With the objective of fostering the creation of new technology-based ventures or strengthening recently incorporated companies, Caixa Geral de Depósitos via its Venture Capital arm - Caixa Capital - supports the ISCTE-IUL MIT-Portugal Venture Competition by providing the financial awards to the winning teams in each track of the competition with the Caixa Empreender+ Awards.  

The Venture Competition mission is to facilitate and encourage a model of entrepreneurial value creation and the means by which these can be transferred from the Portuguese University scientific as well as technologists and industrialists into the global market.

ISCTE – Lisbon University Institute has been a major driving force behind such initiative via its center for entrepreneurship AUDAX. It has teemed up with MIT Portugal, MIT School of Engineering, Deshpande Center and Sloan Business School to create this unprecedented initiative.

Our model can be seen as a hybrid between Venture Capital and Business Plan Competition. Our inspiration was sourced from the world famous - now going for its 21st year, MIT $100k Business Plan Competition.