While an Austrian software startup and a Dutch marketing company recently declared Boston their home, the city is bound to gain even more European flavor with the added presence of a new Portuguese VC in the coming months.
European firm Portugal Ventures, a public venture capital and private equity firm with more than 600 million euros, or $820 million, in assets, announced Wednesday it has secured a partnership with LB Ventures, and as a result, will establish a post at the Cambridge Innovation Center in Kendall Square. The firm's portfolio companies will be able to work from the Boston office when in the U.S., and will be afforded a taste of the entrepreneurial activity in town, while Portugal Ventures builds a presence in the East Coast innovation capital.
Portugal Ventures already keeps an office in the San Francisco's Bay Area. The firm expects to invest around 20 million euros, or $27.3 million, this year in the creation of new tech startups, in a move aligned with its Acceleration and Innovation Hubs in the World program.
The move to Boston is part of the firm's aforementioned global initiative, which also ties into its Ignition Program. Launched in 2012, the program is a means to spearhead the development of a modern and competitive economy open to the world, based on advanced knowledge, a strong capacity for innovation and highly qualified human capital.
Dr. Jose Franca, chairman and CEO of Portugal Ventures, said in a statement:
We are pleased to form a partnership with LBV, as it is led by an experienced entrepreneur, an investor whose track record includes venturing in the public and private sectors, and current management of the well-regarded Industry and Venture Competition activities of MIT Portugal Program (MPP). In addition, we look forward to a most fruitful set of collaborations in Boston, immersing in the cultural environment of Kendall Square and CIC, leveraging the vast presence of world-class startups in its ecosystem, and capturing the strong drive for entrepreneurship that is ingrained in the MIT culture.
The MIT Portugal Program of which Franca speaks is an international collaboration seeking to demonstrate that an investment in science, technology and higher education can have a positive, lasting impact on the economy by addressing key societal issues through quality education and research in the emerging field of engineering systems.
In October 2013, Portugal Ventures invested $2.6 million in Series B funding for Kinematix, a Boston-based company that provides health and fitness products that evaluate body position and movement.
When it comes to innovation hubs, Boston certainly has the qualifications in plenty. The city's dozens of startups and companies stand to gain significant European ties while the Portuguese companies, on the other hand, will surely benefit from Boston exposure.
Image via Portugal Ventures
