Before Draycott existed as an institutional firm, its founding partners had already been investing for nearly two decades — with more than €2 billion deployed across 100+ transactions and reference returns.

In 2022, João Coelho Borges brought that experience into a single platform – and went to find the best people to build it. Not as a starting point, but as the institutional expression of a longer journey, and mission – to give more people in Portugal access to reference alternative investment strategies, helping them move away from an overly conservative management profile. What followed was a sustained expansion: from a single fund to a multi-asset platform, from Portugal to the Iberian Peninsula, from Iberia to pan-European.

Across each of its investment strategies, Draycott has consistently outperformed the market. In Private Equity, it has completed three reference transactions – including Verescence (€490M), the largest deal ever led by a Portuguese fund – and has been recognised two consecutive years as the most active PE in Portugal. In Real Estate, it has developed reference projects in prime residential development and hospitality, such as Sublime. In Venture Capital, Shilling has backed more than 100 companies – with cases such as Sword Health, Coverflex and Biocol Labs. And it continues to add new strategies to its portfolio.

In June 2026 with the 100% acquisition of Square AM, Draycott takes the most significant step since its founding – the natural culmination of a mission that has been built since 2022. With it, Draycott becomes the leader in the largest open-ended real estate fund segment in the Iberian Peninsula – and present in the channels where the Portuguese effectively save. The mission is the same. The capacity to fulfil its is different.