About us
At Stake Ventures, we´re dedicated to disrupting traditional businesses.
We’re not just investors. We’re partners looking to back entrepreneurs that are in the early stages of disrupting traditional industries.
With a team accustomed to growing companies internationally and establishing international brands, we take a hands-on approach. We work side-by-side with “A” founders with a special focus on the growth engine and fundraising.
Stake’s core values are: international ambition, growth mindset and solution driven.
Experience
CleanUP is an on-demand laundry service based in Lisbon, Portugal that offers a convenient and hassle-free way for customers to get their everyday laundry done. The company aims to make the laundry process easy and efficient for busy individuals and families, helping them to save time and focus on other priorities.
Offcoustic provides a range of soundproof phone booths for co-working spaces, startups and SMEs. These phone booths are designed to offer a private and quiet space for individuals to make phone calls or hold virtual meetings without being disturbed by surrounding noise. Offcoustic offers its customers an innovative subscription model that has helped democratise access to additional meeting space within the office.
Bling Energy is a company that is changing the way we harness and utilize solar energy. In a world where sustainable practices are paramount, it stands out as a beacon of innovation and environmental responsibility. Bling Energy is dedicated to helping individuals and communities reduce their carbon footprint while saving on energy costs.
Powerdot started in 2018 in Portugal, intending to bring charging solutions to commercial and retail spaces. With a turnkey solution, Powerdot started offering a full range of services ranging from the installation, operation, and maintenance of charging stations at 0 costs for partners and with revenue sharing.
Pleez is a Portuguese food-tech startup that helps restaurants in optimising their presence on delivery platforms like Uber Eats, Glovo, Deliveroo, and Bolt Food, through informed data-driven decisions. Showing restaurants the value of using data on their delivery business, by turning data for restaurants as delicious as their food.
Take a break from the nine-to-five grind and experience a stress-free time outside of the city by staying in one of our sustainable and smart getaways.
A boutique getaway in the wild – close enough for a spontaneous escape, far enough away to completely unwind. Each getaway has everything you need to live comfortably, with a fully digitized guest experience that means zero paperwork or handovers. Book a stay and get into the countryside with minimal fuss.
Volup offers a solution for the high-end food segment by creating a platform that bundles together the best restaurants, chefs and food concepts available. By carefully selecting and curating the restaurants they work with, Volup ensures that every order reaches high quality standards. Volup collaborates with its partners, creating and adapting menus that are optimized for delivery.
Our Team
Afonso Pinheiro
Afonso is the founder of Stake Ventures. With a background in strategic consulting and business growth, he previously worked at McKinsey and Power Dot, where he led the international expansion of the company. Afonso also founded several successful businesses, including Pleez, CleanUP, and Importrust. In 2022, Afonso was nominated for Entrepreneur of the Year at the João Vasconcelos awards.
João Marques dos Santos
João is Stake Ventures Portfolio Manager. Apart from its own endeavours, in the last 2 years, João was the Investment & Deal Flow Associate @ Demium Madrid and Lisbon, working closely with entrepreneurs to help them create, validate and grow their startups in Europe. Talent to seed. There, he invested in 21 startups. At Stake, João works with portfolio companies’ C-suite to eliminate the biggest obstacles to grow that their companies are facing. João is also a resident mentor on how to raise capital at Startup Lisboa.
Feedback from our portfolio partners
“Stake has an unique investment model that combines support in crucial macro topics including vision and funding strategy while having the rare ability to support in micro daily challenges with creative and actionable solutions.
Furthermore, as a Stake portfolio company, we have benefited from its team’s capacity to offer a tailored approach towards each investment, shaped to equip the teams with the right toolkit to grow in a structured and sustainable manner.”
Rita Araújo, CleanUP
“We are thrilled to be working with Stake, as they offer a long-term approach and have been successful in their previous ventures. They have an impressive network to solve any specific problems and they want to partner with us, not just ask for reports. Stake is always willing to listen to our problems and find solutions together. You work together weekly, and they act as our new co-founders for the next growth stage.
The team has been ethical and friendly since day one and has a growth mindset, and help you as a founder, with their own founder experience. We look forward to continuing our partnership with Stake and are excited to see how far we can take Offcoustic together.”
Rodrigo Pessoa Jorge, Offcoustic
Contact us
If you are leading a tech or non-tech venture or if you are looking for a hands-on co-investor, please reach out through the form!