The Portugal Venture Capital Initiative (PVCi) is a €111 million fund of funds launched in 2008 by the EIF in partnership with public and private stakeholders to support a thriving venture capital and private equity ecosystem in the country.
Alongside the EIF, investors included the Government of Portugal, Banco Português de Fomento, BPI, Novo banco, Millenium BCP, Montepio, CaixaGest, Bankinter, Santander, Fidelidade, Oitante, and Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian.
Achievements to date
Leveraging PVCi’s public and private funding, seven selected funds generated investments worth of € 370 million into 53 companies across a wide range of industries. The portfolio includes well known Portuguese businesses such as Castelbel, Bizay, ebankIT, Imperial, Just Stay Hotels and Vortal.
(Data as of 31 December 2024)
| Fund name | Signature | Total invested (EURm) | No. companies |
| Explorer III | Jun 2010 | 99.1 | 7 |
| Fundo Inter-Risco II | Nov 2010 | 51.6 | 6 |
| Vallis Sustainable Investments I | Nov 2011 | 58.9 | 7 |
| Pathena | May 2013 | 37.9 | 13 |
| SC1 Private Equity Fund | Sep 2013 | 35.8 | 8 |
| Oxy Capital Mezzanine Fund I | Apr 2014 | 54.5 | 7 |
| HCapital I | Aug 2014 | 32.5 | 7 |
| Total | 370.2 | 53 |
Our success stories
In the news
EIF to launch a dedicated investment programme in Portugal
Portugal Venture Capital initiative (PVCi) reveals the economic impact of 10 years of investment in Portugal
More funding in Portugal
Further information
The Fund defines with the assistance of the Investment Advisor certain excluded sectors in which the Fund is prohibited to invest directly or indirectly. The selection of such sectors is based on the Investment Advisor ESG guidelines: EIF Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) Principles as well as on investment considerations meant to avoid inter alia any actual or potential material social, governance and/or environmental negative impact on the Fund performance. Such excluded sectors are taken into consideration in the investment process and decision-making process of the Fund.
The Fund does not consider adverse impact of investment decisions on sustainability factors at the present time considering that (i) in the absence of regulatory guidance, it is not clear what regulators will expect of entities that elect to consider such matters at this time, and (ii) it is also not clear that there is sufficient data, and data of a sufficient quality, to support entities that do so, in the relevant asset classes, industries or sectors in which investments have been/may be made. Sustainability factors are environmental, social and employee matters, respect for human rights, anti-corruption and anti-bribery matters.