Investor Profile: Armilar Venture Partners — Thesis, Cheque Size & How to Apply

Armilar Venture Partners is a Lisbon-based venture capital firm and, in its own words, Portugal's leading venture capital funds manager. Founded in 2000, it is an independent firm with more than two decades of early-stage investing, and it has just closed a major new fund for Iberia and Europe.

Thesis

Armilar backs early-stage technology-based companies where data, digitisation and connectivity play a central role. For its newest flagship fund, Armilar IV, the thesis is the overlap between digital technologies and hard science: B2B startups with high technology content solving world-class problems. That covers artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, software, infrastructure and computing, digitalisation and automation, fintech, healthtech, spacetech and dual-use technologies.

The firm typically acts as lead investor, backing founders from validation to scale.

Sectors, stages and geography

Armilar invests across Portugal, Spain, Europe and the United States, with a strong allocation to Iberia for Armilar IV. The new fund focuses on Series A rounds, extending its Series A platform, while its broader history is seed to early-stage deals. It aims to build a portfolio of about 20 companies over the fund's life.

Fund size and cheque size

On 5 November 2025 Armilar announced the first closing of Armilar IV at over €120 million, backed by the European Investment Fund (EIF) and Spain's Sociedad Española para la Transformación Tecnológica (SETT), through its NextTech vehicle. It said it would keep raising for Armilar IV, aiming to double the fund's size by the end of 2026. That doubling aim is a target, not a closed size.

The same announcement states Armilar currently manages over €600 million in assets. Older materials quoted lower totals, around €260 million to €300 million, reflecting earlier dates. Individual cheque sizes for Armilar IV are not publicly disclosed in the announcement.

Notable portfolio

Armilar's best-known early bets are OutSystems, the low-code platform, where Armilar says it was the only early-stage and only European investor, and Feedzai, the AI platform for real-time payment fraud detection, where Armilar was a first investor at seed stage. It was also first money into Codacy, the automated code review tool, and led the Series A of brighter AI, whose deep-learning anonymisation protects identities in video and image data for GDPR-compliant analysis.

Partners, programmes and perks

Armilar's leadership includes founding Managing Partner Joaquim Sérvulo Rodrigues, Managing Partner Pedro Ribeiro Santos, and Partner Duarte Mineiro, who has spoken about the Armilar IV portfolio plan. José Guerreiro de Sousa is named as a partner in its brighter AI announcement.

Beyond flagship funds, Armilar runs specialist vehicles. Its Armilar Venture Partners TechTransfer Fund develops companies based on academic research, with a target size of €60 million and the European Investment Fund as main investor. It has also run a NOS 5G fund for Portuguese 5G companies. No credits or perks package is published in the materials read here.

How to apply for funding

Approach Armilar through its official website, www.armilar.com, where it invites readers to register for news. A Series A-ready pitch should show validated technology, early revenue signals, and a path from Iberian validation to global scale. University and research-lab teams should note its technology-transfer track record.