Chart showing the financing ceilings for each strand of the Impulsar Portugal credit line

Business 6 August 2026

Portugal's development bank just opened a €1.5 billion credit line for companies

Four strands cover working capital, strategic investment, business start-ups and technical guarantees, with up to €25 million per company. Applications go through commercial banks.

Portugal’s state development bank and the mutual guarantee societies opened a €1.5 billion facility for companies on Wednesday. It is called Impulsar Portugal, and it is the first time working capital, investment, start-up funding and technical guarantees have been bundled into a single instrument here.

The four strands are worth very different amounts.

Impulsar Curto Prazo runs to €7.5 million per company over 60 months, with a 50% mutual guarantee. This is the working-capital strand, the least glamorous and the one most firms will actually use.

Impulsar Investimento Estratégico is the big one: up to €25 million, terms as long as 144 months, a three-year capital grace period and a 70% guarantee. It covers acquiring shareholdings, scaling operations and leasing. In plain terms, buying another company, growing, or replacing heavy kit.

Impulsar Novos Negócios lends up to €1 million over 120 months, with two years of grace and an 80% guarantee, the most generous in the set. It funds both investment and working capital while a company is getting off the ground.

Impulsar Garantias Técnicas lends up to €2.5 million to issue performance bonds, bid bonds, compliance guarantees and payment guarantees. That is not money to spend, it is money that lets a firm bid at all.

How to apply

Not at the development bank itself. Applications go in through participating commercial banks, as with any protocol line, and the full terms are published in the bank’s own product catalogue, strand by strand, with the terms and guarantee percentages laid out.

It is worth reading alongside the other support open right now. There is also €182.5 million from Portugal 2030 for SMEs that want to innovate, and the two do not clash: one is guaranteed credit, the other a grant tied to a specific project. For an SME planning to grow this autumn, they stack.

By Beatriz Mota

Chart: Tugadaily · data Banco Português de Fomento

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