Two years in the past, Jon Fath moved along with his household to Portugal from the Netherlands with the only function of launching a fintech startup there. “This country is brimming with talent and ambition,” Fath says. “I thank Lisbon for welcoming me, along with so many other expats and entrepreneurs, so warmly.”
Certainly, it’s no shock that the European Fee named Lisbon as 2023’s European Capital of Innovation, whereas the Monetary Instances, in partnership with Statista, ranked two Portuguese startup hubs in Europe’s high ten startup hubs—together with the Unicorn Manufacturing unit Lisboa, which launched in 2022 and has already supported greater than 820 startups and helped increase greater than €1 billion ($1.1 billion) .
“Portugal offers unique advantages, such as its climate, safety, and cost of living, which make it an attractive choice over countries in central or northern Europe,” says Nuno Pereira, CEO of Paynest.
Authorities has performed a job too, with insurance policies comparable to residence visas for entrepreneurs and tax incentives to startups engaged in R&D. “That was instrumental in allowing the Portuguese startups to come across the other side alive, after the VC drought of the past two years,” says Mauro Frota, CEO of fittech startup Bhout.
Rauva
Earlier than launching Rauva in Lisbon, Jon Fath had been a startup CEO in Amsterdam, co-founded a logistics firm in Frankfurt and labored for an funding administration agency in Beijing. “I decided to start Rauva based on my experiences working with entrepreneurs and co-founding other companies,” Fath says. “I took the plunge to build a one-stop shop to make entrepreneurship accessible to everyone.” Rauva permits entrepreneurs to register their companies on-line in a matter of minutes, providing a raft of options like debit playing cards and invoicing. “In addition, if the company has not yet been created, Rauva offers that service with the support of lawyers,“ Fath says. “Our solution helps reduce the time spent on bureaucratic processes.” The startup, launched in 2022 by Fath and Sam Mizrahi, has additionally just lately partnered with researchers to design a sooner and extra correct credit score scoring system utilizing machine studying and quantum computing. At present, Rauva has greater than 3,000 customers and has helped create greater than a thousand new firms. rauva.com
Neuraspace
At present, there are almost 9,900 energetic satellites orbiting the planet, a quantity estimated to develop by an order of magnitude by 2030. “The risk of collisions caused by space debris is escalating,” says Chiara Manfletti, the founding president of the Portuguese Area Company and CEO of Neuraspace. “These collisions can destroy satellites, leading to substantial financial losses and disrupting essential services such as bank transactions, the internet, GNSS (global navigation satellite system), and Earth observation. The current manual decision-making processes are inadequate to handle this scale.” Neuraspace addresses this drawback by utilizing AI to investigate numerous datasets, together with radar and star trackers, and mechanically predict potential collisions and recommend avoidance maneuvers. This house site visitors administration platform is at the moment monitoring greater than 300 satellites from satellite tv for pc operators comparable to Spire, Nanoavionics and the European Area Company. Based in 2020, the startup has raised a complete of $27.5 million (£20.8 million). “The big vision for Neuraspace is achieving self-sustaining, autonomous space activities,” Manfletti says. neuraspace.com
Bhout
In 2021, Mauro Frota opened a health club that includes a singular piece of apparatus: a sensible boxing bag. Developed by Frota and Pedro Barata, the Bhout bag comes with an AI processing unit, biometric sensors and a sensible digital camera that may observe the accuracy, velocity and energy of each punch. “The idea came to me in a dream,“ Frota says “I lost count of the number of iterations to get there. We were creating a new product from scratch.” The punching bag can be outfitted with a set of sunshine rings that nudges gym-goers into completely different exercise rhythms. Its core is made of froth layers and full of water, mimicking the sensation of hitting one other boxer. In keeping with Frota, 20 new Bhout golf equipment are already confirmed in Portugal and Spain. Quickly, it would additionally begin promoting the Bhout bag, at costs ranging between €6,000 to €10,000 ($6,1000 to $11,000) to purchasers together with LinkedIn and Marriott Motels. In 2023, the fit-tech startup raised a €10 million ($11 million) seed spherical co-led by Explorer Investments and Lince Capital. bhout.com
MyCareforce
MyCareforce is bringing the gig financial system to healthcare. “Hospitals often lack the necessary staff to meet demand and they don’t have the appropriate tools to hire people for extra shifts quickly,” says CEO Pedro Cruz Morais. “We knew many doctors who were using WhatsApp to find extra shifts and we realized we could solve this problem with technology.” MyCareforce supplies an clever platform that connects nurses to hospitals and clinics, permitting them to use and instantly guide accessible shifts. The platform, launched in 2021 by Cruz Morais and co-founder João Hugo Silva, has greater than 15,000 nurses registered on the platform and works with greater than 70 healthcare items, comparable to hospitals and clinics, in Portugal and Brazil. It has raised a €2 million ($2.2 million) spherical led by Portugal Gateway, Shilling and Demium Capital. mycareforce.co
