200M Fund invests in PICadvanced

PICadvanced is the latest investment from the 200M Fund, in a Series A financing round of € 4 million, in partnership with Verizon Ventures, Verizon Communications Inc.’s venture capital arm for investments in innovation and technology.

Founded in 2014 and headquartered in Ílhavo, PICadvanced is a specialist in solutions on optics using integrated photonics, since conception, packaging and integration on electrotechnology, telecommunications and biomedicine products.

In 2019, and for the second consecutive year, PICadvanced was included in the list of the 25 major Portuguese Scaleups.

For António Teixeira, co-founder of the company, this investment “allows the new growth phase of PICadvanced, with new and more advanced telecommunications products to be launched”. Regarding the 200M’s involvement in the operation, António Teixeira points out that the “Fund is the perfect ally in this type of round because it complements the non-institutional investor by giving it confidence and diluting its risk”, which allowed the company “to seek the strategic partner that best suits its needs”.

The 200M’s mission is to enable Portuguese technology companies to attract leading international investors such as Verizon Ventures.

For Marco Fernandes, CEO of PME Investimentos, “PICadvanced, with its entire team, is an excellent example of the talent that exists in Portugal in transferring technology from universities to the global market in a sector as competitive as communications. Having  Verizon Ventures as a 200M co-investor is also very important for the Portuguese ecosystem at a time full of challenges for companies”.

This is another investment approved by the 200M Investment Committee, which joins a portfolio that includes drug development companies, medical technology, digital / e-commerce, Insurtech, Tourism and Cleantech, totaling around 82 million euros in total investment, of an expected total investment of 120 million euros, considering the portfolio and deal flow of applications submitted, reinforcing 200M’s mission to promote Portugal’s entrepreneurial and innovative potential, leveraging international private investments in the best Portuguese startups.