Start Ventures Research
Investment Thesis
Start Ventures is a Lisbon-based early-stage venture fund with a laser focus on financial services. It was founded in 2016 and is managed by Onetier Partners SCR, S.A., with deep roots in BiG (Banco de Investimento Global), the Portuguese bank whose brand sits beneath the Start Ventures logo. The firm believes financial systems are the key to economic growth and that only technology can challenge the industry's status quo. It backs founders who want to make the financial system fairer and more efficient, using AI, blockchain, APIs and alternative data across the value chain.
The firm says it enters early and wants to be the button founders click to start the adventure. It invests in companies on the verge of finding product-market fit and accepts that sales cycles in financial services are long, treating that as a source of durable competitive advantage for the winners.
Stage Focus
Seed stage is the stated focus. The homepage tags describe the firm as Seed stage, Fintech and Insurtech, B2B, and Global. The firm expects founders to be global from day one, with a soft landing in the EU or US supported by turn-key R&D and operational help.
Check Size
The website does not state check sizes. Third-party directories put first checks at roughly 100,000 to 500,000 USD (one lists 100,000 to 350,000 EUR). Treat this as low-confidence until confirmed.
Lead Tendency
Not stated. The firm describes participating in rounds, for example joining WeatherPromise's 12.8M USD Series A, and invites other early-stage investors to co-invest alongside it. Lead tendency is recorded as unknown.
Recent Activity
- January 2026: joined WeatherPromise's 12.8M USD Series A, a parametric weather guarantee product for travel (partners include Marriott, Expedia and JetBlue).
- October 2025: announced its investment in ClaimSorted, an AI-first third-party administrator for insurance claims run by second-time founders.
- September 2026: published an essay arguing AI liability insurance is where cyber insurance was in 2017.
- Earlier writing covers DORA automation, health insurance fraud, AI-enabled services, authorized push payment fraud, and the future of reinsurance.
The portfolio page shows four exits (Drivit, Quantee, Switch and James), so the fund has returned capital. Fund size and AUM are not published. The firm appears to be actively investing.
Portfolio Highlights
The portfolio page lists 23 companies: Drivit (exited), Counting Up, Zego, Youverse, Anansi, Ethiack, LOQR, Habit, Elucidate, Jove, Quantee (exited), Zango, Switch (exited), hAPI, Fraudio, Claims Carbon, Sonant, Frank, James (exited), Coverflex, WealthKernel, Kirontech and ClaimSorted. The mix is B2B fintech and insurtech: fraud and risk (Fraudio, Elucidate), digital identity (Youverse), embedded insurance and claims (Zego, ClaimSorted, Claims Carbon, Jove), wealth and benefits infrastructure (WealthKernel, Coverflex), and API and security tooling (hAPI, Ethiack). The firm's own pages say it has backed teams that collectively raised from global investors, but the counts are not shown on the page text.
Team
- Joao Freire de Andrade, Managing Partner: founded the Portugal Fintech Association, co-founded Portugal Finlab with the Portuguese regulators, founded Bring Entrepreneurs Together, teaches fintech at Catolica-Lisbon SBE.
- Joao Menano, Venture Partner: founded James in 2013 and sold it to Google in 2019; former Google product leader; angel and advisor in AI and insurance. Focus on product and go-to-market.
- Matilde Limbert, Principal: on the investment team since 2018; led the Portugal Fintech Report from 2018 to 2021.
- Nuno Campos, Senior Consultant: product and tech support; former James engineer and early LangChain engineer.
- Nuno Afonso, Investment Analyst: sources insurtech deals; Nova SBE.
- Rafik Shamsudin, Investment Analyst: fintech focus on ESG, fintech infrastructure and healthcare crossovers; joined in 2022.
Decision Process
Not published. The firm is a small partnership with a managing partner, a venture partner and a principal. Decision process is recorded as partnership at low confidence.
Founder Preferences
The firm looks for visionary, bold founders with ambition, often operators with domain depth in insurance or financial services, and it likes repeat founders (ClaimSorted's founders are second-time). Portfolio founders praise introductions to clients and partners, help with proof of concepts, hiring and legal advice, and regulatory licensing for European entry. Because of its banking parent and LP network, it positions itself as a way to pilot with and sell to financial institutions.
Geographic Focus
Global. The firm is based in Lisbon, Portugal and the portfolio spans the UK (Zego, Counting Up, WealthKernel, Anansi), Portugal (Coverflex, LOQR, Youverse) and other markets. It supports a landing in the EU or US.