Martim Perestrelo

🕵‍♀️ We meet a lot of the founders we invest in at our events. When is the next one, you ask? 13 November, in sunny Lisbon. As someone spending a lot of time between London and Hamburg, I'd say don't go for the money and don't go for the network. Go for the weather. 😉 Jokes aside, even if you don't want to or can't travel, you should still apply, as we review every application - and who knows what will happen... 💫 #diversefounders #impactinvesting #climatetech #inclusiontech

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Are you at the #WebSummit today? Let’s meet! We create SPVs and support investment deals in different jurisdictions. If you want to learn how to launch an angel club, VC fund or streamline your fundraising and regulatory compliance, let’s meet to chat in #Lisbon today or tomorrow👋

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AI is transforming transportation. Meight is the latest example of an AI-powered startup targeting the trucking sector. They are automating workflow for small European carriers. And they just raised $4M led by Cusp Capital. Europe is slow to adopt new transportation tech, but could this be a stepping stone for something bigger? https://lnkd.in/eiQsheT3

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:: WebSummit Lisbon 2024: Where Are the Hustler Founders? 🤓 This year’s WebSummit Lisbon was a hub of innovation, but as I navigated through pitches, panels, and endless startup booths, one thought kept coming to mind: where’s the grit? Startups are born from hustle—those scrappy, fearless founders who do first, figure it out on the fly, and adapt faster than anyone else. Yet, somewhere between the polished presentations and buzzwords, it felt like the raw energy of hustler founders was dimmed. 🤯 The Missing Hustle! Building a startup isn’t about having a perfect pitch deck or the trendiest AI solution—it’s about execution, persistence, and bold experimentation. At Web Summit, I missed: - Stories of Failure & Recovery: We need founders who own their mistakes and show how they pivoted in real-time. Failure isn’t a stigma; it’s a badge of honor for true hustlers. - Live Problem Solving: Panels are great, but imagine workshops where founders solve real business challenges on the spot, showing off their scrappy mindset. 🧠 Why Hustlers Matter! Hustler founders: - Move at Lightning Speed: They don’t wait for perfect conditions. They launch, learn, and improve. - Do More with Less: No budget? No problem. They turn constraints into creativity. - Inspire the Ecosystem: Their energy is contagious, and their stories remind us why startups are exciting in the first place. 🚀 What Could Improve! (cc Paddy Cosgrave) 1️⃣ Create a Hustler Arena A live stage for founders to pitch and adapt on the fly. Let’s see how they handle rapid-fire feedback and curveball questions—because that’s the real-world chaos they’ll face. 2️⃣ Spotlight the Scrappy Wins Recognize startups that didn’t raise millions but still created real impact. Shine a light on the doers, not just the dreamers. 3️⃣ Encourage Grit-Driven Networking Host founder meetups where the focus isn’t funding but trading hustle stories. Let the scrappiest ideas rise to the surface. Startups are built by those who do, not just those who pitch. WebSummit LLC has the power to bring hustler energy back into the spotlight. It’s time to celebrate founders who bootstrap, pivot, and grind their way to success. To all the hustlers out there: keep doing, learning, and evolving. The world doesn’t need perfect plans—it needs your relentless energy to make things happen. And don't forget, try https://dozero.vc (The Operating System for Startup Founders) #startups #startup #founders #founder #investors #dozero #bootstrap #pivot #hustler #websummit2024 #websummit #build #raise #investment #vc

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Imagine speaking without saying a word! Sci-fi? Not Anymore 🧠🗣️ Rubén Domínguez Ibar and I had the chance of interviewing Vasco Pedro, the CEO & Co-Founder of Unbabel, who demoed their mind-blowing product, Halo Halo is a revolutionary technology that combines hardware, software Gen AI and a non invasive neural interface to translate brain signals into words hence - "speaking without saying a word" 🤯 Early usage is transforming the lives of ALS patients who haven't been able to speak in years. Seeing it in action is absolutely jaw-dropping 📽️ You've got to see the demo in the interview below 👇 AI For Good 🤖💖 - It's here ✅

