About Us

Intro

We believe the Portuguese, Spanish and Italian ecosystems have incredibly strong engineering talent that can generate innovative businesses and sustainable solutions at a global scale. Due to their limited local markets, Southern European entrepreneurs are forced to have an international mindset from day one. We set our mission to be providing an exceptional pool of local talent with the capital and the knowledge to assist them in their quest for global expansion.

Our complementary Partners group and dedicated team have been behind almost the entirety of the successful tech stories and unicorns in Portugal over the last decade, both as investors and as entrepreneurs. Since we became the first sizable independent VC firm in Portugal in 2018, we proved this unique experience mix can successfully propel Iberian startups into international markets. We have since expanded from tech into with the launch of an ocean related fund in 2022 - a theme we are personally highly passionate about and professionally experienced.

Our continuous growth is driven by our core mission: leveraging Southern European talent for global influence.

Our Investment Philosophy

We back entrepreneurs going from local to global. We invest from €250k to €10M in areas like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Deep Tech, SaaS, Fintech, IOT/ Robotics, Spacetech, Healthtech, Consumer among others. We also focus on ocean related startups and SMEs with the aim of giving them scale and enabling their global expansion. Ocean-related startups can be tech, biotech or hardware focused but also aim to back innovative industrial SMEs with global expansion potential.
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Our focus is to support the best, most unique and scalable high tech and sustainable companies. The best means we look for teams that are highly ambitious, excepcional at execution and that are willing to partner with us, working side-by-side. This often means working hard, being creative, being totally honest and also realistic, while shooting for the stars.
We only back businesses that have a huge potential addressable market. Certainly in startups, we must believe the company can become a global category winner, and that such a category can produce sizable companies.
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When we invest in sustainable related SMEs we look for growth potential as well so that our expansion capital can multiply the revenues and margins of the business considerably. We can invest up to 5M Euros into each SME seeking expansion capital.
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Ambition and team are the key elements in building any company. Our entrepreneurs must be able to attract top talent to achieve the growth we all expect to become reality.

Tech Areas of Focus

Artificial Intelligence

Space Tech

Consumer

Deep Tech

Enterprise SaaS

IOT / Robotics

Fintech

Healthtech

Sustainable Ocean Areas of Focus

Coastal Tourism

Services

Sustainable Aquaculture

Blue Biotech / Engineered Marine Biology

Sustainable Fisheries

Software (digital ocean)

Ocean Renewable Energy

Maritime Operations (inc. Ports)

Shipbuilding & Repair

Ocean Security

Waste & Circular Economy

Green Shipping

Our Funds

‍Indico VC Fund I - Fundo de Capital de Risco Fechado

€ 54 million (closed) for early stage ICT Startups'
InnovFin Equity and Portugal Tech

Indico VC Fund I - Fundo de Capital de Risco Fechado is supported by InnovFin Equity, with the financial backing of the European Union under Horizon 2020 Financial Instruments and the European Fund for Strategic Investments ("EFSI") set up under the Investment Plan for Europe. The purpose of EFSI is to help support financing and implementing productive investments in the European Union and to ensure increased access to financing. It is also co-financed by Fundo de Capital e Quase Capital (FC&QC) managed by BPF – Banco Português de Fomento, S.A. through the Portugal Tech facility managed by the European Investment Fund.

Indico Opportunity Fund I - Fundo de Capital de Risco Fechado
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€ 25 million (closed) as a top fund for the portfolio of Indico VC Fund I - Fundo de Capital de Risco
EGF and Portugal Tech
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Indico Opportunity Fund I - Fundo de Capital de Risco is supported by the Pan-European Guarantee Fund (EGF), implemented by the European Investment Fund (EIF) as part of the European Investment Bank (EIB) Group with the financial support of the EU Participating Member States. It is also co-financed by Fundo de Capital e Quase Capital (FC&QC) managed by BPF – Banco Português de Fomento, S.A. through the Portugal Tech facility managed by the European Investment Fund.
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Indico Acceleration Fund I - Fundo de Capital de Risco Fechado
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€ 12 million (closed) for Indico Founders' Programme powered by Google For Startups

‍‍Indico Blue Fund - Fundo de Capital de Risco Fechado
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€ 50 million (closed) for climate action focused on blue economy / SMB's.

‍‍Indico Venture Capital Fund II - Fundo de Capital de Risco Fechado
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Up to € 102 million fund dedicated to the investment in later-stage Portuguese tech startups.

Indico Venture Capital Fund II - Fundo de Capital de Risco Fechado is co-financed and supported by Programa de Venture Capital managed by BPF - Banco Português de Fomento, S.A.

Indico VC Fund III - Fundo de Capital de Risco Fechado

Indico VC Fund III - Fundo de Capital de Risco Fechado is supported by the European Union under the InvestEU Fund. And is co-financed by the Capital and Quasi-Capital Fund (FC&QC), managed by BPF - Banco Português de Fomento, S.A., within the framework of Portugal Blue and with the support of the Blue Fund.
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‍CMVM - Sistema de difusão de informação - Capital de risco

Our Team

Stephan de Moraes

Managing General Partner

20+ years of investment and CEO experience, VC, Executive Board Member of Caixa Capital. Harvard Business School, MBA.

Ricardo Torgal

General Partner and CFO

20+ years of investment experience, VC at Caixa Capital. Previously InterRisco (PE of BPI Group).

Cristina Fonseca

General Partner

Co-Founder of Talkdesk and Cleverly. Galp Board Member. Forbes 30 Under 30 in Enterprise Technology.

Rui Rodrigues

Partner

10+ years of investment and M&A experience, VC at Caixa Capital, M&A at PwC Spain.

Sofia Egídio

Partner and General Counsel

20+ years of legal experience. Previously at Fidelidade.

André Almeida Santos

Partner

+20 years of investment experience. Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School. Previously African Development Bank Principal Country Economist.

Rui Jerónimo

Principal

14+ years of investment experience. Previously at Caixa Capital.

João Pedro Roque

Principal

16+ years of investment experience. PE & VC at Status Capital. Investment Banking at ING Bank. MBA, Nova, Católica | MIT. VC, IE. MSc in Electrical and Computer Engineering, IST.

Tomás Marchão Marques

Investment Analyst

2+ years of investment experience. Previously at 415 Capital. TUM, MSc.

Gabriela Cordeiro

Compliance Officer

15+ years of Office and Operations Management and Compliance. Previously Finance And Administration Manager at EM LIVING.

Marta Fernandes

Financial Controller

15+ years of Financial Controlling and Auditing experience. Previously Head of Finance at a social impact start-up.

Maria Amaral

Marketing, Communication and Events

2+ year of communication and multimedia experience.

Rafaela Martins

Executive Assistant and Officer Manager

7+ years of Office and Operations. Previously at Hertz.

Partnerships and Collaborations

At Índico Capital Partners we live by the strength of our ecosystem. We place strong emphasis in the collaborative power of partnerships and the communities that carry our founders and companies through their growth process.

Member of:

Índico Blue Fund Partners

Índico Capital has established a network of local and international partners along the Ocean ecosystem, in our commitment to support the most exceptional entrepreneurs while ensuring a thriving Ocean.

The Hope Zones Foundation is committed to establish and promote Maritime Protected Areas and surrounding communities, through sustainability and education. The Índico Blue Fund is a proud supporter of HZP.