Government launches deep-tech financing fund worth €110.6 million
The Minister of the Economy, Pedro Reis, has announced a programme to finance deep-tech projects with an initial investment value of €60.6 million and with the capacity to leverage it up to €110.6 million euros. The Deep2Start programme will start during the first quarter of next year.
The announcement was made by Pedro Reis on the last day of the Web Summit in Lisbon yesterday (Thursday, 14 November). Of the total amount, Deep2Start will get €60.6 million in public funding and hopefully mobilise another €50 million from private co-investors.
“It is with great pleasure that I announce today the Portuguese government’s commitment to create a new deep-tech fund in Portugal to support disruptive technology,” announced the minister on the Web Summit main stage, stressing that the Government was “prepared to meet global challenges”, including extreme weather events, social disparities, economic inequalities and cyber threats.
Pedro Reis added that the fund also intended to send out a message of confidence to the investors and entrepreneurs present at this, the largest technological summit in the world. “Count on us to act as a strategic platform for the world. We advocate an open economy as the key to our future,” he said.
The Minister of Economy said that the new financing fund showed the government’s commitment to put the country on the innovation map. “We want to help you surf and ride the wave of the future of innovation”.
The Deep2Start programme on the one had comprises a deep-tech fund that will secure investments in strategic sectors for green and energy transition ” and will be “channelled through partnerships, to ensure the proper selection of the most promising deep-tech projects in Portugal.
The partnerships are still to be defined with Portugal’s development bank, Banco Português de Fomento, the public sector led venture capital entity Portugal Ventures, and the European Investment Fund (EIF).
Second, it aims to encourage private investors to raise funds and match the government’s investment on the projects selected.
In addition to this amount, the government will add €10.6 million of additional public funding, distributed with the National Innovation Agency (Ani), Portugal Ventures and Startup Portugal.
The funding will be directed to new startup funds aimed at transferring and valuing technological and scientific knowledge from academia to the ecosystem, as well as supporting startups in an initial state of financing, informs the Government.
Photo: EPA/MIGUEL A. LOPES
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