Leading Capital SGPS – “The Serial Entrepreneurial Group of Companies”

Leading Capital SGPS is a Portuguese holding and is 100% privately funded with Portuguese capital. Its purpose is to finance and manage companies in leading sectors across Portugal and North America.

Launched in 1992 by Ruben Dias, the activities of the group’s different companies range from the IT and entertainment industries to the aviation sectors. Since its early days, Leading Capital has been driven by a strong entrepreneurial vision, supported by organic growth. Investment has been via its own resources and by establishing exclusive partnerships with major international brands.

The group kick-started its business activities with the exclusive Portuguese franchise of Panda Security, the European leader in anti-malware solutions, and the fourth largest security company in the world. At the time it was one of Panda Security’s first international ventures. In just 10 years, Panda Security Portugal has grown rapidly to become No 1 in all market segments of Portugal’s IT security market, and has become one of Panda Security International’s most successful international ventures.

After achieving huge success, Leading Capital sold the business in Portugal, but has retained and reinforced its links with Panda Security. In 2004 Panda Security challenged Leading Capital to launch and develop its presence in the Canadian market. Leading Capital currently holds this position, maintaining its growth numbers well above the Canadian IT security market average.

In the areas of disaster recovery and business continuity, Leading Capital has secured an exclusive deal to represent North American IT brand StorageCraft, one of the industry’s major players, in the Portuguese market. Ruben Dias’ group also represents TTS in Portugal. The brand is the breakthrough European leader in knowledge transfer and TTS has exclusive solutions to develop
e-learning platforms and the dynamic creation of learning contents. In Portugal, Leading Capital’s company not only markets TTS’s products, but has also set up a consulting team to provide IT services and content production to companies of all sizes.

Besides its vast experience in representing international brands, Leading Capital’s companies also stand out because of their in-house products and services. The BeAnywhere technology, developed by one of the group’s companies, Multiplicar Negócios, is one of the best examples: a remote support and remote access platform based on a Software as a Service (SaaS) model, it offers a range of tools for companies and individuals and is marketed worldwide via an internationally specialized partner network.

At present, one of the group’s major investments is in Big Storm Studios, the company that has created the pre-school TV show “Gombby”, the first 3D digital animation project 100% made in Portugal. Gombby has recently premiered on national TV in Portugal and on cable and IPTV leading channel “Panda”. It already has in place several licensing agreements with key categories for the Portuguese market. International brand development and property licensing is on the roadmap for next year.

Finally, Leading Capital has established Treino Avançado in Portugal, a company that provides services in aircraft renting for flight schools.