Latest news and stories about startups in Portugal for expats and residents.
A reflection on the evolution of the Portuguese startup ecosystem over the last decade and the need to focus on future growth.
Portuguese startup Tally is disrupting the accounting sector by offering an AI-driven platform that replaces traditional accounting firms for small and medium-sized enterprises, focusing on treasury and tax compliance automation.
Miguel Araújo, director-general of Mobinov and a promoter of SCARIA, argues for accelerating industrial convergence between the automotive and aerospace sectors. He says both industries face common structural challenges and share many critical solutions, and highlights the role of initiatives like the third and final SCARIA call to foster startup creation and industrial development in rural areas. The piece calls for intensified collaboration across clusters, supply chains and innovation ecosystems to leverage shared technologies and strengthen regional industrial capacity.
Created in 1990 in Coimbra, the Pedro Nunes Institute is one of the most comprehensive entities supporting the creation and development of companies in Portugal. Among the 500 companies that have already passed through it are some well-known names: Feedzai and Critical Software are two of them.
An analysis of how the Pedro Nunes Institute fosters innovation by supporting a diverse range of companies, from high-growth startups to traditional businesses.
The venture capital firm has allocated 2.1 million euros to support 14 emerging companies.
Portugal Ventures has allocated 2.1 million euros to support 14 startups during the fifth iteration of its INNOV-ID funding programme.
Portugal is focusing on the Brazilian market to drive the growth and expansion of its technology sector.
The European Capital of Innovation Awards, also known as iCapital, recognise cities for their innovative practices.
Portugal is focusing on the Brazilian market to drive the growth and expansion of its technology sector.
The next competition between countries will not just be for investment. It will be about the ability to convince the best people to build their future there.
Vodafone Portugal announced this Monday that it has completed 71 technological pilot projects developed in collaboration with the national innovation ecosystem, as part of three Test Beds and a Mobilising Agenda under the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR). These projects enabled the testing, validation, and acceleration of new innovative products and services with market potential. Using Vodafone's 5G network, startups and SMEs tested solutions in areas such as AI, IoT, cloud, and cybersecurity. The operator also noted that Digi's market entry has not caused a 'dramatic customer churn' for Vodafone Portugal.
The Lisbon-based startup accelerator Unicorn Factory plans to establish a permanent presence in Brazil to facilitate the expansion of Portuguese initiatives while also attracting Brazilian ventures to Portugal's tech ecosystem. Executive Director Gil Azevedo highlights that despite the cultural similarities, the Brazilian market is vast and complex, requiring Portuguese companies to adapt their strategies to different regional and demographic realities. Conversely, the accelerator is successfully attracting Brazilian startups, with Brazilian-founded companies now ranking third among those active in the program, as entrepreneurs look to Portugal as a strategic gateway to the European market.
The University of Lisbon is investing over 20 million euros in a distributed digital infrastructure featuring two new data centres at the Instituto Superior Técnico in Oeiras and the Faculty of Sciences in Lisbon. Part of the ULISBOA CORE and ULISBOA CORE+ projects, the initiative aims to boost capacity for artificial intelligence, advanced computing, and secure data storage. The project includes a sovereign cloud for sensitive research and will be available to the university's innovation ecosystem to support startups and industrial partners. Rector Luís Ferreira highlighted the investment as a decisive step for scientific and technological advancement.
Cascade has concluded a funding round of over three million euros to help construction companies win more projects using artificial intelligence (AI). Indico Capital Partners participated in the round. “Every company we work with can point to a project they should have won, but never even had the opportunity to know that...”
Applications remain open until 31 July for a new competition aimed at boosting tourism-focused startups. The initiative is a partnership between Cais do Porto, Embratur, and Turismo de Portugal. The 'Luso-BR Connection: Binational Open Innovation Call in Tourism - Brazil and Portugal' programme will select ten companies—five from each country—to expand business opportunities in both nations. The technical operation will be managed by innovation hubs Porto Digital in Pernambuco and Cais do Porto in Aveiro, which will provide support and soft-landing programmes over a five-month period.
Ekaterina Zaharieva, European Commissioner for Startups, Research and Innovation, explains to PÚBLICO what the European Union's priorities are regarding science and technology.
Brazil and Portugal have launched a joint initiative aimed at supporting the international expansion of tourism-focused startups.
Portugal has spent much of the past decade promoting itself as an attractive place to launch a business. The combination of safety, comparatively moderate costs, skilled graduates and an appealing The post Can Portugal become one of Europe’s leading start-up destinations? appeared first on Portugal Resident.
Although Portugal is strengthening investment in innovation and entrepreneurship, the blue economy continues to represent only a small slice of that financial effort. Of the approximately 537 million euros channelled to startups through Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR) programmes, managed by the Portuguese Development Bank, only about 5%...
The European Parliament and Council have reached an agreement to launch the 115 million euro AGILE programme, aimed at accelerating innovation in the defence sector by bringing disruptive defence technologies from the laboratory to the field more quickly, and connecting startups and small businesses with the operational needs of European armed forces.
Miguel Pina Martins turned a university group project into a multi-million pound business, Science4you. The journey was bumpy and marked by many setbacks. A conversation about failing and recovering.
This time Portugal will not be left out and will participate in the second phase of the European Tech Champions Initiative (ETCI 2.0), a mega-fund from the European Investment Bank that invests in European startups to create future unicorns. The first phase of the ETCI supported 15 mega-funds that are actively investing in European startups that...
Matosinhos establishes itself as the capital of the new blue economy. The municipality is now an important economic hub with a strong connection to the ocean. The Port of Leixões is the largest in terms of economic links, we have a solid canning industry and, of course, it is our fishing that offers the 'best fish...'
Tekever buys the national startup Cloudsweep. The operation is part of the strategy to strengthen the national innovation ecosystem by investing in emerging technology companies.
Portugal has capital available to invest in startups, but lacks sufficiently smart capital to support company growth, argued the CEO of Bright Pixel, João Günther Amaral, in an interview with Lusa. “I would not say there is a lack of capital to invest in Portugal, there is capital to invest in Portugal,” stated Amaral, referring to...
