Angels Way backs four startups, reaching 75% of its 20-company target
What's the deal? Angels WayDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, a Portuguese community-run fund, has invested in four startups — LampsyDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, IntuitivoDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, SmashproDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, and UpSpeechDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →. The additions bring its portfolio to 15 companies, together valued at €79.5 million.
Who's behind it? The fund is managed collectively by 436 small investors and regulated by Portugal's securities regulator, the Comissão do Mercado de Valores Mobiliários (CMVM). It focuses on early-stage Portuguese tech startups.
Why now? The four deals push Angels Way to 75% of its initial goal: selecting 20 national startups with strong growth potential. The fund maintains its focus on original artificial intelligence (AI) solutions built for international markets from the outset.
The new bets: Lampsy, born from a master's project at Instituto Superior Técnico, makes an AI lamp that detects epilepsy seizures in real time; it has run pilots at six Portuguese public hospitals and one German hospital. Intuitivo, founded in Porto in 2021, automates teachers' administrative work through a digital assessment platform. Smashpro is an all-in-one SaaS to manage padel, tennis, and pickleball clubs, while UpSpeech offers multimodal AI infrastructure for speech therapy.
By the numbers: UpSpeech, founded by Rodrigo Figueiredo and Gonçalo Leal, targets a market of more than 63,000 speech therapists across Portugal, Spain, and Brazil, with a 12-person team and pilots running in Portugal and Spain. Lampsy already has more than 5,000 people on its waiting list, half in the UK.
What they're saying: "This path validates a model of democratising investment and rethinks how we can identify and support talent and innovation," said Tocha, executive partner at Olisipo WayDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → (translated from Portuguese). "More than a fund, today we are a community committed to creating value for transformative ideas."
The signal: Angels Way is testing whether a regulated, community-driven fund can open early-stage investing to hundreds of small backers. Its steady focus on AI startups built for export mirrors where Portuguese venture is placing its bets.
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