Asset class
Crowdinvesting in Portugal
Crowdinvesting claims in Portugal are decided by the register and custody layer behind the platform, not the pitch deck. Portugal has ratified the Apostille Convention, which governs legalisation of foreign documents here, though that says nothing about whether the underlying instrument was ever recorded in the investor's name. See crowdinvesting and platform debt.
Register and custody layer
A crowdinvesting position in Portugal is usually one of three things: equity in a Portuguese company, a subordinated loan note, or a revenue-share agreement built on the platform's own contract template. What each of these is worth on paper depends on where the underlying right is actually recorded, not on how it was marketed.
Equity should appear in the company's shareholder register. A loan note should appear in the issuer's books and, where relevant, with a paying agent. A revenue-share agreement is a private contract and carries no register entry at all, only the platform's promise to pass through cash flow. Where the register entry does not match what the investor was sold, that gap is usually the first fact worth establishing, not the last. The enforcement profile for Portugal sets out how a claim moves once the gap is confirmed.
The document rarely handed over
Investors are usually given a portal confirmation and a PDF subscription form. What they rarely receive is an extract from the company's actual register, or written confirmation from whoever holds the instrument in custody, showing them by name as holder.
Portugal is party to the Hague Apostille Convention, in force since 4 February 1969, with a reservation entered under Article 13 [N408]. That matters once a register extract needs to be used outside Portugal to support a claim, though the legalisation route does not substitute for the underlying record. What platforms disclose upfront and what a claim actually needs are rarely the same document, a gap covered in paperwork investors rarely receive.
What belongs in a pre-deal report
A pre-deal report on a Portuguese crowdinvesting position checks specific points, not general impressions:
- Whether the investor's name appears in the company or issuer's own register, not only in the platform's dashboard.
- Whether a custody or paying-agent confirmation exists separately from the subscription form.
- Whether any document intended for use outside Portugal carries the legalisation required given the reservation noted above [N408].
A paid initial assessment establishes which of these exist and which are missing, before anything is sent to the platform or the issuer. It does not estimate an outcome. How that work is checked is covered under how to verify a law firm, and how a missed payment fits the wider pattern is set out under payment and redemption defaults.