Portugal Startup Scene | October 2020 — Pedro Almeida
Originally published at https://www.pedroalmeidavc.com on October 31, 2020.
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This newsletter is curated by Pedro Almeida and João Duarte Leite. Share interesting news with us here.
Highlights
- Last month, we published the 3Q 2020 report. Main topics covered:+21% rounds and +67% invested vs. Q2 2020; 50% reduction in rounds size and valuations; Increase in participation of Portugal Ventures and Business Angels Syndicate (1/4 and 1/2 of the rounds) and contraction of the most active YTD investor (LC Ventures)
- 2020 Portugal Fintech report is out! 68 pages with the top Fintech players, trends, among other topics covered (check the 2020 fintech report here)
- Semapa Next has been investing mostly through Techstars or indirectly, as an LP, through Armilar and Alter VP. But Semapa Next ambition was always to be a leading European Series A and beyond VC. This month, it gave a step forward by hiring Hugo (former Techstars MD)
- On the other side of Iberia, 3 VCs announced new funds — Kibo Ventures (€100M), Samaipata (€100M), and Seaya (€125M). All these funds have been very active in Portugal. So it is good news for Portuguese pre-series A and Series A startups. For international Venture Capital funds interested in Portuguese startups, check here
- Seedrs (founded by Carlos) and Crowdcube, the two leading European equity crowdfunding platforms in Europe are merging. Interesting to see the market consolidating. Hope it will further create opportunities for entrepreneurs
- In last month’s newsletter, we mentioned that EIF and IFD launched a dedicated financial line with €50M for the blue economy. VCs can now express interest here. Only 2 funds will be awarded, with €25M each
- Typically this time of the year — November during US elections– is the Web Summit time. Due to COVID19, this year Web Summit conference will be online. If you are a startup, you can still apply for Road 2 Web Summit until November 13
- Finally, this month we came across an opinion article from David Malta. For the ones capable of reading Portuguese, is a time well spent. David proposes an alternative way to spend the European funds. We support his opinion that Portugal should use a considerable amount of funds in entrepreneurship and innovation. Once Portugal led “discovers”. Now, with resources and money available to do so, we have another opportunity to led “technology discoveries”. “This is the way!” (for the Mandalorian fans)
Accelerator deadlines, pitch competition and events
- November 7: e-Waste open innovation
- November 13: Road 2 Web Summit;
- November 15: EIT HEALTH
- November 18: Meet the leaders
- November 19: Angels at Work
- November 30: Pitch for impact
- November 31: Free incubation — Nova SBE Entrepreneurship Hub
- Websummit startup program
- December 21: Maze X | Application for cohort 3
- 2021/January 8: Portugal Ventures — Tourism call
- Always open: Startup Lisboa incubation; CTT 1520 startup program
Resources for entrepreneurs
Portugal Startup Scene data
- Market activity data: The Portuguese Startup, Venture Capital and Business Angel activity data; Scaleup Porto; Ecosystem map
- Newsletter: Pedro and João newsletter
- Survey: If you are an entrepreneur, contribute to the Portuguese investment landscape survey
Investors
- Business Angels: Business angels in Portugal
- VCs: Venture capital and business angels syndicates in Portugal; International Venture Capital firms interested in Portugal; 200M
- Term-sheets: Angel term-sheet (Team Genesis/Morais Leitão); General Term-sheet (Team Genesis/Morais Leitão)
Interesting reads
- Product-Market fit: DashDash product-market fit survey; Scaling Unbabel — My Personal Learnings
- Churn: Reducing Churn In SaaS And Subscription Startups
- Podcast: Tech Deciphered Show; Startup Portugal Podcast; O podcast das startups (PT); Building The Future — AI Portugal Podcast
- Videocast: Bitalk; EDP Innovation Series; Spe Futuri, Investidores — Linktoleaders
Tools
- Hiring/finding jobs: Startup Job Portugal; UPTEC Jobs; Zero Gravity
Diversity
- Portuguese Women in tech: Website ; Opinion articles; Salary transparency project; Speaker list; Report
If there is any great resource for Portuguese based entrepreneurs, we are happy to had them.
