Portugal Ventures, a venture capital firm that is part of Portuguese promotional bank Grupo Banco Português de Fomento, closed 2022 with the following results:
- 17 new startups added to its portfolio, with a total amount of €8 million invested;
- 25 follow-on operations amounting to €8 million to strengthen the capital of portfolio companies;
- a total investment of €18.6 million in 42 companies;
- 15 co-investment operations totalling €6 million, with its equity partners;
- 308 deal flow opportunities in the year with a total of €77.6 million requested.
Rui Ferreira, Chairman of Portugal Ventures, says “2022 was a very special year for Portugal Ventures with the celebration of its 10th anniversary and being named and recognised by our peers – Investors Portugal – as Early Stage Investor of the year. We are proud of the work we do in the daily monitoring of our portfolio, seeking, together with the founders, to continue imparting knowledge and expertise to help them develop their projects and grow their business. We step into 2023 with confidence, secure in knowing that we will continue our mission to boost the Portuguese entrepreneurial ecosystem.”
New Investments:
Completed and already disclosed investments in 2022 – Relive, Managing the Intelligence, Hoopers, WalliD, Fraudio, Spinach Tours, Revault, miio, FootAR, C-mo Medical Solutions, Pruvo – are complemented by 6 new additions to our portfolio:
- Cell4Food is kickstarting cell-based agriculture in Portugal aimed at creating a network of businesses that will lead the cell-based protein production market in the next decade. Its mission is to contribute to the democratisation of access to new proteins and fibres for cellular agriculture production.
- GovWise is a Data Science company driven by professionals with over 30 years of accumulated experience in GovTech, aimed at generating economic and social value for public entities and companies that work with the government, applying artificial intelligence to open data from the public sector. The investment by Portugal Ventures was made in co-investment with Beta Capital.
- Kendir Studios is an educational games studio that designs and builds trailblazing immersive educational solutions for the education market. The studio’s solutions are unique and innovative, creating engaging scenarios and bringing fun and interaction to the way students and teachers apply knowledge. Considered an R&D institution, their games have attracted interest worldwide.
These three investments are the result of Call INNOV-ID and were made through the Portugal Ventures Valor 2 Venture Capital Fund. We will soon disclose the other investments made in the second edition of this initiative.
- Topo Tents focuses on exploring nature and collecting unique memories and outdoor experiences by renting rooftop tents that can be installed on any car. With its affordable, safe, practical and very comfortable solution, the company encourages a lifestyle in permanent contact with nature and already has a network of TOPO stations in Portugal (Lisbon, Porto, Faro, Chaves and Funchal) and in Maputo, Mozambique, and will soon also be available in Madrid, Bilbao, Valencia and Barcelona.
- Unlock Boutique Hotels is a hotel management company specialising in small and medium-sized hotels, with between 20 and 120 rooms, with an exclusive character, offering unique experiences to guests with their excellent hospitality and cultural authenticity.The team currently combines more than 40 years of expertise and its portfolio comprises 19 hotels in 11 destinations.
These two investments are the result of Call Turismo and were made through the Turismo Crescimento Venture Capital Fund.
- BHOUT is a startup on the frontier between gaming and fitness that has brought the boxing bag into the 21st century. It is the creator of the BHOUT Bag, powered by AI that merges information from sensors on the bag with computer vision to identify each move, the power of every strike, and the location of the impact and speed to help improve technique. After highly successful tests in the first BHOUT Club in Lisbon, which became the most profitable club in Portugal, BHOUT will soon be available at home, in companies, in hotels and in future BHOUT Clubs.
This investment is the result of Portugal Ventures’ normal business activity and was made through the Portugal Ventures Tech Competitiveness Venture Capital Fund, with financial assistance from the Equity and Quasi-Equity Fund (FC&QC) managed by Banco Português de Fomento.
Follow-on investments:
In 2022, Portugal Ventures increased its investment in 25 of its portfolio companies in the amount of €9.8million, continuing to promote co-investment with our capital partners. Most notably:
- Aptoide series B, in a total round of $12m in co-investment with Digital Turbine, Faurecia and Fundo 200M.
- Probely series A, in a total round of €7,7 million in co-investment with Iberis Capital, Semapa Next, Bright Pixel Capital, Caixa Capital and EDP Ventures.
- Didimo series A, in a total round of €7.34 million in co-investment with Armilar Ventures, Bright Pixel Capital and TechStars.
- Mindprober series A, in a total round of €5.6 million in co-investment with Iberis Capital, Armilar Ventures and Wisenext.
- Leadzai series A, in a total round of €5 million in co-investment with Lince Capital.
- proGrow series A, in a total round of €2.9 million in co-investment with Lince Capital and HCapital Partners.
- Spotlite seed series, in a total co-investment round of €1.5 million
- BestHealth4U seed series, in a total round of €1 million in co-investment with Lince Capital.
Partner Networks:
During 2022, we continued to strengthen our Partner Networks:
- another 14 organisations joined the Ignition Partners Network. This network comprises incubators/accelerators, associations, technopoles, and universities that support, prepare and monitor projects for investment;
- one more organisation joined the Capital Partners Network. This Network comprises our venture capital partners available to co-invest;
- and 7 more organisations joined in the Corporate Partners Network. This Network comprises leading national and international companies that enable the creation of synergies with our portfolio for the development of new products and technologies.
Deal flow/Submissions:
In 2022, Portugal Ventures launched 6 initiatives to capture deal flow, receiving 308 opportunities for investment.
- the 5th edition of Call Tourism
- the 4th edition of Call FIT – Fostering Innovation in Tourism (still in its original format)
- the 1st edition of Call Azores
- the 1st edition of Call Madeira,
- the 2nd and 3rd editions of Call INNOV-ID
- and 11 Open Days.
Portugal Ventures Dashboard
In 2022 we also launched the Portugal Ventures Dashboard, a pioneering tool in the ecosystem that tracks and shares Portugal Ventures’ activities throughout the year in real time. It was one of the innovations introduced to celebrate our 10th anniversary, reinforcing the transparency of Portugal Ventures’ processes.
