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- Population 2.6 million
- Size 958km2
- Global cities index ranking N/A
When Paddy Cosgrave said he was moving the Web Summit, one of the biggest tech conferences in the world, from Dublin to Lisbon, even Game of Thrones actor Liam Cunningham reacted: "The entire government needs to get down on its knees and beg Paddy to return." The city was chosen over Dublin, Madrid, Barcelona, Paris, Cannes, Berlin and Amsterdam for its venue, robust logistics, strong political support and an active tech community.
Nominated European Capital of Entrepreneurship in 2015, it's one of WIRED's hottest startup cities for the first time.
"It has been under the spotlight lately, but the scene didn't grow overnight," Ricardo Marvão, co-founder of Beta-i, says. Many consider it already has global champions: Farfetch and Seedrs, although London-based, have Portuguese co-founders and offices in Portugal. "For us, they couldn't be more Portuguese," Marvão says.
Key incubator in the Lisbon scene
beta-i.ptAv Casal Ribeiro 28
Forty Portuguese startups broke the early-stage level in the last five years, raising more than $166million. A large part of this success is due to Beta-i. Founded in 2010, Beta-i occupies a nine-storey building in central Lisbon. The incubator has worked with more than 500 startups and runs various acceleration programs, including Beta-start and Lisbon Challenge, which attracts applications from more than 60 countries. In 2014, they were considered the biggest startup and entrepreneurship promoter by the European Enterprise Promotion Awards.
uniplaces.comRossio Station, 17, Largo do Duque de Cadaval, 1200-160
Miguel Amaro, British-born Ben Grech and Mariano Kostelec met in the UK while they were students, before moving to Porto to start their first business. Amaro had family there but Grech and Kostelec struggled to find a flat. After that experience, they launched Uniplaces, an online platform to find student accommodation. It was in Lisbon, where they joined startup incubator Startup Lisboa, that they launched Uniplaces in early 2012.
The site now caters for universities in 39 European cities, helping more than 10,000 students from over 165 countries find a flat. It's a service that's generated over $25 million in rental income for landlords. In May 2015, a former VP at Airbnb, Martin Reiter, joined them as an adviser. They have raised a $24 million series A funding led by Atomico, and their angel investors include founders from Trivago, King.com, Klarna, Supercell and Zoopla.
codacy.comLargo Adelino Amaro da Costa 8, suite 3, 1100-006Codacy is an automated tool to review code, helping developers to save time. The startup, co-founded by Jaime Jorge and João Caixaria in 2012, claims to reduce code-review time by 20 per cent to 50 per cent and is currently being used by more than 8,000 developers worldwide. The founders have raised €1.5m from Caixa Capital, Faber Ventures and the ex-COO of Yahoo!, Henrique de Castro.
talkdesk.comR. Tierno Galvan, 10 tower 3, 15th floor 1070-274
TalkDesk allows companies to create a digital call centre in minutes. It was launched by Cristina Fonseca and Tiago Paiva after they participated in a competition organised by Twilio. The pair were then accepted into the 500 Startups accelerator programme, where they raised $450,000. In 2015, the service raised $21m in funding from DFJ, Salesforce Ventures and Storm Ventures and quadrupled revenue. It has offices in San Francisco and its clients include Box and Dropbox.
chic-by-choice.comAvenida da Liberdade, 230, 6th floor 1250-148
Luxury fashion-rental site Chic by Choice was co-founded by university colleagues Filipa Neto and Lara Vidreiro when they were 21 and struggling to find dresses for a gala at affordable prices. The renting platform now gives access to more than 40 designers - including Dior and Dolce & Gabbana - in over 15 European countries, including the UK, France, Germany and Italy. Its revenue grew 65 per cent in the last trimester of 2015.
unbabel.comRua Visconde de Santarém 67b
Unbabel co-founders Vasco Pedro and João Graça realised during a surfing weekend that they wanted to create an online translation startup. They launched Unbabel, which combines machine learning and crowdsourcing to translate content online, in August 2013. In March 2014, it became the first Portuguese startup to join Y Combinator.
crowdprocess.comRua da Prata, 80, 1100-420
In April 2016, CrowdProcess won the award for best startup at fintech conference Money 20/20. Its software, called James, uses machine learning to make assessments about credit risk. The company, founded in 2011 by CEO Pedro Fonseca, Sam Hopkins and João Menano, has offices in Lisbon and New York, and works with hedge funds based in New York and London.
prodsmart.comRua da Prata, 80, 1100-420
Prodsmart provides analytics software to track factories' production in real time - workers input production data on an app, including quantities produced and time spent on shift. Launched in 2013 by Gonçalo Fortes, it works with dozens of companies in the car, toy and construction industries. One client is Festo, the industrial-automation firm. It launches in the UK later this year.
hole9golf.comRua Luz Soriano 67, 1200-246
Hole19 is a personal digital assistant for golf. The app, created by Anthony Douglas in 2011, tracks play stats and displays information about golf courses, helping players to improve their game. The company, which has raised an undisclosed seed round from Seedcamp and White Star Capital, claims more than one million users hailing from 154 countries.
tradiio.comPraça do Principe Real, 22
Tradiio rewards its customers for finding musical talent. The app uses virtual currency which can be invested in new songs. As tracks move up the charts, you can sell investments and exchange them for concert tickets, music vouchers and music hardware. Popular artists can benefit from access to studio time and deals with labels including Universal. Founded by Alvaro Gomez, Andre Moniz and Miguel Leite in 2014, Tradiio has raised a total of $2.1 million.
aptoide.comRua Soeiro Pereira Gomes Lote 1
Launched in 2011 by Paulo Trezentos, Aptoide offers an alternative to the Google Play Store. Focussing on emerging markets around the world, it currently has offices in Singapore and Shenzhen. In January 2016, it raised a $4m series A round led by e.ventures, along with China's Gobi Ventures, Southeast Asia-based Golden Gate Ventures as well as existing investor Portugal Ventures.
*WIRED editor David Rowan has a personal investment in unbabel and was not involved in the commissioning or editing of this entry
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
