The Startup Ecosystem of Portugal

Portugal has 6 cities in the top 1000 and has a vibrant startup scene that ranks 26th within the competitive global top 30.

COUNTRY RANKING

Portugal’s startup scene saw an increase in 2023 and jumped 2 spots from the previous year, outranking Brazil.

Population

10.3
Million

Regional Ranking

14th
0
In Western Europe

Global Ranking

26th
+
2
Worldwide

Ecosystem

Startup Ecosystem Overview

yellow and white tram on road during daytime
The business environment in Portugal has greatly improved over the years now that the country has begun to create a favorable climate for entrepreneurship, foreign investment, and digital nomads. Due to the low cost of living, good weather, and solid infrastructure, Lisbon ranks near the top among the attractive destinations for digital nomads, expats, and lifestyle business owners.
One of the most impressive resources of the Portuguese ecosystems is the availability of high quality engineering talent and English speakers. Additionally, Portugal offers plenty of benefits to non-European residents launching startups. To name a few, there are multiple ways of getting a permit to work or set up a company through the StartUP Visa, Tech Visa, or the Non-Habitual Residence Program (NHR). Moreover, due to the non-habitual tax regime and favorable tax policies for cryptocurrencies, Portugal is even more attractive to entrepreneurs interested in decentralized finance.
With easy access to the European market and the Schengen Zone, Portugal has the potential to become one of the strongest startup economies in Europe. The country’s economic ties to Brazil, with whom Portugal shares a common language, also provide Portuguese startups access to the huge Brazilian market.
The nation is home to high-tech companies that play a part in the exchange and sharing of knowledge, as well as to local innovators that have created successful startup stories, such as the exit of FarFetch, a luxury shopping platform, and the Portuguese unicorns OutSystems, TalkDesk, and Feedzai.
That said, Portugal’s startup scene can still improve, mainly by pushing more potential entrepreneurs to create startups.
The public sector is aware of the strategic importance of entrepreneurship, and there are an impressive amount of resources allocated towards improving local startup ecosystems. There are also a growing number of startup support facilities, such as Startup Portugal and Startup Lisboa. With the massive branding benefit for Portugal and its startup economy in the annual global dominating event, Web Summit, we hope to see this ecosystem reach its full potential in the coming years.

Free Dashboard
Pro Dashboard

ECOSYSTEM

Browse the startup ecosystem database of Portugal

Download the Global Startup Ecosystem Index 

Understand our ranking methodology and get the latest insights on the startup ecosystems of 100 countries and 1000 cities around the world!

Ecosystem

The Startup Ecosystem in Portugal

Our startup ecosystem map for Portugal includes a sample of 345 tech companies. We have identified as unicorns 4 startups that have passed the USD 1 billion valuations. Contributing to the vitality of this startup ecosystem are the 1 pantheon member entities.

Global Rank

Portugal is ranked within the top 30 startup ecosystems globally.

Top Industries

Portugal’s startup scene is best represented in Marketing & Sales, Ecommerce & Retail, and in Software and and Data.

Top Cities for Startups in Portugal - Ranked by StartupBlink
StartupBlink ranks the startup ecosystems of 100 countries and 1,000 cities. Download our latest Global Startup Ecosystem Report.
Rows:
2023 National Rank & Change ▲
Access subscores for 1000 cities and 100 countries
2023 National Rank & Change City
search leaderboards icon
Global Rank & ChangeTotal ScoreQuantity ScoreQuality ScoreBusiness Score
1st
0
62nd
+
21
10.232
00.00
00.00
00.00
2nd
0
147th
-
11
4.399
00.00
00.00
00.00
3rd
0
424th
+
8
0.733
00.00
00.00
00.00
4th
0
557th
-
116
0.409
00.00
00.00
00.00
5th
+
2
639th
+
326
0.321
00.00
00.00
00.00
6th
-
1
739th
-
72
0.233
00.00
00.00
00.00
Page out of 1

Startups

Notable Startups in Portugal
Freekick startup icon
Freekick
Aptoide startup icon
Aptoide
Unbabel startup icon
Unbabel

Startups

Successful Marketing & Sales startups in Portugal
Codavel startup icon
Codavel
beamian startup icon
beamian
Primetag startup icon
Primetag

Startups

Startups Ranking by Industry

Marketing & Sales icon
Marketing & Sales
#17 worldwide

On our map, you can explore a total of 117 startups for Marketing & Sales.

Ecommerce & Retail icon
Ecommerce & Retail
#18 worldwide

In Western Europe, Portugal's Ecommerce & Retail is in top 18. Portugal has a concentration of about 44 of the region's total Ecommerce & Retail startups that are represented on our map.

Software and Data icon
Software and Data
#21 worldwide

Portugal's Software and Data is ranked 21st in the world. Our database contains 36 for this industry.

Featured Ecosystem Portals

Go to portal
Go to portal

Become our Portugal Ecosystem Partner

Apply to join hundreds of leading ecosystem developers and represent the Portugal startup ecosystem at no cost.

BLOG

Recent Posts

Mon Jun 05 2023

4 Reasons to Join StartupBlink’s Ecosystem Development Community

Join Now! Startup Ecosystem Development is a dynamic topic that requires keeping up with the most innovative policies, developments, and practices in the global startup scene. To bring startup ecosystem developers around the world together and help them to network and share knowledge, we decided to launch the StartupBlink Ecosystem Development Community on Slack. In […]

Wed May 10 2023

The Barcelona and Catalonia Startup Ecosystem Report

Download the Barcelona and Catalonia Report Ecosystem Report

Mon May 08 2023

Top Global Startup Influencers in 2023

Download the Global Startup Ecosystem Index   Unlock the full list of Influencers with the StartupBlink Pro Purchase Now Key Insights: US Entrepreneurs are in a much better position to become influencers The United States has 130 influencers, representing 80% of all influencers globally, mainly hailing from major cities such as San Francisco,  New York, […]