Startup Portugal is celebrating a decade of existence and its executive director, Miguel Aguiar, completed 12 months leading the association. In an interview with ECO, Aguiar revealed that the organization has been working with the Government to keep the Web Summit in Lisbon after 2028, when the contract with Paddy Cosgrave's company ends. However, it faces competition — besides Poland, which has already expressed public interest, there are other countries trying to host the event.
The end of the PRR (Recovery and Resilience Plan) forced Startup Portugal to find new sources of funding. The association is negotiating with Compete to access Portugal 2030 funds, intending to create new vouchers for startups with lower values than the previous ones, targeting early-stage companies (seed). The team that was monitoring PRR projects will be reassigned to this new function.
Portugal currently has seven unicorns, including companies like OutSystems, Talkdesk, Tekever, and Sword Health, having reached the mark of five thousand startups. Aguiar argued that the country is now in a consolidation phase and that the focus should be on growing existing scale-ups, not just on creating new companies. For this, it is in conversations with the Government to update the Startup Law with a clear definition of scale-up.
Venture capital investment has fallen by around 30%, with rounds at 2012-2013 lows. Aguiar stated that Startup Portugal is working with Investors Portugal and APCRI to find new forms of financing, including the possibility of pension funds investing a minimum percentage in startups. The 11th edition of the Web Summit in Lisbon is being prepared, with the association working on a joint stand with the Lisbon City Council and the Ministry of Economy.
