Portugal offers many benefits for startups, including: 1) A strong entrepreneurial ecosystem with growing investment, top accelerators, and availability of engineering talent from universities. 2) Low living and operating costs that allow founders to bootstrap their startups more easily. Portugal has affordable housing, food, and salaries. 3) A pleasant lifestyle with warm weather, beaches, nightlife, and cultural attractions that help attract and retain international talent. Portuguese cities like Lisbon and Porto are becoming increasingly popular places for entrepreneurs to live.

1. Why you should
set-up your start-up
in Portugal
Pedro Almeida
December 2015

2. 1
1
Entrepreneurial and
international ecosystem

3. 2
10% of the working population found or co-found a startup
4.4%
5.3%5.3%5.4%5.5%5.5%5.6%5.7%
6.3%6.5%6.7%7.1%
7.9%8.0%
8.7%
9.2%9.3%9.4%9.5%
10.0%
10.7%10.9%11.3%11.3%
Percentage of individuals aged 18-64 who are actively involved in setting up a business that they will
own/co-own or that already own/co-own a running business with not more than 3.5 years
SOURCE: http://www.gemconsortium.org/report - “Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, 2014 Global report”

4. 3
Portuguese startups target global markets from day 1…
“It was clear to us that the presence in Silicon Valley would be important since the very
beginning ”
Cristina Fonseca, Talkdesk Co-founder
SOURCE: http://portugalstartups.com/2015/02/portuguese-entrepreneurs-go-global/
“We are proud to have been selected as the winner of 2015 Edition of the Startup Braga
Acceleration Program and look forward to working with Caixa Capital to attack the U.S market”
Afonso Barbosa, Seat Wish CEO
“The UK, and London in particular, are an epicenter for both ecommerce and fashion. This is one
of the reasons why we went to London, since Chic by Choice is a marketplace for fashion
rentals”
Filipa Neto, Chic by Choice Managing Director and Co-Founder

5. …leveraging Portuguese small and early adopter market to
test concept/MVP
4
SOURCE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXJIsCZRJ5A; http://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2015/03/02/389250795/free-wi-fi-on-buses-offers-
a-link-to-future-of-smart-cities; http://techcrunch.com/2014/12/02/veniam-picks-up-4-9m-to-turn-buses-into-wi-fi-hotspots/
Test concept in Portuguese market
Turned vehicles, bus and taxis, into WiFi hotspots in Porto
“vibrant city”
Results
Reached 75% penetration on bus users
Next steps
Expanding to US
VENIAM
Want to know more?
Click on the image 

6. 5
Increasing presence of international entrepreneurs…
SOURCE: http://www.lisbon-challenge.com/startups/
47 53 55
65
Fall 15
100% =
Spring 15
Portuguese
2020
Foreigner
19
Fall 14Fall 13
55
Lisbon Challenge mix of origin, percentage

7. 6
…,investors…
SOURCE: http://portugalstartups.com/2015/06/the-berlin-vc-that-moved-to-lisbon-talking-with-felix-petersen/; http://www.es-ventures.com/en/news/newsletter/
2015 2Q Newsletter
“Last year I was taking a year off and
came here for 2 months to learn
Portuguese and I liked it so much
that we discussed it in the family and
said “why not Portugal?”. We came
most of all for the place and it was a
lifestyle decision. But it turns out
that there are more great companies
here than I expected.”
Felix Petersen, Faber Ventures Partner
“Having spent a year here already, I have to say that I
am certain this was, in fact, the best choice….As for
work, the entrepreneurial spirit I’ve seen in Portugal has
been a pleasant surprise. I have been to several start up
events and have seen a number of really innovate
products”
Jonathan Weiner, Oak HC/FT Venture Partner

8. …and world class startup events
7

9. 8
2
Supply of talent

10. High availability of talent
9
SOURCE: https://medium.com/@christianhern/lisbon-s-moment-in-the-sun-2bd873a45808; http://www.atomico.com/news/the-state-of-european-tech;
http://portugalstartups.com/2015/02/portuguese-entrepreneurs-go-global/; https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/activities/mads-faurholt-
jorgensen+0_1zKb8MekNQkPBvtwZcGXCi?trk=prof-0-sb-rcnt-act-link
“The quality of engineers I have met is good, and the competition for talent is still limited”
Christian Hernandez, White Star Capital Managing Partner
“One of the reasons why Lisbon is great that we have access to great talent, particularly in design and development; we also have
really talent engineers from major technical universities”
Anthony Douglas, Hole 19 Founder and CEO
“It´s even more useful for B2B companies to raise money in the US and have the team in Portugal, because you can not only save
money, but also have quality talents”
Cristina Fonseca, Talkdesk Founder
“My experience has been amazing, with superb people. I am such a huge believer in Portugal, that I would like to up my target to
create 200 jobs in Portugal over the next 2 years. ”
Mads Faurholt-Jorgensen, Nova Founders Capital Managing Partner
“I have also been impressed with the quality of engineering talent that exists in Portugal which is a direct result of the quality of
the engineering courses and universities available
Jonathan Weiner, Oak HC/FT Venture Partner