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New Framedrop.ai blog post straight from the oven by Filipe Pessoa. How you can monetize a podcast in 5 steps: 1. 𝗞𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗠𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘁𝗶𝘇𝗲: Wait until you have an established audience base.     2. 𝗞𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗔𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲: Understand their interests, pain points, and preferences.     3. 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗩𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗲𝘀: Sponsorship, affiliate marketing, donations, premium content, merchandise, events, memberships, product sales.     4. Click to read the full article 🎣     5. Click again 😅 It includes 10 tried-and-tested ways 🤓

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🚀🚀 We’re thrilled to officially launch Bynd Venture Capital Fund III! 🚀🚀 With this new 40M€ fund, we’re doubling down on our commitment to support visionary founders in Portugal and Spain, backing early-stage startups poised to become the next tech leaders across AI, software, consumer goods, and sustainability. We’re excited to announce that our first three investments—Equall, CircuitLeap.ai, and Spot—are already in motion, with two additional deals coming soon! 👀👀 We’re actively seeking standout startups that are ready to make a mark in the Iberian and global markets. 👇Check the website and the official announcement links in the comments to learn more about our mission👇 Let’s Bynd together! 🤝 #ByndVC #FundIII #IberianStartups #EarlyStageInvesting #VC

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Check out Garibaldi's Mid-Year report on Technology M&A and investment trends. We are starting to see a slight **knocks on wood** recovery in both investments and exits!

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I met a founder in Lisbon that hacked the VC process. Instead of him filling a form with his company details (company, url, arr, amount raising) to apply for funding, He got me (and other investors) to fill in a form to apply to be his investors🤯 My 3 takeaways 👇 Best entrepreneurs are able to change the rules of the game to their advantages Fundraising is about generating demand, outbound doesn’t work (unless it is just to generate demand) Investors love exclusivity What do you think? — Send this to any friend fundraising📨

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Have you even been curious about Portuguese Web3 ecosystem state? Yesterday at Poolside I've got to listen to presentation of Jose Reis Santos, Hugo Volz Oliveira and Nuno Lima da Luz They interviewed 250+ Portugal based web3 entrepreneurs and here are the main stats shared: The web3 industry in Portugal remains highly male-dominated, with around 90% of workers identifying as male and falling in the 28-43 age range. Interestingly, the professionals operating in Portugal's web3 space are extremely well-educated, with the majority holding advanced degrees. And get this - the majority are EU passport holders. Portugal is attracting top global talent! 🌍 The hottest categories in PT web3 ecosystems? DeFi dApps, crypto exchanges, and web3 service providers (Love to see the innovation!) 💱 The roles most commonly found are BD, sales, trading, founders, and software devs - all critical functions for scaling successfully. Remarkably, two-thirds of Portugal's crypto startups are headquartered within the country, highlighting the strength and momentum - the ecosystem is booming! 🇵🇹 Portugal is cementing its status as a web3 EU powerhouse, probably even surpassing UK and Switzerland. Feel free to shoot a message to Jose Reis Santos to get the full report and follow Poolside to never miss hottest crypto Lisbon events!

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I had the pleasure of making my sixth appearance at Web Summit Lisbon, where I delivered a keynote on two topics incredibly close to my heart: Fintech and Emerging Markets. Key themes from my keynote: - Emerging Markets are hard: The complex realities of developing economies create unique challenges, from fragmented regulations to infrastructure gaps. Talent poses a critical challenge – there's a limited pool of experienced professionals, and many prefer secure salaries over startup equity. These obstacles require deep local understanding and innovative solutions to succeed. - Narratives are dangerous, but...: While compelling market stories can lead to misguided investments, certain narratives reveal genuine opportunities when backed by data and ground-level insights. - Arbitrage: Exploring how market inefficiencies and regional differences create opportunities for value creation through financial and technological arbitrage. Building products in regions with strong engineering talent and deploying them in higher-margin markets can dramatically improve unit economics, creating competitive advantages in pricing and profitability. - Capital is scared, but...: Understanding why global institutional investors often hesitate to enter emerging markets, creating opportunities for those who can effectively navigate and mitigate these perceived risks. Meanwhile, local investors often recognize this capital scarcity and propose predatory terms to startups, making it crucial to build relationships with ethical investors who offer fair valuations and reasonable terms. - M&A: Analyzing consolidation trends in emerging market fintech and how strategic acquisitions are reshaping the competitive landscape. - IPO: Examining the evolving pathways to public markets and what it takes for emerging market fintech to achieve successful listings. - Unfair advantages: Identifying and leveraging moats that protect your business from competition - whether through local network effects, proprietary technology, or regulatory compliance. Even more powerful is targeting blue oceans: creating uncontested market spaces where competition becomes irrelevant by opening new value-cost frontiers and tapping into undiscovered demand.

