Portuguese startups Clara and Extraflow, which develop technology to automate financial management and customer order processing for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), have secured investments from Angels Way.
According to a press statement, Angels Way, an early-stage investment community, has invested €50,000 in each startup, bringing its portfolio to 18 companies. The fund is now two investments away from its initial target of backing 20 Portuguese technology startups.
Clara: Automating financial management for SMEs
Founded by Rita Cabral and Luís Miguel Sousa, Clara provides a treasury management platform that connects with companies’ invoicing software and other financial tools.
The platform tracks receivables, prepares payments, reconciles bank transactions, and organizes documents for accountants. It also helps businesses anticipate cash availability while keeping financial decisions under their control. Companies without dedicated finance teams can receive additional operational support from Clara.
More than €12 million in invoices received by its clients have passed through Clara’s platform. In two cases reported by the company, average collection times fell from 68 to 18 days at a B2B distributor and from 54 to 37 days at a services company, comparing the year before and after adopting the solution.
The investment will support product development and team expansion, helping Clara make its services available to more businesses.
“We want getting paid on time to stop being the exception for Portuguese SMEs,” Cabral said.
She added that, beyond supporting product development and team expansion, Angels Way’s investment provides access to a network of people who understand treasury management challenges and can help Clara reach more businesses.
Extraflow: Using AI to automate customer orders
Founded by Ricardo Mesquita, Extraflow develops AI agents that convert customer requests received through emails, messages, and photographs into structured information within business management systems.
Targeting manufacturers, distributors, and wholesalers, the technology distinguishes between quotations, orders, and purchases, matching requests to product catalogs and customer-specific commercial terms. It requests human validation when necessary and integrates with systems including PHC, Sage, Primavera, and SAP.
Extraflow currently processes more than 10,000 actions per month.
The investment will support team expansion and commercial growth through software integrators and consulting partners, initially in Portugal, with Spain identified as its next market.
“Our mission is to free teams from repetitive tasks so they can spend more time growing their businesses,” Mesquita said.
He added that Extraflow aims to bring AI into the systems companies already use, rather than relying on fragmented solutions.
Angels Way approaches its investment target
Launched in 2025 by Olisipo Way, Angels Way operates through a fund managed by OW Ventures and supervised by Portugal’s securities regulator, CMVM.
Its 18 portfolio companies have a reported combined valuation of €89.5 million.
The community consists of 436 investors who have evaluated 205 applications across 295 working sessions since its launch. Members participate in investment evaluation and decisions and provide ongoing support to portfolio companies.
Individual investors can participate from €1,200. The fund aims to deploy €1 million across 20 Portuguese early-stage technology startups.
Featured image: Clara founder Rita Cabral (L) and Extraflow founder Ricardo Mesquita (Photo courtesy of Clara via ECO and Ricardo Mesquita via LinkedIn)
