SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 12, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Aptoide (http://www.aptoide.com) is an independent Android Apps Marketplace with 3 Million MAU (Monthly Active Users) that distributes over 100,000 different Apps, through over 50,000 independent stores, having reached over 350 million downloads and 850 million page views. Aptoide, founded in 2009, already has a presence in San Francisco and is expanding its presence in Asia. "We are at an exciting and pivotal time where Aptoide is facing tremendous growth" said Paulo Trezentos Aptoide, founder and CEO.
Coimbra Genomics is focused on the development and commercialisation of clinical decision-support tools based on a patient's whole-genome sequencing. The company also carries out specific R&D projects in areas such as the genomics of gastric cancer. Coimbra Genomics is a joint initiative between Biocant Park, Critical Software and several experienced scientists and entrepreneurs, and is currently launching a number of strategic partnerships with internationally renowned institutes and corporations.
Delta One Therapeutics (DOT) is a biotechnology start-up focused on developing state-of-the-art personalised treatments targeting cancer and chronic viral diseases. After 5 years of pioneering research, DOT has created a new technology platform that can generate autologous and heterologous cellular immune therapies for clinical applications. DOT has secured the first investment round which will allow the team to complete the pre-clinicals and enter Phase I/II clinical trials for its first product: a patented cellular therapy capable of achieving complete remissions for Chronic Lymphocytic Leukaemia patients. "We are extremely pleased to have Portugal Ventures as the lead investor of our company. This partnership will enable us to continue to execute our clinical plans and take a step forward into the discovery of more efficient cancer treatments," added Diogo Remechido Anjos, CEO of DOT.
G3P (http://www.g3pgroup.com/) developed an integrated solution for collecting, counting, custody and cash management for retailers with online communication between all stakeholders in the cash management process (store's employees, retailer, retailer's central treasury, transport company and bank). "The solution is designed for small and medium retail, with a very competitive cost for this target market," Pedro Gordo, CEO and Co-founder added. G3P has already several clients in Portugal with hundreds of users and wants to enter in international markets, namely in the US and India, where the company has signed an MOU with a local company.
Gleam (www.gleamworld.com) is the perfect service for discovering, organising and shopping for the best of global fashion. With a constantly updated, carefully curated visual stream of trends aggregating leading players in fashion content and retail from around the world, Gleam's fashion intelligence platform was launched as a mobile-first service in March 2013 and already has users in over 50 countries. "Gleam offers an engaging experience around inspiration and shopping delight. We're building a true understanding of the style-sensitive consumer and the fashion zeitgeist by easily connecting users to the latest trends and the top bloggers, brands and stores in real time," said Alexandre Barbosa, Gleam's CEO.
Inpakt (http://www.inpakt.com) is a powerful business management engine for NGOs (Non-Government organisations) that allows these institutions to engage their online social responsibility community (volunteers, donors, etc.) as well as to manage donations. "Improving how volunteers interact with their community is of vital importance. Through Inpakt, we will provide a better experience, while reducing and optimising the volunteer search time made by members, through geolocating volunteering actions. We want to be the global socially responsible network," Bernardo Macedo, CEO and Co-founder, added.
Mediaomics (http://www.mediaomics.pt/) is a pioneer biotechnology company in cell functional enviromics (CFE) sciences and derived technologies, with a patented culture media formulation method that increases the performance of cell culture media. "By providing optimal conditions for cell growth and product synthesis through the design of specialised culture media formulations, our technology enables the reduction of about 40% of the total production cost of a new product as well as the development time for media formulation," added Rui Oliveira, CEO of Mediaomics.
RDFixer (http://arthronav.isr.uc.pt/rdfixer/) is a visualisation system for medical endoscopy that improves the depth perception by removing the image distortion in real-time. RDFixer is a patent pending technology that can be used with any endoscopy equipment, and that has proved impact in surgical performance. "We are modelling the camera and using software to do what expensive optic design cannot do. This investment will enable us to introduce RDFixer into the market and validate a technology that opens up exciting possibilities and future business opportunities," added João Barreto, CEO of Perceive3D, the company that created RDFixer.
TREAT U (http://treatu.pt/) is dedicated to the development of targeted nanotechnology-based platforms for the specific delivery of drugs in the Oncology area. The first product of the company, PEGASEMP, is a proprietary platform with the ability to target simultaneously cancer cells and the blood vessels that nurture the tumor. "Our products will improve patients' health by increasing therapeutic efficacy and reducing the incidence of adverse effects, hence, reducing treatment costs for the healthcare system. The participation of Portugal Ventures and Bluepharma in this project is a strong statement that science and innovation are progressing side-by-side in our country, aiming at launching an entirely portuguese product in the worldwide Healthcare market," says Vera Moura, CEO of TREAT U. PEGASEMP has two patents granted in the USA and one pending in Europe, and will enter clinical trials for breast cancer in 2 years.
