The Portuguese government has launched a new €100m fund to leverage the same amount of investment from private investors in various tech sectors to boost start-up funding in Portugal. The funding is coming from European Structural & Investment Fund and the aim is to encourage incoming and domestic investment in the following sectors: life sciences, biotechnology, digital and IT, tourism, engineering and Industry 4.0. Investments are from between €500k and €5m.
Northern Portugal and Porto in particular already have a particularly vibrant start-up ecosystem at the moment and an increasing number of foreign companies have been attracted by the highly qualified work-force, low cost base, high quality of living etc and these kind of financial incentives are designed to add further momentum to the start-up and tech sectors.
The criteria have been left deliberately vague to allow the fund investment committee to use their discretion to decide who gets the cash. The published criteria are:
-Co-Investors’ experience and track record in venture capital activities and in the 200M Fund’s preferred areas;
-The project’s target/sector;
-Volume of investment in companies;
-Weight of private investment regarding the total proposed Operation;
-Number of jobs created;
-Number of partners involved in the Investment Operation (incubators, accelerators, other investors);
-Project’s ARR;
-Introduction of innovative products / services;
-Project’s expected IRR.
If you are interested in making an investment that might be eligible for this funding, then you can talk to us at PortugalWorks for a free initial meeting, where we will assess your chances and advise on the best way forward. Should you decide to go ahead with an application, we can process this for you and give assistance in setting up your business in northern Portugal.
You can also find out more about the 200m start-up fund at the official website: https://www.200m.pt/ . Or click here if you are looking for a DMC in Porto to organise your event.