Portugal Startup Scene | Q2 2020 Report Summary

Originally published at https://www.pedroalmeidavc.com on July 18, 2020.

The report in PDF here. I have a monthly newsletter about Portugal Startup Scene. You can read the June edition and subscribe here.

2020 vs. 2019

In the first half of 2020, it was invested 125M€ in 70 early-stage financing rounds. In comparison with 2019, it was deployed +2.2x more money, though there were -5% investments. As I am using an external source for 2019, I can’t deep dive on the drives of the difference.

2020 Q2 vs. 2020 Q1

Transaction volume

In the second quarter of 2020, there were 33 rounds (-11% vs. Q1). Though there were more seed rounds (2.3x vs. Q1), pre-seed rounds, which were the majority of the rounds in Q1, were reduced by half in Q2. The main driver for Q2 reduction was the end of Techstars by SemapaNext acceleration program, which contributed with 10 investments in Q1. Post-seed rounds have maintained stable — 4 in each quarter.

Investment

Despite a lower number of rounds, it was deployed in Q2 2020 2.7x more capital (91M€ ). DefinedCrowd Series B round (46M€) and Remote Seed (10M€) represented more than 50% of the capital deployed. A higher mix to Seed rounds (vs. pre-seed) also contributed to higher total investment.

Rounds size

Both pre-seed (150k€) and seed (1M€) rounds median were stable across the 2 quarters, with slight changes in the average due to smaller pre-seed (e.g., 2M€ Coverflex in Q1) and higher seed rounds in Q2 (e.g., Remote 10M€).

Most invested themes

Artificial Intelligence, SaaS and Marketplace/e-commerce startups were the most invested in both Q1 and Q2, but in Q2 there were fewer startups on SaaS and Marketplace/e-commerce getting funding. Also, Travelling startups received less funding in Q2 (COVID19?).

Most active investors

During Q2, Business Angel investors increased participation and invested in 45% of the rounds — Olisipo Way and Ideias Glaciares were the most active syndicates. Also, Portugal Ventures increased participation in Q2 and invested in 4 rounds.

While in Q1 Accelerator funds participated in >50% (due to Techstars and LC Ventures), in Q2 only LC Ventures kept the pace and Seedcamp made 1 investment (Kitch), resulting in lower participation from Accelerator funds participated (1/3 of the rounds). Also, despite an increase in participation from EDP Ventures, Semapa Next reduced significantly participation — only invested in DefinedCrowd in Q1 — and reduced overall participation of CVCs.

Finally, though there were more investments from VCs, several of those investments were in foreign companies, and as such VC participation in the Portugal Startup scene remains constant.

New funds

During H1, there was only a new fund announcement — Armilar Venture Partners 5G 10M€ fund. By the same time last year, ~100M€ funds were being announced — Armilar and Indico.

Originally published at https://www.pedroalmeidabusinessangel.com on July 18, 2020.