2,000 startups compete for €30 million in RRP vouchers

Two-thousand startups have applied for the third tranche of Startup Portugal’s ‘Voucher for Startups’ programme worth €30 million and financed from the Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP) from a total of €90 million.

In mid-March, applications for the third tranche of €30 million vouchers for startups opened, with the mandatory green component being eliminated, expanding “opportunities for access to financing”.

The new tranche also stipulated a “priority allocation” for agrotech projects or those making positive contributions to climate change.

“A total of 2,000 applications were received, divided as follows: Agrotech, with 154 applications; making a positive contribution to the climate transition (green component) and 473 applications, and 1,374 general applications,” an official source from Startup Portugal told the online business source ECO.

“The largest volume of applications was for the general allocation which was extended,” says Startup Portugal.

Of the €30 million total, the largest slice of €23 million has been earmarked to support startups with business model, products and services projects with a strong digital and technological component and scale-up potential, while €3 million was set aside for agrotech projects and €4 million for projects that make “a positive contribution on climate change.”

The projects that are successfully approved have until the end of 2025 for them to bet executed.