist (invested previously in Education)
Active funds: East West VC-EuVECA (€20M / Oct17)
Total number of Funds: 1
Number of Investments: 1 (1 as lead)
Portuguese startups in the portfolio: 1 (Dreamshaper / Nov19)
Website, Crunchbase

Cherry Ventures (Berlin)
Investor Type: Venture Capital
Target sectors: Generalist (invested previously in Consumer, FinTech, HealthTech, Industry, Lifestyle, Mobility and SaaS)
Active funds: 2 active funds including Cherry Ventures Fund III (US)(€175M / Jun19) and Cherry Ventures Fund II ($170M / May16)
Total number of Funds: 3
Number of Investments: 83 (25 as lead)
Portuguese startups in the portfolio: 1 (Rows)
Website, Crunchbase

Crane Ventures (London)
Investor Type: Venture Capital
Target sectors: Intelligent enterprise and deep tech companies in Europe
Active funds: Crane I ($90M / Jun19)
Total number of Funds: 1
Number of Investments: 32 (15 as lead)
Portuguese startups in the portfolio: 1 (Stratio Automotive)
Website, Crunchbase

Firstminute Capital (London)
Investor Type: Venture Capital
Target sectors: Generalist (invested previously in Robotics, Cyber-security, healthcare, blockchain, D2C, SaaS, Gaming, and Vertical AI)
Active funds: Firstminute Capital Fund I ($100M / Jun18)
Total number of Funds: 1
Number of Investments: 53 (18 as lead)
Portuguese startups in the portfolio: 1 (Infraspeak)
Website, Crunchbase

Founders Fund (San Francisco)
Investor Type: Venture Capital
Target sectors: Generalist (invested previously in almost everything)
Active funds: 5 active funds including Founders Fund VII ($1.5B / Nov19)
Total number of Funds: 10
Number of Investments: 559 (152 as lead)
Portuguese startups in the portfolio: 1 (Sword Health)
Website, Crunchbase

Heartcore Capital (Copenhagen)
Investor Type: Venture Capital
Target Sectors: Consumer Technologies
Active funds: Many active funds including Heartcore Progression Alpha (€47M / Nov17) and Heartcore Capital III (€112M / Nov17)
Total number of Funds: 4
Number of Investments: 128 (34 as lead)
Portuguese startups in the portfolio: 1 (Lovys / Jan21)
Website, Crunchbase

Maersk Growth (Copenhagen)
Investor Type: Venture Capital / Corporate
Target Sector: Global Supply Chains
Active funds: Unknown (Unknown / Unknown)
Total number of Funds: 1
Number of Investments: 21 (12 as lead)
Portuguese startups in the portfolio: 1 (HUUB / Dez19)
Website, Crunchbase

Notion (London)
Investor Type: Venture Capital
Target sectors: B2B SaaS
Active funds: Notional Capital IV (£75M / Oct19)
Total number of Funds: 5
Number of Investments: 123 (42 as lead)
Portuguese startups in the portfolio: 1 (Unbabel)
Website, Crunchbase

RYSE Asset Management (London)
Investor Type: Venture Capital
Target sectors: Generalist
Active funds: Unknown (Fund size: Unknown)
Total number of Funds: 1
Number of Investments: 6 (2 as lead)
Portuguese startups in the portfolio: 1 (knok / Sep20)
Website, Crunchbase

Semapa Next (Lisbon)
Investor Type: Corporate
Active funds: Unknown (Fund size: Unknown)
Total number of Funds: 1
Number of Investments: 1 (0 as lead)
Portuguese startups in the portfolio: 1 (DefinedCrowd)
Website, Crunchbase

Previously active funds not being very active right now

2bPartners (Braga)
Investor Type: Venture Capital / Corporate
Target sectors: Generalist (invested previously in Agriculture, Hardware, Energy, Productivity Tools, and more)
Active funds: None
Total number of Funds: 1
Number of Investments: 9 (0 as lead)
Portuguese startups in the portfolio: 9 (Addvolt, Wisecrop, Sphere Ultrafast Photonics, and more)
Website, Crunchbase

To check out investors investing in Portuguese startups in other stages:

Pre-seed, Series A, Series B, and Late Stage

What do I mean by seed stage:

Startups raising a seed round usually raise between 500k€ and 5M€ and have the following characteristics:

They already have a solid product / MVP (still in the process of building the full product vision, but already have a clear product-market fit).
They have some revenue to show, although the unit economics are usually not fully consolidated as the sales process still in the making.
They have a solid core team and show they can hire good talent.

Final comments:

This list has the unique goal of bringing visibility to the Portuguese startup ecosystem, helping both entrepreneurs and investors to get to know each other.
It’s not an exhaustive list. There are plenty of other investors investing in Portuguese startups. If you believe something is wrong or someone else should be added to this list, let me know.
For the sake of readability and focus, this list excludes business angels and other types of investors not investing on a full-time basis. The criteria to make the list is not written in stone but can be summarized by: $750k+ invested in at least 2 Portuguese startups in the last 5 years, at least 1 active fund, and a great investing team.
The list is mostly focused on tech investors investing in tech startups (SaaS, Marketplaces, PaaS, E-commerce, etc.), so it doesn’t include biotech, creative industries, real estate, and other booming sectors.
The list is ordered by “Portuguese startups in the portfolio”.
“Investor Types” are Venture Capital, Governmental, Business Angels Network, or Corporate.

Interested in the Portuguese Startup Scene?

Check out my other articles about it:

Relevant Updates Log:

March 27th, 2021: DoDOC exit added to LC Ventures profile; Drivit exit added to big Start ventures and EDP Ventures profiles; Heart Genomics exit added to Armilar Venture Partners profile; Indico Capital Partners and HCapital Partners moved up in the ranking; Heartcore Capital added to the list due to Lovys’ Series A investment; Adara Ventures added to the list due to Apres’ Seed investment; Green Innovations added to the list.
November 14th, 2020: Kibo Ventures’ new fund (Kibo Ventures Fund III / €100M / Oct 2020) added to their profile; Faber Ventures’ new fund (Faber Tech II / €20.5M / Nov 2020) added to their profile; Fyde exit added to Portugal Ventures profile; Vortal exit added to Pathena profile; Wisenext and RYSE Asset Management were added to the list.
September 1st, 2020: BIG Start Ventures information updated.
August 19th, 2020: Published.