TUIZZI.com (http://www.tuizzi.com) is the easiest way to buy, sell and manage Outdoor Advertising. In other words, it is the Booking.com for Billboards, Bus Shelters, and all types of Advertising Spaces that are around daily in the streets. Launched one year ago in Portugal, TUIZZI.com has already won several distinct national and international awards, namely the Silver Medal at Start-Up Games 2012 by Tech City Investment Organisation and Top 10 start-up in The Young Entrepreneurs Festival at ad:tech, held in London. With this investment, the company aims to enter the UK market. "We want to revolutionise the market, making Outdoor Advertising more transparent and simple," said Afonso Santos, CEO and co-founder of TUIZZI.com.
YoubeQ (http://youbeq.com/) is a platform for communication with real time geo location in Google maps. The service is available in 2D and 3D, through an online registration. It was supported by Google and Mozilla Firefox, who gave mentoring for its development and with whom were established cooperation partnerships. Currently, it has more than 100 thousand registrations; China, Brazil, USA, Russia and Portugal being the countries with more users.
Zaask (http://www.zaask.pt/) is an online marketplace of local services where one can find the right talent for the right job. Launched a year ago, Zaask is already a 10,000 strong community of freelance service-providers, and SMBs that are willing to perform a wide range of jobs. According to Zaask's Founders, Luis Martins and Kiruba Eswaran, the new funding will be used to accelerate investment in growing its supplier network and expanding into new European markets.
The new investments that have now been realised by Portugal Ventures are the result of a nationwide effort involving partners of Portugal Ventures' Ignition Partners Network, with a special focus on the science and technology ecosystem. The projects that have now been funded have been incubated by the Ignition Partners namely, among others, Startup Lisboa (http://startuplisboa.com/), one of the biggest incubators in Lisbon which hosts 45 start-ups, and UPTEC (http://uptec.up.pt/en), the Science and Technology Park of the University of Porto, which hosts and supports more than 120 companies and entrepreneurial projects. The financing was led by Portugal Ventures but also involved private Business Angels, such as Busy Angels (http://www.busyangelsscr.com/), Invicta Angels (http://www.invictaangels.pt/) and Shilling Capital Partners, among others.
Portugal Ventures' investments in the now emerging start-ups will provide adequate resources to accelerate product and services development and global expansion into worldwide markets. To this end, Portugal Ventures has setup base at the nestGSV (http://www.nestgsv.com/) in Redwood City, California, where, with the support of our local partner Leadership Business Consulting (http://www.leadership-bg.com/), the new companies and their entrepreneurs will be immersed in the unique entrepreneurial ecosystem that Silicon Valley can provide and will experience its amazing power of interaction.
"We're lucky to work with such amazing, talented people to turn dreams into breakthrough companies," said Teresa Fernandes, Board Member of Portugal Ventures, who reminded us that Lisbon has been highlighted as a hotspot in a recent article published by "Entrepreneur", entitled "Emerging Tech: 9 International Start-up Hubs to Watch". "We are sure that the start-up climate will heat up further in Portugal," she added.
About Portugal Ventures
Portugal Ventures (http://www.portugalventures.pt) is the public Venture Capital and Private Equity firm, focusing its investments in innovative, scientific and technology-based companies as well as in companies from the more traditional Portuguese economic sectors. Portugal Ventures was founded in June 2012 as a result of the merger of the three State-backed Venture Capital & Private Equity firms - AICEP Capital Global, InovCapital and Turismo Capital. The firm currently manages circa €600 million in assets. Some Seed phase funds managed by Portugal Ventures are backed by the European Union through FINOVA/COMPETE/PME Investimentos (http://www.pmeinvestimentos.pt/) and POR Lisboa.
About nestGSV
nestGSV is a global innovation platform that incubates and accelerates companies within the startup ecosystem in Silicon Valley and beyond. They are utilising a comprehensive, services-driven model to provide full life-cycle support for startup companies. Their flagship facility is a 70,000-square foot campus located in Redwood City, CA. To drive innovation, they have created strong partnerships with governments, top universities, leading technology companies, service providers, media companies, and other accelerators, and angel investors. Ultimately, they aim to create a network of campuses in selected major cities in the U.S. and internationally. GSV, after all, stands for Global Silicon Valley. To learn more, visit www.nestgsv.com
About Leadership Business Consulting
Leadership Business Consulting is an international management consulting company that helps businesses and entrepreneurs reach their goals. We have worked on over 550 projects covering strategy and finance, organization and change management, human capital management, performance and operations, marketing and sales, and business technology. Our presence in the Bay Area is intended to build ties with the Portuguese speaking world. Leadership Business Consulting is proud to be managing the Portugal Ventures Acceleration program at nestGSV in Silicon Valley and bringing the most promising portuguese start-ups to the Bay Area.
SOURCE Portugal Ventures
RELATED LINKShttp://www.leadership-bc.com
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