Portugal's scaleup ecosystem is growing twice as fast as the European average

During the past few years, many have covered the remarkable and rapid road that Portugal, and particularly its capital, Lisbon, has travelled by reframing its financial and economic woes into an opportunity for the nation to reinvent itself as a global startup hub.

“The Portuguese scaleup ecosystem is growing twice as fast as the European average” reads the headline of the report released this week by the SEP Monitor, entitled “Portugal Rising.” Unsurprisingly, Lisbon has the highest concentration of activity, representing 40 percent of scaleups and raising 65 percent of the total money made available to Portuguese scaleups.

“It’s interesting to note international investors are playing a central role in the scale-up of the Portuguese ecosystem. 62 percent of capital made available to scaleups – 86 percent of later stage rounds – comes from abroad.” Ricardo Marvão, cofounder and Head of Global Projects at Beta-i, commented in the report’s highlights.

There couldn’t be stronger validation that the bustling startup ecosystem that was kindled just seven short years ago is thriving, and is well on its way to launching the kind of big ticket exits that seem to be inevitable at this pace.

The timing of the report accompanied the latest edition of the Lisbon Investment Summit that also ran this week, organized by Beta-i, notably one of the central pillars responsible for the current Portuguese startup renaissance. Beta-i codeveloped the report in partnership with Mind the Bridge, a foundation that promotes entrepreneurship around the world.

Lisbon’s recovery is very much owed to the likes of Beta-i’s founders, battle-tested executives that, unlike many of their peers, didn’t leave their country at the outset of the recession but instead chose to work alongside the grassroots community and an incredibly supportive government, turning the tide of their economy by leveraging a mix of favorable factors that Portugal is renowned for.

“I do believe even though the crisis was bad for Portugal, it gave an impressive boost to its entrepreneurial aspect and forced a new generation into creating their own jobs,” Marvão told me.

Amir-Esmaeil Bozorgzadeh is founder of Virtuleap, a sandbox for creative developers to showcase their VR concepts to the world. He is also the European Partner at Edoramedia, a games publisher and digital agency with its headquarters in Dubai.