Portugal Startup Scene | April 2020 — Pedro Almeida

KPIs

Full report and rounds in the end of the page.

Highlights

• Portuguese government launched 25M€ plan, with 5 new initiatives to support Portuguese startups. 13M€ are invested through Portugal Ventures in 2 funds: mezzanine funding (10M€) and 3M€ in syndication with IFD Business Angels. 8M€ will be dedicated to support securing employment, the biggest cost driver for majority of startups
• 200M also changed its policy and now allows internal rounds. This is very important, as startups now don’t need external investor to raise funds using 200M and can leverage existing investors only. Previously, a startup would need to convince a new shareholder to put at least 20% of the round
• Despite this initiatives, startups are still struggling during COVID 19. An example is Unbabel, which announce a 35% reduction on employees. Most of the reductions where on the Marketing side, so if you are looking for great marketers, you know where to look. Fintech House also launched a report on the impact of COVID on Fintechs in Portugal. Very detailed, enjoy the reading.
• Now good news! Remote raised a 11M$ in a Seed round!!! The round is participated by some relevant names such as Two Sigma Ventures, Index Ventures, General Catalyst, Sid Sijbrandij (CEO GitLab) and Jobert and Kirsten Abma (Co-founder HackerOne). This is a very large seed round anywhere in the world and particularly during these times! But Remote is designed for this times and is helping remote teams in labor contracts.
• Indico is launching a new accelerator program together with Google for startups. Besides the accelerator program, startups will receive 80k€ (100k€ investment minus 20k€ for program fees) for 7.5% stake. Program is expected to start in mid-June, dependent on Covid19 evolution. First batch application closes in May 22, but late applications are accepted. You can apply here.
• Indico also has a new fund (Indico Accelerator Fund I). This fund will invest in its accelerator portfolio. Indico can also complement its initial ticket with the previous fund “Indico Fund I”.
• Leading Southern European funds (Portuguese, Spanish and Italian) got together to organize an online pitch event. In case you are planning to apply to pitch and are looking for support, I am happy to provide it. Book your slot here

Accelerator, pitch competition and events

Pedro Almeida’s stuff

Funding rounds

Amount: 11M$

TAGs: B2B, Remote Work, Human Resources

Investors: Two Sigma Ventures,Index Ventures, General Catalyst, Liquid2, INKEF Ventures, Remote First Capital, Sid Sijbrandij (CEO GitLab) and Jobert and Kirsten Abma (Co-founder HackerOne9)

Startup: Lineten (https://www.neworganicplanet.eu/)

Amount: 12.4M€

TAGs: B2B, B2C, Agriculture

Investors: VSM Capital

Startup: New Organic Planet (https://www.neworganicplanet.eu/)

Amount: Unknown

TAGs: B2B, B2C, Agriculture

Investors: VSM Capital

Startup: Followistic (https://followistic.com/)

Amount: 50k€

TAGs: B2B, Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, Cloud Data Services, Machine Learning, Privacy, SaaS

Investors: Next Media Accelerator

Startup: YData ( https://ydata.ai)

Amount: Unknown

TAGs: B2B, Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, Cloud Data Services, Machine Learning, Privacy, SaaS

Investors: edp Ventures

Startup: B_create (https://www.bcreate.pt/)

Amount: Unknown

TAGs: B2B, Food and beverage

Investors: Ideias Glaciares

Startup: Hunter Boards (https://hunterboards.com/)

Amount: Unknown

TAGs: Hardware, B2C

Investors: Ideias Glaciares

Startup: Poetikdistance

Amount: 375k€

TAGs: B2B, Services

Investors: Team Play Ventures

Startup: Placeme (https://placeme.pl/en/)

Amount: 113k€

TAGs: B2B, Big Data, Business Development, Business Intelligence, Information Technology, Internet, Location Based Services, Machine Learning, SaaS

Investors: LC Ventures

Startup: Musiversal ( https://www.musiversal.com/)

Amount: 375€

Tags: Marketplace, Music, B2B

Investors: LC Ventures

Portuguese startups, Venture Capital and Business Angels activity report

Originally published at https://www.pedroalmeidavc.com on May 3, 2020.