João Freire de Andrade is the head of BiG Start Ventures, an early-stage Venture Capital investing in startups innovating in the fields of finance (FinTech), insurance (InsurTech) and cybersecurity. The geographical focus is Lisbon, Berlin and London, but it is open to startups from other locations. BiG Start Ventures provides entrepreneurs with an unique environment for FinTech development, with access to banking infrastructures, systems expertise, banking products, banking users, compliance and regulation. João was a volunteer at the microfinance NGO Move, where has been in charge of supporting the creation of 7 businesses with underprivileged entrepreneurs in Mozambique. Founder President of Bring Entrepreneurs Together, the largest Portuguese university organization dedicated to develop entrepreneurship in the country. João was the founder of Portugal Fintech association, which is responsible to promote the Portuguese fintech ecosystem, creates the top 30 Portuguese fintechs report , was one of the founding members alongside with the financial regulators of the Portugal FinLab - Portuguese regulatory innovation hub and the Fintech House (a 100% Fintech focus incubator and co-work). João has an Economics Bachelor degree from Nova SBE, a Master in Management with Major in Finance from Católica Lisbon SBE and the Fintech Course of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He was a Teaching Assistant at the Master of Finance and Executive Education of Nova SBE and in 2017 has joined Católica Lisbon SBE to fully focus his academic contribution in Fintech.