Portugal Ventures invests €800,000 in three Azores startups

The Portuguese government’s venture capital initiative through Turismo de Portugal has invested €800,000 in three startups in the Azores.

Azores Touch, Cereal Games and Yara Pets were the new startups selected after the VC broadened its portfolio on the archipelago via Azores Ventures and Turismo Crescimento.
“The policy of successive investments in startups based in the Azores via VCs which specialise in venture capital shows that the entrepreneurial ecosystem in the Azores and our entrepreneurs have grown and are applying for the new financial instruments available.
“It is vital that we attract investment today and leverage venture capital in startups because the world is changing” says Sérgio Ávila, Vice-President of the Regional Government of the Azores.
The fund Azores Ventures (created by Portugal Ventures in partnership with the Regional Government of the Azores and SDEA – Society for Company Development of the Azores – has invested in just two startups since it was created which now join Cereal Games and Yara Pets. The startup Azores Touch, because it is linked to tourism, was supported by PV’s Turismo Crescimento (Tourism Growth) fund.
Rui Ferreira, executive vice-president of Portugal Ventures said that the three new investments resulted from a commitment from PV to the Regional Government of the Azores to “balance relations with the entrepreneurial ecosystem there”.
The goal was to identify projects and make investments in creating companies in the Azores that were developing innovative activities that would attract qualified jobs and at the same time are considered strategic for the development of the economy in the Azores.