Spain 
Italy 
Greece 
Portugal Ventures May Invest Up to 18 Million Euros in Tourism-Based Start-Ups
26 September 2018
The public venture capital fund is looking for projects that will provide “added value to the tourist experience.” Applicants may submit proposals between October 3rd and December 20th.
Portugal Ventures will open its Call for Tourism to its first group of applicants, giving entrepreneurs the opportunity to present projects in the area of tourism. Applicants may submit proposals from October 3 to December 20. The fund issued a statement saying that its goal is “to stimulate the creation of start-ups and the development of global, national or regional tourism-based businesses.”
The new initiative targets projects “bringing products and services with added value for the tourist experience to the market. [The projects should] take advantage of [the country’s] history, art, architecture, cultural and natural heritage.” The fund will invest a total of 18 million euros, with each selected project receiving a maximum of 1.5 million euros.
This phase of applications will be open to both technology-based projects (in the areas of artificial intelligence, virtual and augmented reality, the Internet of things, electronics, mobile phones, clean energy, robotics and marketplaces) and non-technological tourist accommodation projects, activities and tourism entertainment operators, wine tourism, theme parks and nautical and equestrian tourism. Applications may be completed online.
According to Pedro de Mello Breyner, a board member at Portugal Ventures, the investment comes “at a time when tourism constitutes one of the most dynamic sectors of the Portuguese economy.” The executive added that it is necessary “to attend to the need to provide companies with a permanent capital structure and create conditions for the financing of entrepreneurship in the sector, to meet an increasingly demanding market.”
The executive also noted that “Portugal Ventures now wants to invest not just in technological solutions but also in innovative projects in the areas of accommodation and tourist entertainment.”
Applicants must present projects that fulfil certain criteria: the companies must already exist or about to be constituted, located in mainland Portugal or on the islands, as seeds, start-ups or in the early stages and that, until the moment of the investment, have been in existence for less than seven financial years. Once selected, the projects will be “closely monitored by Portugal Ventures’ team, which will focus on the management and strategic decisions of the individual companies.”
Original Story: Observador
Photo: Manuel Almeida / Lusa
Translation: Richard Turner