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GOVTECH AT THE CORE 🏛️ Reinventing #B2G as a viable (and yes, even exciting) model by truly understanding the #public sector. Diego Docavo, head of startups at Gobe Studio, shared the particularities of working with public administration as a client, leaving us with three #learnings: ❌ Expecting custom tenders tailored for individual companies. ✅ Opening up competition to include a wider range of companies. ❌ Viewing the public sector as an inaccessible "black box." ✅ Applying strategy and methodology to navigate and win contracts. ❌ Assuming the B2G market lacks profitability. ✅ Recognizing high customer value, if CAC is effectively managed. Gobe Studio is doing phenomenal work by collaborating closely with public sector agents to create smoother processes for the #startup ec(h)osystem. Check out their open calls and watch for the next edition of their #acceleration program, any updates will be shared on Senda.

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An incredible night of Pitch&Drink with P2S.vc in Lisbon! 🚀 On November 11, as Web Summit got underway, we brought together founders and investors for an unforgettable Pitch&Drink event, part of the Pre-Seed to Succeed program, created in partnership with I2BF Global Ventures, AltaIR Capital, Yellow Rocks!, and Smart Partnership Capital. The response was outstanding — with 740 registrations, including more than 150 investors eager to connect. Out of 356 startup applications, 74 top startups were selected to join the speed-dating pitch session, creating a vibrant, high-energy experience. After the fast-paced pitches, the evening shifted into a dynamic networking setting, where connections were made and insights shared in a friendly atmosphere. This event in Lisbon also marked a special milestone: one year since the launch of Pre-Seed to Succeed! Over the past year, 8 promising startups have joined our portfolio (with one more exciting deal to be announced soon). We’re proud to support these innovative founders on their journey and excited to see their growth. A big thank you to all the startups who applied for the speed-dating session and those who joined us just for the networking! And a special thanks to the investors who made the event possible by judging the pitches and providing invaluable feedback to the founders. We’re excited to keep the momentum going and look forward to more opportunities to connect with you at future events. About the Program Pre-Seed to Succeed (https://p2s.vc/) is dedicated to helping young, ambitious companies raise their first funding round. This investment program was launched by AltaIR Capital, Yellow Rocks!, Smart Partnership Capital, and I2BF Global Ventures. P2S is designed for early-stage startups with an MVP and initial traction and focuses on industries including B2B/SaaS, FinTech, AI, Future of Work, Productivity Tools, Digital Health, and HR Tech. The program offers initial funding from participating venture firms, ongoing support from seasoned experts and mentors, and up to 50% of the next round for proven startups. If you have any questions, please contact us at: [email protected].

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Attending a panelon Venture Capital in Emegin technology at Lisbon Blockchain Conference 4.0 at Nova Blockchain Club "If you behave like the owner of the company it's just a matter of time for you to become the owner of the company" Tocha 🔷 on the challenges on building brilliant teams for the early stage startups. Going to pitch TokenEstate from the stage later today, send 🍀 in comments to send me luck! #vc #blockchain

