Seedcapital: 3 startups in portfolio, more to come soon

  • At 10:30 23 Jul '10
  • By leo
  • Under
Mário Valente gave an interview to Económico.TV about Seedcapital, a portuguese VC mainly focused on web-related startups he started in 2009. For those of you that understand portuguese, it’s worth watching the whole video.
A quick wrap up of some practical information shared in the second half of the video: Seedcapital was born as a way to invest in portuguese IT and communications startups, providing not only early stage funding but also some of the experience and knowledge by Mário Valente (with some 15 years of entrepreneurial experience) and his advisors.
By early stage funding Seedcapital means investments close to ycombinator’s model of 5k + (5k * founders), in exchange of a share ranging from 25 to 35%. The objective is of course growing the company so that in a period from 1 to 3 years it’s value allows Seedcapital to get a significant return on their investment.
Seedcapital had a first fund of 250k and is currently growing it’s capital to 500k through the portuguese investment program QREN (National Strategic Reference Framework, a European Community policy for economic and social cohesion).
Their target is to invest in about 5 startups/year, and a way to get to the startups is a free workshop for startups they organize twice a year. The latest of this workshop took place last month and had some 6 participating startups.
The second half of 2009 was mainly about getting operations and the legal framework set up, but currently they already have a portfolio of 3 startups and are close to investing in 2 or 3 further startups.
Current investments are in Tarpipe (social media publishing), Sysactum (simple SaaS for veterinary clinics) and Quirkafleeg (development of classic games, currently working on the already licensed Deus Ex Machina).

Mário Valente gave an interview to Económico.TV about Seedcapital, a Portuguese microVC mainly focused on web-related startups he started in 2009. For those of you that understand Portuguese, it’s worth watching the whole video – stream available here, original mp4 here.

A quick wrap up of some practical information shared in the second half of the video: Seedcapital was born as a way to invest in Technology, Media and Telecommuncations startups, providing not only early stage funding but also some of the experience and knowledge by Mário Valente (with some 15 years of entrepreneurial experience) and his advisors.

By early stage funding Seedcapital means investments close to ycombinator’s model of 5k + (5k * founders), in exchange of a share ranging from 25 to 35%. The objective is of course growing the company so that in a period from 1 to 3 years it’s value allows Seedcapital to get a significant return on their investment.

Seedcapital had a first fund of 250k and is currently growing it’s capital to 750k (250K own capital + 500k credit line through the EU-backed investment program QREN).

Their target is to invest in about 5 startups/year, and a way to get to the startups is a free workshop (called Kickstart) for startups they organize twice a year. The latest of this workshop took place last month and had some 6 participating startups.

The second half of 2009 was mainly about getting operations and the legal framework set up, but currently they already have a portfolio of 3 startups and are close to investing in 2 or 3 further startups.

Current investments are in Tarpipe (social media publishing), Sysactum (simple SaaS for veterinary clinics) and Quirkafleeg (development of classic games, currently working on the already licensed Deus Ex Machina).

According to Mario, the next Kickstart will be held in early January 2011. But project proposals, especially if they’re already past the idea phase (i.e. there’s a prototype and some market interest), can be sent in at at anytime using the form on their website.

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  1. Vitor Domingos

    July 23rd, 2010 at 11:04

    Entrevista a Mario Valente sobre Seed Capital
    http://altprtsc.blip.tv/file/1999852/

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