11. Fueled by top European engineering and business schools
10
SOURCE: http://www.usnews.com/education/best-global-universities/search?region=europe&subject=engineering&page=3;
http://rankings.ft.com/businessschoolrankings/european-business-school-rankings-2014
Instituto Superior Técnico#15th
Best Engineering School in Europe ranking
#23th Faculdade de Engenheria da
Universidade do Porto
European Business School ranking
Católica Lisbon School of Business
& Economics
#25th
#28th Nova School of Business and
Economics

12. 11
20%-60% cheaper than in other European countries
SOURCE: AngelList November 2015 for all countries excluding Portugal; Portugal author’s analysis
4346474951515457585860
71
772 -56%
1041
-21%
344
543
Developers cost per location. $ ‘000
1 Silicon Valley
2 London
3 Berlin
4 ~1.800€/month base salary; 23,75% social security; 14 paid months; 1,09 $/€ exchange rate

13. Easy to attract and retain foreign talent to Portugal – Video
on the next slide
12SOURCE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyAfed9OcBI

14. 13
3
Strong entrepreneurial
support

15. 14
Fastest growing market in Europe for early stage investment
SOURCE: EVCA
-17%-15%
-11%-9%-8%
-2%
0%1%4%
9%10%
18%
25%26%
30%30%
Growth of early stage VC investment
2012-2014 CAGR in # of companies invested per year. Percentage
100 47 205 65 248 123 88 396 388 866 72 86461 88 56 75
# # of venture investments in
2014 by VC funds

16. 4 ICT startups for each 1 million habitants have raised over
$1 million in the last years
15
1.2
2.32.6
3.2
3.91
6.21
ICT startups with >$1M funding raised (since foundation) and at least one funding event in the last five-
year period per each 1 million habitant
3981
# # Number of companies
411 205 208 106 72
1 Numbers differ from report because author included Farfetch in Portuguese figures
SOURCE: http://startupeuropepartnership.eu/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/SEP-MONITOR-Nov-2015_Portugal-Rising_Mapping-ICT-Scaleups.pdf

17. 16
In 2015 alone, the 5 largest startups raised over $160 Million
SOURCE: Crunchbase
Year to date amount raised. Million USD
16416
18
21
24
86
Seedrs Total 2015
YTD funding
FeedzaiTalkdeskUniplacesFarfetch
One of the biggest
series A in Europe
in 2015
Reached unicorn
valuation (>1$ Bn)

18. 17
Portuguese entrepreneurs are backed by active and
experienced local seed VCs…
SOURCE: Author’s analysis
▪ Invests in Pre-seed and Seed in Portugal, London and Berlin
▪ Provide a platform that combines resident tools, expertise, network and capital to help
startups build momentum and grow into larger markets
▪ Invest from pre-seed to growth, with over €700 million AuM
▪ Has a dedicated fund to invest in startups from local accelerators (Lisbon Challenge, BGI
and Startup Braga) and backs accelerators, incubators, angels and local micro-funds
▪ Supports successful Portuguese global companies and has a global network of top
international co-investors
▪ Invest in early stage in Europe and US. since 2000 with over €250 million AuM and
several relevant exits (e.g., TxVia to Google)
▪ 5th fund is dedicated to transfer high-tech technology from Universities
▪ Invest from seed to growth in startups, with €450 million AuM
▪ Has accelerator programs in Silicon Valley, Boston and Berlin and an incubation program
in Austin
Portfolio
click here
Portfolio
click here
Portfolio
click here
Portfolio
click here
NON-EXHAUSTIVE

19. …and Top International funds
18
▪ 500 startups
▪ Data Collective
▪ Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ)
▪ e.ventures
▪ Google Ventures
▪ Matrix Partners
▪ Oak HC/FT
▪ Salesforce Venture
▪ Sapphire Ventures
▪ Storm Ventures
▪ Techstars Fund
▪ True Ventures
▪ Union Square Ventures
▪ Advent Venture Partners
▪ AngelLab
▪ Atomico
▪ Augmentum Capital
▪ Felix Capital
▪ Frontline Ventures
▪ Index Ventures
▪ Octopus Ventures
▪ White Star Capital
Venture Capital funds with investments in Portuguese startups NON-EXHAUSTIVE
SOURCE: Crunchbase

