The impact of the Web Summit in Portugal
The Web Summit Portugal in 2016 and the excellence of excellence came to show the world a foreign country, the excellence of excellence, in different aspects: talent, the ability to innovate, entrepreneurship, the excellence of a foreign country, the excellence of life, among others.
The fact to Portugal less a week, more at least a week, the world journalists and by the world investors, sets of international events and important of important events of national and world-renowned startups, came from great potentials, they came as technological the way to make the country one of Europe’s main hubs. The technological radar is focused on Portugal and the results are in plain sight.
The number of foreign companies that really don’t want to in Portugal and open operations in the country to grow. Companies like Revolut, Cloudflare, Stripe, Pipedrive, Uber, Bolt, Mercedes, BMW, Google, Cisco, Microsoft, among others, are just a few examples of new investments or companies that expand their operations in our country. It should be noted that, in 2021, Portugal registered 200 foreign investment projects, a growth of 30% compared to the previous year.
It still does not refer to investments, there is a very strong growth in funding directed to Portuguese startups. In 2021, more than EUR 1,000 million were raised (EUR 434 million in 2020) in funding rounds by national startups and, in 2022, until September, this number already amounts to more than EUR 700 million. Jobs are recognized as startups already responsible for more than 1% of Portugal’s Gross Domestic work and more than 60,000.
The exposure of Portuguese startups and their main founders VCs and technology companies during the Web Summit cannot be dissociated from this movement. Annually, the Road2WebSummit program, the Lisbon City Council and other entities select the best Portuguese startups to be present at the event and present themselves to the world. Between 200 and 202, this group of startups places2 on the Web Canada 164 million euros after having participated in the Summit and Collision (sister event that has no).
This investment in startups comes not only from foreign investors (Accel, Seedcamp, Lakestar, among others) but also from Armilar, Schilling or Indico, highlighting the growing dynamics of the VC market in Portugal.
The many meetings held at the Venture Summit (even parallel during a Web Summit) between national and foreign VCs have been very relevant in this matter, detailing the future of markets, such as partnerships, partnerships and investment/co-investment opportunities in startups.
The positioning of Portugal in the innovation and entrepreneurship scene has changed the country of innovation and, as previously mentioned, a global hub. If previously mentioned as numerous companies of size that intend to bring as their operations to our territory, or have been verified at the level of startups. Throughout the national territory, many of the startups from other countries are considered as relocating/expanding to Portugal given the attractiveness of the country in this area. At the same time, many expatriates decide on their projects/startups from Portugal. It is very common, for example, in Lisbon, Porto or Braga, to find many entrepreneurs talking in a language other than Portuguese.
Portugal currently has 7 Unicorns, which together are worth more than EUR 35 billion, or, in other words, around 15% of Portuguese GDP: Farfetch, OutSystems, Feedzai, Talkdesk, Remote, SWORD Health and Anchorage. Which, in relative terms, is something extraordinary.
Something in which all its difficulties have the ability to innovate: a common differentiating product or service and its resilience have allowed it to overcome the challenges that followed.
More are on the way, for sure.
Sources: Crunchbase, Dealroom, Startup Portugal, IDC, Bank of Portugal.
New rubric
Countdown to Web Summit 2022 is a new item in Diário de Notícias that foresees some trends that will mark the next global startups meeting at the end of October, in Lisbon. Throughout the week of the event, there will be opportunities and challenges for investors, inspiring examples and news that will mark the agenda of national and global entrepreneurs. The stage passes here, with the reflection of experts in a new series of opinion pieces. The article published today is signed by Artur Pereira, VP, Country Managing Director of Portugal Web Summit.