Funding round
Startup: Nutrium (https://mydidimo.com/)
Amount: €4.25M
TAGs: B2B, Health Care, Marketplace, Nutrition, SaaS
Investors: Indico Capital Partners, Fundo para a Inovação Social, Portugal Ventures, Startup Braga, Primavera
Startup: MOV.AI (https://mov.ai/)
Amount: $4M
TAGs: B2B, Robotics, transportation, Artificial intelligence, Saas, Industrial technology
Investors: Viola Ventures, State of Mind Ventures, NFX
Startup: Nuada (https://nuada.pt/)
Amount: €2.5M
TAGs: B2B, werables, health care, Internet of Things
Investors: Ideias Glaciares
Startup: Aptoide (https://www.aptoide.com)
Amount: €1.3M
TAGs: B2C, Apps, Mobile, Blockchain
Investors: 200M
Startup: Reatia (https://reatia.com/)
Amount: €1M
TAGs: B2B, Real Estate, Artificial Intelligence
Investors: Portugal Ventures, Olisipo Way, Wisenext
Startup: Integrated Storage Technologies (http://www.istnyc.com/)
Amount: €700K
TAGs: B2B, Energy
Investors: Vega Ventures
Startup: Revault (https://revault.dev/)
Amount: $500k
TAGs: B2B, Blockchain, Fintech
Investors: Boost VC
Startup: Undandy (https://www.undandy.com/eu/)
Amount: €438k
TAGs: B2B, e-commerce, marketplace, made to order, fashion
Investors: Semeia Ventures
Startup: MFJ Cosméticos, Lda.
Amount: €435k
Investors: Semeia Ventures
Startup: Mutable Galaxy, Unipessoal, Lda.
Amount: €315k
Investors: Semeia Ventures
Startup: Colmena (https://colmenahr.com/)
Amount: €150k
TAGs: B2B, HRTech, SaaS
Investors: Olisipo Way
Startup: Beamian (https://beamian.com/)
Amount: €150k
TAGs: B2B, Events, Internet of Things
Investors: Portugal Ventures
Startup: Redcatpig Studio (https://redcatpig.online/)
Amount: €95k
TAGs: B2C, Gaming
Investors: Best Horizon
Startup: Karkadan, Unipessoal, Lda.
Amount: €95k
TAGs: B2B, HRTech, SaaS
Investors: VSM Capital
Startup: Vantta (https://vantta.com/)
Amount: €42K
TAGs: B2B, SaaS
Investors: Invicta Angels
Startup: Sensei (https://www.sensei.tech/)
Amount: Unknown
TAGs: B2B, Artificial Intelligence, Computer Vision, Retail
Investors: Seaya Ventures
Startup: Ydata (https://ydata.ai)
Amount: Unknown
TAGs: B2B, Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, Cloud Data Services, Machine Learning, Privacy, SaaS
Investors: Techstars
Startup: Wide Ocean Retreat (http://www.wideoceanretreat.com/)
Amount: Unknown
TAGs: B2B, Travel
Investors: Portugal Ventures
Update to previously reported data
- Mindprober | Initially reported: Unknown; Updated to: €600k
- Legalvision | Initially reported: Unknown; Updated to: €3M
- Advert.io | Initially reported: €365k; Updated to: €1M + Portugal Ventures participation
- New Organic Planet | + Finy Ventures participation
- Keme | + Finy Ventures participation
International funding rounds participated by Portuguese investors
- Bright Pixel | Iriusrisk — Spain
- Core Angels | Mimotoparking — Spain
- Finy Ventures | Wunder Hexicon — Spain
- Edp Ventures | Aperio — USA
