Portugal Golden Visa: GV Venture Capital funds misunderstood as “immigration vehicles”?

While researching the Portugal Golden Visa fund route, I keep seeing people say all the VC funds are basically garbage and only exist because of the visa program.

But when I actually looked at some portfolios, a few funds seem to be backing legit startups (AI, climate, deep tech, etc.).

Yes, the ecosystem is smaller than the US. And yes, some funds probably exist mainly because of the program.

But venture is already a power-law game anyway.

So I’m curious — are GV VC funds really that bad, or is Reddit just overly cynical about them?

What are some emerging funds you think are worth looking at?