20. 19
3rd largest market to accelerate startups in Europe
SOURCE: http://www.fundacity.com/european-accelerator-report-2014
# number of companies in accelerator programs in 2014

21. Top European pre-accelerator and accelerator programs
20
Techstars pre-accelerator program
Partnership between Techstars, Caixa Capital and Beta-i
#4th
Beta-i
 Pre-accelerator: Beta-start
 Accelerator: Lisbon Challenge
 Corporate accelerator: Deloitte Digital
Disruptors and Pro Tech Ting
Europe accelerators ranking1
1 Based on number of startups accelerated
SOURCE: http://www.fundacity.com/european-accelerator-report-2014; Accelerators website; http://portugalstartups.com/2015/11/startup-next-coming-to-lisbon/
#11th
Startup Braga
 Pre-accelerator
 Accelerator
 Incubator
#16th Building Global Innovators

22. Existence of several other institutions and programs that
support local entrepreneurs
21SOURCE: http://startuplisboa.com/; http://westtowest.org/
Startup Lisboa
Lisbon incubator that offers
accommodation, office space and the
incubation environment
West to West
Organization dedicated to create and
support a thriving environment for
Portuguese entrepreneurship in San
Francisco
ILLUSTRATIVE

23. 22
Still not convinced?

24. 23
4
Great country to live
and attract talent,
while bootstrapping

25. 24
1. Nightlife that can outlast Madrid's
2. Experimental cuisine
3. Irony
4. Beaches and castles
5. Fabulous design
6. Big art
7. Fascinating streets
“7 reasons Lisbon could be Europe’s coolest city” – CNN
SOURCE: http://edition.cnn.com/2014/01/25/travel/lisbon-coolest-city/

26. Sunny and warm
SOURCE: http://www.currentresults.com/
1.410
1.424
1.546
1.566
1.588
1.625
1.662
1.662
1.668
1.721
1.757
1.780
1.780
1.783
1.821
1.914
1.928
1.930
2.026
2.769
2.771
2.799
9
9
9
10
10
10
11
13
13
13
14
14
14
15
15
16
16
18
19
19
22
21
43
63
77
81
83
84
94
98
102
105
106
109
111
115
120
121
122
125
127
129
132
199
Average Sunshine a Year
Hours
Average Annual Temperature
High, Cº
Average yearly precipitation
Rainy days
25

27. 4.3
4.2
4.9
2.6
6.2
5.9
7.0
10.0
10.8
11.9
13.6
25.6
2.6
3.4
3.4
4.1
2.9
1.5
1.8
2.0
2.4
2.4
2.06
2.94
3.10
3.11
3.49
3.54
3.60
3.66
4.07
4.14
4.24
4.31
4.38
4.44
4.44
4.80
4.92
4.92
4.94
5.56
7.47
5.62
1.15
1.27
1.59
1.96
2.27
2.27
2.31
2.33
2.59
2.73
3.17
4.37
4.38
4.95
5.00
5.07
5.50
5.75
5.80
5.91
6.82
1.54
Housing cost
‘000 €/square meter
Big Mac
€
Beer1
€
Affordable
Cost of goods in the countries capital
SOURCE: http://www.pintprice.com; The Economist; http://www.globalpropertyguide.com/Europe/square-meter-prices;
1 Price of a Beer in the capital
26

28. High English proficiency
Very High Proficiency
Note: Please don’t judge based on my level of English  Apologies for any typo
SOURCE: http://www.ef.sg/epi/regions/europe/
High Proficiency
Moderate Proficiency
Low Proficiency
Very Low Proficiency
27

29. 28
Flight distance to North America, LATAM, Middle East, Africa
and other European cities…
SOURCE: ANA

30. 29
… only 14 min away from the city center
SOURCE: Google maps

31. 30
Still not convinced?
Come and see it with your
own eyes

32. Want to know more about the Portuguese ecosystem?
31
Portuguese ecosystem on international newspapers: Bloomberg , Forbes, Financial Times, Tech.eu
Blog post from White Star Capital Managing Director: Lisbon’s moment in the sun
Latest news: www.portugalstartups.com
Investors that are interested in Portuguese based startups: Google sheet
Portuguese Accelerators: List
Jobs: Landing.jobs, AngelList, F6S.com
Lawyers dedicated to startups: Team Genesis
Monthly newsletter on what’s happening: Sign-up
Twitter list with several stakeholders (entrepreneurs, VCs, etc.): Follow

33. Disclaimer
32
This is totally informal, non-comprehensive document.
Opinions expressed are solely my own.
Use at your own risk
@pmarquesalmeida

34. Thanks for your feedback
33
Diogo Alves
Marcos Osorio
Paul Bleicher
Pedro Ribeiro Santos
Rita Ferreira Lopes
Sofia Santos
Stephan Morais