What Venture Studios Actually Do and Why Started Studios.pt was created

In 2024 at a Web Summit side-event for venture studios, something became obvious: the gap between American and European studios, and Portuguese studios was huge. We were behind… way behind.

Portugal has maybe 10 to 15 venture studios right now. That’s not enough. Not even close.

So myself and João Pereira from Build Up Labs together with João Neves Monteiro and João Santos from Cron Studio, Miguel Fernandes and Jorge Cabaço from Dengun, Ricardo Macedo from Laika, Pedro Coutinho from THV.vc, Rui Neves Ferreira from Nova Legal, João Silva from Startup Portugal, Nuno Lopes Gama and Marta Egídio Pereira, decided to do something about it and launched Studios.pt.

What’s a Venture Studio?

A venture studio is a company that builds companies.

It plays three roles at once:

• 🚀 Entrepreneur – coming up with ideas (or sourcing those from external entrepreneurs) and validating them
  📈 Investor – putting in the initial capital
  ⚙ Builder/Operator – providing the team and shared resources

Here’s what that actually means for founders: they get accounting, legal, HR, design, tech, and marketing support without having to hire anyone. They get tested methodologies and accumulated knowledge from all the startups the studio built before. They get office space and initial funding.

This lets the founders focus on what matters: validating and differentiating the business idea.

How Venture Studios Compare

People ask me all the time: “Isn’t this just an incubator?” No. Here’s the real difference:

Venture Studio

• Primary Role: Hands-on: Cofounder, Team, Shared Resources, Capital

• Typical Investment: €50K-€500K

• Equity Stake: 20-60%

• Value Proposition: Higher success rate, Systematic company building, Shared resources & Expert team

Incubator

• Primary Role: Mentoring, Community and Network

• Typical Investment: €0K-€15K

• Equity Stake: 0-10%

• Value Proposition: Safe environment for idea development

Accelerator

• Primary Role: Growth catalyst, Pilot opportunities, Fundraising

• Typical Investment: €20K-€150K

• Equity Stake: 5-15%

• Value Proposition: Business model validation, Rapid scaling, Investor readiness

VC Fund

• Primary Role: Financial investor, Strategic advisor

• Typical Investment: Pre-Seed: up to €500K; Seed: €1-5M; Series A: €5-15M

• Equity Stake: 10-20% per round

• Value Proposition: Growth capital, Strategic connections for scaling

The key difference? Studios are in the trenches with founders. Not just writing checks or giving advice twice a month.

What We’re Doing

Our mission at the Association is simple: to make venture studios a logical option for anyone who wants to create innovative businesses - entrepreneurs, corporations, universities, investors, and public institutions.

Here’s our agenda:

• Support New Venture Studios – Help new venture studios launch and succeed

• Advocacy & Awareness – Explain the model and its impact on innovation

• Attract capital – Bring institutional investors and family offices to this new asset class

• International collaboration – Connect Portuguese studios with a global network

Why It Matters

We believe the next decade will position venture studios as the right context for building successful startups. The progression makes sense: creating startups in garages taught us about passion, incubators added mentorship and network, and now studios bring systematic, repeatable processes backed by experienced professionals.

Ready to Get Involved?

Whether you’re an investor looking for a new asset class, or a corporation wanting to innovate systematically, or a University willing to better bridge research and market, or a public institution wanting to upscale its entrepreneurial ecosystem, there’s a place for you in the Association. Visit us at studios.pt. Let’s build the next generation of successful Portuguese startups together.

Rui Gouveia is CEO of Build Up Labs and President of studios.pt .