Welcome to the ISTART I venture fund

The creation of the fund ISTART I was promoted by IST in order to fund entrepreneurs IST and from other higher education institutions. Currently it has a capital of 3 million to invest in new companies in the pre-seed.

The fund is managed (GP) by Espírito Santo Ventures and currently has as investors (LPs) Brisa, Caixa Capital, Novabase Capital, Grupo Espírito Santo and Taguspark.

The ISTART I venture fund invests in companies through equity with an average amount of €150,000 per company for the pre-seed stage, mainly for the creation of a prototype and of a business plan. Espírito Santo Ventures has the exclusive responsability of the management of this fund.

IST supports students, researchers and professors in applying to ISTART I investment for  their venture by helping them presentating the project to the fund. The founders can use this generic template created by TT@IST.

In particular, IST promotes startups exploring intelectual property (i.e. patents, computer programs, etc.) owned by IST.

Information about the ISTART I portfolio is available here.

NOTE: although the ISTART I is particularly targeted to fund IST startups they should also consider other investment options of the capital market.