Portugal Ventures has €18 million tourism investment

Portuguese venture capital company Portugal Ventures has launched Call for Tourism, a campaign whose goal is to find innovative and technological tourism projects which can energise the market.

The project which includes an €18 million investment package, aims to bring innovative services and products that will improve the tourist experience by using aspects such as art, architecture, cultural and natural heritage among other resources.

Known for investing in technological projects, Portugal Ventures through this Call for Tourism wants to send a clear message to the market that it is not just a specialist in technology-based investment projects but also business of a more traditional nature.

Says Pedro Melo Breyner, board member for tourism investments, “Our call to the tourism market has arisen out of the need to make a push in the market and inform that we have investment funds with money to invest and specify what kind of projects we are looking for.”

Call for Tourism works like this: candidates for funds are free to apply with their pitch from now  until 20 December.

By the end of last month the platform already had 120 candidate projects. After submission, the projects are analysed with the objective of discovering if the eligibility requirements have been met or not.

“We have a team from the tourism sector to undertake a specific analysis of these projects headed by Miguel Barbosa with a two other members – Pedro Cunha and Joana Rocha. The eligibility criteria include factual elements such as companies that have a maximum of seven economic activities and have the majority of their operations in Portugal” explains Melo Breyner.

“We have to be sure that the project is backed up by a motivated team with the right skills that can fill us with the confidence to help develop the project and that the projects stand out from competitors in the market offering innovative and different solutions,” concludes the Portugal Ventures director.