Oscar
Oscar permits customers to guide greater than 150 at-home providers—from cleansing to blind repairs—for a set price and inside half-hour. “The idea came about after a bad experience trying to call a plumber to fix my water heater,” João Marques, founder and CEO of Oscar, says. “After wasting hours contacting multiple technicians and comparing quotes, I scheduled a service and the technician never showed up. It was obvious that an Uber home service was missing.” The platform, which is accessible in Portugal and Madrid, at the moment hosts greater than 20,000 technicians, that are admitted after a rigorous choice course of and background test. In keeping with Marques, their annual income is at the moment €12 million ($13.4 million) and rising 40 % each quarter. They’ve raised greater than €6 million ($6.7 million) in a spherical led by Lince Capital and Indico Capital Companions. oscar-app.com
Glooma
Francisco Nogueira’s cousin was 40 when she detected a lump in her chest. “She thought it was nothing, but three months later, the lump had not disappeared,” says Frederico Inventory, CEO of Glooma. Sadly, the lump was a malignant tumor and she or he needed to have a mastectomy. “Francisco decided to create Glooma so that women in the same situation can act sooner.” The startup, launched in 2020 by Nogueira and Inventory, is creating SenseGlove, a glove outfitted with good sensors that ladies can use to do a breast self-exam. “It can track changes in breast tissue over time and notify doctors when there’s an abnormality,” Nogueira says. In keeping with him, an early proof-of-concept trial confirmed that the SenseGlove accurately identified most cancers 88 % of the time, with a charge of 12 % false positives. The startup, which has raised greater than €600,000 ($671,000) is now present process scientific trials with the latest prototype. The group hopes to obtain FDA-approval by 2025. glooma.pt
Sheerme
“When you need a taxi, you have Uber; when you need a hotel, you have booking.com, but what do you do when you need a hair salon or a spa?” asks Miguel Ribeiro, CEO of Sheerme. In keeping with Ribeiro, 85 % of wellness and sweetness providers require prior reserving, however solely 10 % might be booked on-line. “Sheerme fills that void,” he says. The platform permits customers to search out, guide and pay for providers supplied by 7,000 well being and sweetness retailers. “We have also partnered with L’Oréal and created a white-labeled solution called SAL(ON),” says Ribeiro, who based the platform with Karly Alves and Shakil Satar. The startup, which has greater than 250,000 customers throughout Portugal, Brazil and Spain, has raised a €5 million ($5.5 million) seed spherical led by Lince Capital. sheerme.com
Sqill
Sqill is an AI-powered cellular video editor for social media manufacturers. “With our social media suite and with one single click, anyone can create better content than a social media expert,” says Afonso Coimbra, co-founder and CEO of Sqill. The platform makes use of AI for a spread of duties, comparable to recommending what to publish or mechanically including subtitles. Based in 2021 by Coimbra, Rui Ascenso and André Perdigão, the startup has raised €2 million ($2.2 million) by GED Ventures. It has purchasers in Portugal, Spain, Brazil and the US, together with L’Oréal, the web market Worten and the Portuguese soccer membership FC Porto. sqill.so
Ubbu
Greater than 300,000 college students in additional than 20 nations have used on-line studying platform Ubbu to be taught coding and digital expertise. “Our platform is built for the everyday teacher, even for those with no coding experience, who account for around 90 percent,” says João Magalhães, CEO and founding father of Ubbu. “It’s accessible to everyone because we want to reduce the barriers to enter the tech market.” Aimed toward youngsters between the ages of 6 and 12, the platform is accessible in 4 languages and contains Ubbox, a device that enables tasks to be made utilizing a programming language by way of blocks. A analysis research by Universidade Nova Lisboa discovered that Ubbu college students may enhance their math grades by as much as 17 % in comparison with a management group. Ubbu.io
Paynest
Based in 2022 by Nuno Pereira, Paynest is a platform for firms to handle their workers’ funds. “Our mission is to help companies address all of the financial needs of their employees everywhere while empowering them to gain greater control over their finances,” Pereira says. Options embrace simplified expense administration, early entry to wage and bonuses, monetary teaching, and entry to monetary literacy instruments. Paynest is at the moment utilized by greater than 30,000 staff from greater than 50 firms in Portugal, Greece and France. It has additionally raised a complete of €3 million ($3.3 million) from traders comparable to Lince Capital and Bluecrow Capital. paynest.co
This text first appeared within the November/December 2024 version of WIRED UK.
