PORTUGAL Law and Practice Contributed by: Domingos Cruz, Joana Bugia and Constança Morão, CCA Law Firm
1. Trends 1.1 VC Market The most sizeable financing rounds in Portugal in 2024 were: • 360imprimir, which raised EUR18 million; • Campicarn, which raised EUR6.4 million; • Visor.ai, which raised EUR4.4 million; • Kencko, which raised EUR4.1 million; and • HiJiffy, which raised EUR3.8 million. 1.2 Key Trends The last 12 months were heavily shaped by seed and series A financing rounds aimed at research and development activities made by SIFIDE funds. Access to funding, other than for R&D activities, has been steadily decreas - ing, contributing to an investors’ rather than a founders’ market. In response to this trend, Por - tugal’s information technology industry has been rapidly growing, as seen by the large number of new start-ups investigating this field. The num - ber of exits was below what was expected as a result of poor market conditions. For this reason, and as explained later in this chapter, the trend of the creation of continuation funds has been increasing. Start-ups are closely monitoring the market for opportunities to grow by acquisition to ramp up their metrics. Furthermore, 2024 was marked by the trend of incorporation of Portu - guese R&D subsidiaries from foreign start-ups, in search of funding. Secondaries from founders It is hard to pinpoint specific industries which drove VC activity when most of the Portuguese investment funds are agnostic, notwithstand - ing banking and finance, insurance, cyber - security and data-driven industries which are more favourable to investment. Additionally, it is have become rarer. 1.3 Key Industries
important to mention that as a response to the SIFIDE investment trend mentioned in 1.2 Key Trends , target companies have been increasing - ly focused on developing innovative technology- based products.
2. Venture Capital Funds 2.1 Fund Structure
VC funds in Portugal are organised as closed- end VC funds and are subject to specific regula - tion (see 2.3. Fund Regulation ). The applicable regime requires these funds to have a limited partnership agreement, whereby the management entity of the fund outlines the rights, obligations and corporate governance of the fund. This document also covers the follow - ing matters: investment policies and strategies, capital contributions, profit sharing, decision- making processes and exit strategies. The investors who wish to subscribe to par - ticipation units in the VC funds shall enter into a subscription agreement that will detail the terms and conditions of their investment, the committed capital, the number of participation units being subscribed, how the payment will be made and the type of participation units. These documents, along with regulatory filings, disclosures required by the Portuguese Market Commission (CMVM) and compliance with anti- money laundering regulations, form the legal and operational framework governing the operation and management of VC funds in Portugal. 2.2 Fund Economics In Portugal, there are a couple of common prac - tices and structures that allow the fund’s man - agers to participate in the economics of the VC
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