Futurum Tech is the venture capital entry in IMGA's range: a closed-end Portuguese FCR (CMVM code 2041, activity since 3 May 2024) backing deep-tech and life-sciences startups on an "Atlantic bridge" thesis between Brazil and Portugal, with Portugal's state development bank vehicle among its investors. For Golden Visa applicants it offers something rare, an institutional-grade VC fund reportedly willing to take US investors with QEF support. The counterweight is verification: nearly every commercial term, from the 2% fee to the 8-year term, is visible only through a single aggregator, and that source contradicts itself on the carry.
Key takeaways
- Closed-end venture capital fund, CMVM code 2041, active since 3 May 2024, investing in Portuguese and Brazilian startups domiciled in Portugal across AI, fintech, cybersecurity, cleantech and life sciences.
- Portugal's Fundo de Capitalização e Resiliência, managed by Banco Português de Fomento with EU recovery funding, is an investor in the fund.
- Reported terms: €500,000 minimum, €50M fund size, 8-year term extensible by two 1-year periods, 2% management fee, all single-sourced from directory data.
- Performance fee is unresolved: 0% in structured directory data, carried interest above a 15% hurdle in the same source's FAQ.
- US persons are reportedly accepted with PFIC Annual Information Statements supporting a QEF election, pending written confirmation from IMGA.
What does the fund actually invest in?
The thesis is specific. Futurum Tech backs Portuguese and Brazilian startups and scale-ups domiciled in Portugal that already have market traction and global ambitions, the "Atlantic bridge" between Brazil's founder pool and the EU market. Two pillars organise the mandate: Future Tech, covering AI, fintech, cybersecurity and B2B cleantech, and Life Sciences, covering healthtech and biotech.
Stage and construction are disclosed through directory data: seed to Series B rounds, a target of 15-20 portfolio companies, and a geographic split of roughly 70% Portugal and 30% rest of Europe. That 70% Portugal weighting matters for the visa route, since it sits above the 60% domestic allocation the Golden Visa rules require.
The investor base is the structural distinction. The manager's own page confirms that the Fundo de Capitalização e Resiliência, the state-backed vehicle managed by Banco Português de Fomento and funded by the EU Recovery and Resilience Plan, is an investor in the fund. A state development bank in the LP base brings institutional diligence and reporting discipline; it also brings deployment obligations that a purely private fund would not carry.
Management is a partnership: IMGA, the regulated Portuguese asset manager, runs the vehicle alongside Futurum Capital, a venture firm operating out of São Paulo, Lisbon, Miami and Abu Dhabi that supplies the sector theses and the Brazilian deal network. What neither firm publishes is a named deal team for this fund, or its current portfolio, both of which belong on the diligence list.
What do the fees cost you over a Golden Visa hold?
Start with the caveat that shapes everything here: IMGA publishes no regulation, KID or factsheet for this fund, so the fee schedule is visible only through directory data. The reported figures are a 2% annual management fee, 0% subscription fee and 0% redemption fee, the last being trivially true in a closed-end fund with no redemptions before term.
At the reported 2%, a €500,000 Golden Visa subscription pays about €10,000 per year: roughly €60,000 over six years, €70,000 over seven, and €80,000 across the full 8-year term, rising toward €100,000 if both 1-year extensions are used. That sits at the top of the roughly 1.5-2% management band typical of Golden Visa funds, which is unsurprising for hands-on early-stage venture.
The unresolved item is the carry. The directory's structured field records a 0% performance fee, while its own FAQ describes carried interest payable above a 15% hurdle, an internal contradiction no public document settles. Carried interest over a hurdle would be entirely normal for VC; a genuinely carry-free venture fund would be unusual. Either way, net returns cannot be modelled until the management regulation puts the answer in writing.
Liquidity, lock-up and the citizenship timeline
This is a full-commitment vehicle. The reported structure is an 8-year closed-end term, extensible by up to two 1-year periods, with no early redemption. Capital returns through exit distributions as portfolio companies are sold and at final liquidation, and NAV is reportedly struck quarterly. Units are said to be transferable on the secondary market subject to management approval, which is an escape hatch in theory and rarely one in practice.
Mapped against the citizenship clock, the fit is workable but not neat. Naturalization tends to run roughly six to seven years in practice, so an investor subscribing today should expect the fund to outlast the visa process by a year or more, and by up to three if extensions are used. Venture exits happen on the market's schedule, and distributions will arrive irregularly as companies are sold rather than as a predictable stream.
Every liquidity and fee term above rests on a single aggregator source; the manager pages publish no fund terms at all, and the fund does not appear on other public qualifying-fund lists. Before subscribing, obtain the management regulation and confirm the term, extensions, transfer mechanics and full fee schedule directly. For a €500,000 commitment lasting up to a decade, single-sourced terms are a starting point, not a basis for signing.
What should US citizens know?
On paper, this is one of the more US-workable funds in the database, which is precisely why the claims deserve scrutiny. Directory data flags the fund as US-compliant, states that US persons are accepted, and reports that IMGA provides the PFIC Annual Information Statement needed for a QEF election. With a valid QEF election, gains flow through annually and long-term gains keep capital-gains treatment, avoiding the punitive default PFIC regime of top ordinary rates plus an interest charge.
For a venture fund, QEF mechanics are relatively kind: early years typically generate little income to pass through, and the election preserves favourable treatment of the eventual exit gains. That combination is rare among Portuguese Golden Visa funds, many of which publish nothing for US investors at all.
The hedges: the same directory's separate acceptance field records "unknown", nothing is confirmed in any public manager document, and IRA or SDIRA eligibility is not addressed anywhere. The practical step is a written undertaking from IMGA covering US-person acceptance, annual PFIC statement delivery, and any side-letter terms, reviewed by a US tax adviser alongside Forms 8621 and 8938 planning, before funds move.
How does it compare with other Golden Visa funds?
Within our database, Futurum Tech sits in the venture capital category with a reported €500,000 minimum, five times the €100,000 ticket typical of the wider fund universe and pitched exactly at the Golden Visa threshold. Its reported 2% management fee is at the upper edge of the usual range, consistent with early-stage strategies. Its 2024 vintage means no realised track record, which is the norm for the category rather than a mark against it.
Its differentiators are the LP base and the US posture: state development-bank participation and reported QEF support are both uncommon in this segment. Among venture peers, Dipalo Heed Climate Tech Fund offers an open climate-focused alternative for comparison. Investors weighing risk profiles within the same manager can contrast this fund with IMGA Ações Portugal, a daily-liquidity listed-equity vehicle at the opposite end of the liquidity spectrum. The full landscape is in our fund database.
What the fund has not published
Listed for completeness, since their weight depends on your situation. No ISIN, custodian or auditor is public. The exact fee schedule is unverified, with the performance fee and 15% hurdle inconsistency unresolved. The €50M fund size comes from directory data and is unverified. No named deal team for this fund is verifiable on the IMGA or Futurum Capital sites. US-person acceptance and QEF reporting lack written confirmation. And the current portfolio composition is not published.
For a fund barely two years into activity, most of these gaps are unsurprising. All of them are answerable in subscription diligence, and the manager's institutional profile suggests the documents exist, they simply are not public.
Next step
If venture-capital upside with an institutional manager and a possible US-friendly wrapper fits your Golden Visa plan, the next move is document-level: the management regulation, the fee schedule and the PFIC undertaking, side by side with alternatives. Roots can walk you through the materials independently, without a sales agenda. This is information, not investment, tax or immigration advice; capital is at risk, and targeted returns are not guaranteed.
