VC Funds actively investing in Portuguese Startups (Series B Stage)
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 Series B stage (last update: March 27th, 2021)
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
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
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
Lakestar (Zurich, Berlin, London, New York, and Hong Kong)
Investor Type: Venture Capital
Target Sectors: Generalist (invested previously in AI/Machine Learning, Fintech, Mobile, Real Estate, SaaS, Telecommunications and Travel)
Active funds: 2 active funds including Lakestar Growth I (€426M / May19) and Lakestar III (€252M / Oct18)
Total number of Funds: 4 (€1163M AUM)
Number of Investments: 111 (31 as lead)
Portuguese startups in the portfolio: 2 (Rows / Feb21, Casafari / Sep19)
Website, Crunchbase
Verizon Ventures (New York)
Investor Type: Venture Capital / Corporate
Target Sectors: Connected Devices & Hardware, Media & Entertainment, Commerce & Advertising, Infrastructure & Networking, Data & Analytics
Active funds: Unknown (Unknown / Unknown)
Total number of Funds: 1
Number of Investments: 120 (29 as lead)
Portuguese startups in the portfolio: 2 (PICadvanced, Veniam)
Website, Crunchbase
Vesalius Biocapital Partners (Luxembourg)
Investor Type: Venture Capital
Active funds: Vesalius Biocapital III (€120M / May17)
Total number of Funds: 3 (274M€ AUM)
Number of Investments: 36 (15 as lead)
Portuguese startups in the portfolio: 2 (Sword Health, TonicApp)
Website, Crunchbase
Accel (London, Bangalore, San Francisco, Palo Alto)
Investor Type: Venture Capital
Active funds: Many active funds including Accel London VI ($575M / May19)
Total number of Funds: 29
Number of Investments: 1,441 (550 as lead)
Portuguese startups in the portfolio: 1 (Rows / Feb21)
Website, Crunchbase
Atomico (London)
Investor Type: Venture Capital
Active funds: 2 active funds including Atomico Ventures V ($820M / Feb20) and Atomico Ventures IV ($765M / Mar16)
Total number of Funds: 5
Number of Investments: 159 (62 as lead)
Portuguese startups in the portfolio: 1 (Uniplaces / Nov15)
Website, Crunchbase
Balderton Capital (London)
Investor Type: Venture Capital
Active funds: Many active funds including Balderton Capital VII ($400M / Nov19) and Balderton Liquidity I ($145M / Oct18)
Total number of Funds: 8
Number of Investments: 305 (128 as lead)
Portuguese startups in the portfolio: 1 (DefinedCrowd)
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 / Feb21)
Website, Crunchbase
EQT Ventures (Stockholm, Amsterdam, London, Luxembourg, Paris, Berlin, and San Francisco)
Investor Type: Venture Capital
Active funds: EQT Ventures II ($730M / Nov19)
Total number of Funds: 2 ($1363M AUM)
Number of Investments: 81 (54 as lead)
Portuguese startups in the portfolio: 1 (Codacy)
Website, Crunchbase
e.Ventures (San Francisco, Berlin, Hamburg, Beijing, Tokyo, São Paulo)
Investor Type: Venture Capital
Active funds: Many active funds including e.ventures Europe VI (€150M / Jul19)
Total number of Funds: 9
Number of Investments: 305 (85 as lead)
Portuguese startups in the portfolio: 1 (Aptoide)
Relevant Portuguese exits: 1 (Farfetch)
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
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
Octopus Ventures (London)
Investor Type: Venture Capital
Active funds: 3 active funds including Octopus Ventures Growth Fund (£83M / Apr19) and Octopus Ventures ($280M / Apr18)
Total number of Funds: 6
Number of Investments: 236 (120 as lead)
Portuguese startups in the portfolio: 1 (Uniplaces / Nov15)
Website, Crunchbase
Round Hill Ventures / Round Hill Capital (London)
Investor Type: Venture Capital / Private Equity
Active funds: Unknown (Unknown / Unknown)
Total number of Funds: 1
Number of Investments: 15 (Unknown as lead)
Portuguese startups in the portfolio: 1 (Casafari / Sep19)
Website, Crunchbase
To check out investors investing in Portuguese startups in other stages:
Pre-seed, Seed, Series A, and Late Stage
What do I mean by Series B stage:
Startups raising a series B round usually raise between 20M€ and 100M€ and have the following characteristics:
- They already have a solid product, a clear product-market fit, and a clear channel-market fit.
- They have a growing customer base with a solid revenue flow and proven retention, up-sell, and sales processes.
- There is a solid business strategy in place turning their current operations into a successful, money-making global organization.
- They have world-class management and operational teams and show they can hire world-class 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: $5M+ 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, Private Equity, Governmental or Corporate.
Interested in the Portuguese Startup Scene?
Check out my other articles about it:
Relevant Updates Log:
- March 27th, 2021: Drivit exit added to EDP Ventures profile; Lakestar moved up in the ranking due to Rows’ Series B investment;
- August 22nd, 2020: Published.