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Growth in startups can sometimes feel abstract, especially in remote companies. But for us at Amplemarket, we've found an unexpected metric: the growing number of tables we occupy at Lucimar, our favorite local restaurant in Lisbon! 😊 When we first started, it was just 3 founders - myself, Mica, and João - huddled around a single table every time we were in Lisbon, discussing the future of sales between bites of francesinhas. We got to know the owners really well, and they wondered why these 3 folks kept coming back. Fast forward to today, and our team meetups have become quite the event at Lucimar! The look on the owners' faces when our entire remote team walks in is priceless - they've literally watched us grow from a single table to filling up a significant portion of their restaurant. In a remote-first world, it's not always easy to visualize your company's growth. But Lucimar has become our unconventional "tape measure" - each visit with more teammates, more laughter, and more tables joined together is a tangible reminder of how far we've come. To Lucimar - thanks for being an unexpected part of our growth story! And to every startup out there - sometimes growth isn't just about revenue metrics and KPIs; sometimes it's about how many tables you need to push together for lunch! 🚀🍽️

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Does this count as Breakfast with Founders? 🍻 Last week I met with Charlie Baron in Lisbon Charlie is the co-founder of (tribe - we help grow communities) - a social community where members work, play and connect together. We spoke about: - Community community community. Charlie has built a community from the ground up, attracting founders and freelancers in and around Lisbon with the sole purpose of bringing back IRL connections. To date, IRL communities have struggled to remain engaged between events, tribe are changing that. - Building in smaller cities vs global metropoles. Smaller markets like Lisbon can act as great way to try and test your product with a more targeted user group. They're also great for acquisition as you can rely on word of mouth and existing networks in order to do so. Sometimes, they're less spoilt for choice too - making your product more attractive. - The paths of least resistance. Community and creators already exist. They behave in a certain way and platforms risk getting in the way. It's important to consider how easiest you can acquire communities with as little friction as possible. - Fundraising and exits. With any opportunity - we want to answer the 'how big can this become' and 'what could an exit look like'. Personally, I'm okay with the exit not being entirely planned out (as we're talking about startups here where things change quick), but it gives me a sense of a) the type of investor this could attract b) the type of exit this could entail (ie. tech, customers, IP, market share etc) Unfortunately our beers came to end soon after as someone decided to grace the public square with the presence of their guitar and voice. ----- If you're a founder keen to meet, I'd love to have breakfast with you in London. Investors, sign up to Table for Ten dinners. Link to waitlists are in my featured section. Naturally, I can't meet with everyone, but I'll always try to make time to speak Breakfast with Founders

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Struggling with email overload? Let AI help. I spoke to an enthusiastic group of students from START Lisbon at my co-working space. These future entrepreneurs from Nova School of Business and Economics and other universities are passionate about startups and tech. I shared my 25-year journey with startups and emphasized the importance of following your dreams. If you can't achieve your goals right away, set them as targets for the next five years and take decisions that bring you closer to them. I also introduced my latest project: PausePoint Imagine a world where your email works for you, not against you. PausePoint uses AI to filter and prioritize messages, helping you stay focused and truly disconnect, without the fear of missing anything important. It adapts to your needs, sending notifications only for important emails and handling auto-responses for the rest. Curious to experience this change? Sign up for the waitlist at pausepoint.ai or comment to join the alpha testing. Moritz von Pander and Julius Kaiser thanks for organizing this great event!

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Every startup wants to "exit" Investor are betting on their portfolio "going public" So why do so many companies crash post-ipo? Who gets the last laugh? Just look at; Cazoo - went from $6BN post IPO in 2020, to nothing in 2024. Farfetch - IPO at 28 per share, reached 80 during covid, now bankrupt. What can we learn from these and hundreds of similar cases? Who creates the hype before an IPO? who wins who loses and what kind of companies are we building that end up in the trash can having raised billions in private money? Any ideas?

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How much money does a co-working space make? I recently moved to Portugal and started to work from a co-working space. After a while, I started asking myself this question. It's only until you break the business down that you understand how much revenue they generate. The @Decipad document below allows you to get an exact idea because it uses: - 3 different monthly plans - 2 secondary products - Weighted average monthly recurring revenue - Total capacity and booked capacity For example: Assuming a part time monthly plan of $95, a full time plan on $150 and a company plan of $500 per month, if it: - has a 10%-70%-20% split between these plans, respectively - with a total capacity of 100 people - and is usually booked at 80% of its capacity -> This co-working space would be making around $18k per month 🤯 Quite a significant amount but the question is: will it cover costs and generate profit? You can play around with these assumptions in the link below! Let me know what you think.

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