We built international businesses. Now we build culture that lasts.
Cascais Ventures is led by people who spent their careers building and scaling media and technology companies across Europe and beyond: a Nasdaq listing, some of Europe's largest television platforms, two decades of partnerships with the world's biggest media groups. We bring that discipline to the cultural projects we create in Portugal, and peace of mind to every donor who makes them possible.
Leadership
The people accountable for every project
A senior leadership team with decades of experience building international businesses, running media platforms at scale and negotiating partnerships with the world's leading studios and media groups, now applied to culture alongside Portugal's foremost artists and institutions. It gives every project the structure to succeed, and every donor and partner the confidence that it will.
- Education
- Instituto Superior Técnico·Universidade Nova de Lisboa
- Languages
- Portuguese, English, Spanish, French, Italian
Listen
Hugo tells the story of how Cascais Ventures was born.
Managing Partner
Leads the conception of every project: from the first idea with its artists, through the foundation partnership and Ministry of Culture approval, to the finished work.
Hugo's favourite projectA Volta do ElefanteA documentary on the creation of an elephant sanctuary in the Alentejo
Hugo has spent more than twenty years turning ambitious ideas into delivered projects. At ZON, now NOS, he was part of the original team behind the North Canyon project, which brought Garrett McNamara to Nazaré and put its giant waves on the world map, as told in the multi-Emmy award winning HBO's 100 Foot Wave. He later headed international business development at NOS and spent nearly a decade leading TV product programmes for Vodafone Group across Europe. He has also founded startups, one of them funded on Shark Tank (Portugal) in 2015, and has worked as a literary manager and adviser to artists. Hugo leads our project origination and production, and our relationships with Portugal's foundations and the Ministry of Culture.
The wave McNamara rode at Praia do Norte in November 2011, then a world record, came out of the ZON North Canyon project Hugo helped create. Nazaré has been the world's big-wave capital ever since.
For artists, foundations, talent and other cultural agents
Book a meeting with Hugo
- Education
- Harvard Business School·Columbia Business School·Universidade Católica Portuguesa
- Languages
- Portuguese, English, Spanish
Partner · Head of Operations
Leads strategy, marketing and operations: how donors find us, how we look after them, and the governance and reporting behind every project.
Nuno's favourite projectAventesmaA series on the eve of the Carnation Revolution
Nuno spent two decades running television and technology businesses. At ZON, now NOS, he ran a pay TV business, and at Vodafone Group he created, from the ground up, Vodafone's global TV business unit, growing Vodafone TV to four million customers across Europe. In those roles he negotiated content and distribution partnerships with Netflix, Disney, HBO and the other major studios and content providers. As Chief Strategy Officer and General Manager at Kaltura, the video technology company, he was part of the leadership team that took it public on Nasdaq in 2021. At Cascais Ventures he leads strategy, marketing and operations. He shapes how our projects reach donors around the world, runs the donor journey from first call to donation, and brings the processes and governance of an international listed company to cultural philanthropy.
For donors and their families
Book a meeting with Nuno
- Education
- INSEAD·EPFL·Heriot-Watt University·Instituto Superior Técnico·Universidade Católica Portuguesa
- Languages
- Portuguese, Spanish, English, French
Partner · Head of Partnerships
Builds and looks after our network of international partners who recommend our projects to their clients.
Sofia's favourite projectUm Quarto Só SeuResidencies for women writers across the Alentejo
Sofia has spent more than fifteen years leading global sales and partnerships for the technology companies that secure and deliver television for the world's largest media groups. She was Chief Revenue Officer of Verimatrix and Senior Vice President of Global Sales for Media and Telecom at Kaltura, after twelve years at NAGRA, part of the Kudelski Group, where she managed the global Vodafone Group account. She has built partner networks across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America. At Cascais Ventures she leads our relationships with the immigration professionals, law firms and wealth managers who advise their clients to donate to our projects.
For immigration professionals, law firms and wealth managers
Book a meeting with SofiaWhat we bring
Why Portugal's leading foundations, artists and donors work with us
Culture comes first
Every project begins with its artistic merit and its meaning for the place it belongs to. Capital and partnerships follow the quality of the project, never the reverse.
See the projects →Trusted by Portugal's leading creators
Leading urban artists, acclaimed film directors and cinematographers, and the heads of Portugal's foremost foundations choose to build their projects with us, and trust us to carry them through to success.
Meet the artists →Reputation and legacy, protected
Every project carries the names of the artists and institutions behind it. We select projects carefully, make only commitments we can keep and manage risk actively from first idea to finished work, so their legacy is built and their reputation preserved.
Content and partnerships at scale
We spent our careers negotiating content and partnerships with the world's major studios, broadcasters and media groups. We bring that experience to every agreement we make with artists, producers and institutions.
Deep international experience
More than 30 years of international experience between us, having lived and worked in more than 60 countries. We understand the families we work with, wherever they come from.
Robust corporate processes
We run every project the way a large professional company runs its business: clear agreements, defined responsibilities, institutional oversight and transparent reporting at every stage.
Our team
A dedicated team behind every donor and every project
Our team is there to make sure every donor and every partner is served well, from the first conversation to the finished work: clear answers, timely updates and projects delivered as promised.
- Case officersEach donor and family has one point of contact, from first call to donation.
- Account managersThey support our partners, the immigration professionals, law firms and wealth managers who trust us enough to recommend our projects to their clients.
- Project managersThey follow every project with its foundation and production team, and keep its reporting on schedule.
- Artistic advisorsCurators, directors and creators who help us choose and shape the projects we take on.
The Cascais Ventures Podcast
Produced and presented by Vera Kolodzig
Vera is one of Portugal's most recognisable actresses and television presenters, with more than two decades of film, television and stage work. She produces and presents our podcast, sitting down with the directors, artists and cultural leaders behind our projects.
Watch the conversations