Madrid Region joins the SCALE.Cities to foster local and global growth
Capital
The Community of Madrid has now a dedicated profile in the virtual platform of the Startup Cities Alliance. The tech…
“Porto quickly became an extremely attractive city to live in and invest. I believe that what really makes a difference are the people, the fact that the city is welcoming and that everything is close, the sea, the river and the best of the Portuguese cuisine. I have great admiration and pride for the city and a deep belief in its future.”
José Neves, Founder & CEO Farfetch
“Porto is a seaside city with a river and very good connections to all European capitals. It also has one of the best universities in Europe. There is a lot of talent that can be found here. The Porto inhabitant himself has these entrepreneurship and hardworking characteristics, thus creating the fundamental characteristics to start businesses.”
Pedro Fortuna, Co-Founder and CTO at Jscrambler
“Porto has all the key elements (…). In a very close radius, we have a lot of good universities, easy access to all the international hubs, but also a very good quality of life. I believe this mix makes Porto an excellent hub to grow.”
Felipe Costa, Co-Founder and CEO at Infraspeak
Ecosystem Highlights
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+500 startups
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+3k startup jobs
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+40 accelerators, incubators & workspaces
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+60 tech communities
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Startup and scaleup job creation rate above the national average
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+120m euros raised in the period of 2016-2021
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Porto and Northern Portugal described as an FDI Magnet (EY, 2019)
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Portugal ranked #36th in the World Competitiveness Ranking (IMD, 2021)
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+80 R&D Centers
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University of Porto in TOP 50 in Information Management (QS World University Rankings By Subject 2021)
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+180k students enrolled in higher education institutions in Porto’s Macro-Region
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+30% study Science, Technology, Engineering or Maths
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+18k researchers
As one of the major urban areas in Southern Europe, Porto has gone through a remarkable development in the ecosystem, being a dynamic birthplace of many startups. The connection between knowledge, an active entrepreneurial community, private and public partners, and the support of the Municipality, make the city a vibrant and competitive hub.
Porto offers a reliable environment for your business with social, political, and economic stability, and a capable public administration.
With an interdisciplinary approach, the city’s well-known strengths are aligned with the excellence of the work developed by the academia. With the support of reference industry partners, hundreds of qualified jobs were created and the city is becoming a place where people, especially young entrepreneurs, are inspired by a new risk culture and integrated into a new multicultural and international ecosystem.
A safe and sunny city, with a rich culture and heritage, that provides high quality of health services, international schools, excellent flight connectivity, a booming tech-driven economy and a stimulating R&D environment.
Noteworthy Content:
Contact
ScaleUp Porto
Land & Start
SETTLING IN THE CITY
Residence Requirements
Find more information on documents needed for registration here.
There are specialized municipal services to support you.
Taxes
A general overview of the Portuguese Tax System.
To work from Portugal, you need to know:
STARTING YOUR BUSINESS
Setting up your Company
Foreign residents starting a business in Portugal need to have these necessary documents:
- Portuguese residency card (non-EU citizens)
- A tax number from the Portuguese tax office (even if non-resident)
- A Social Security number from the Portuguese Social Security
You can learn more by visiting ScaleUp Porto’s Toolkit for Startup Investment, where all the process is explained in detail from page 53 to 61.
Taxes framework
Everything about taxes for companies: visit ScaleUp Porto’s Toolkit for Startup Investment where you can find the taxes framework for Portuguese based companies from page 73 to 79.
Supporting partners
Who can help you settle in Portugal?
- InvestPorto
- AICEP
- Startup Visa (Startup Portugal)
Hubs, incubators and accelerators
Visit Porto’s ecosystem map to get to know all the incubators and workspaces in Porto.
Access to capital
| Advice about Capital | Major VCs and BAs |
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There are a lot of Venture Capital Firms and Business Angels in Portugal, and some specifically headquartered in Porto. Besides the possibility of connecting with local and national investors, Porto also provides the chance to meet international investors. |
Access to talent
Due to the quality of its human resources, Porto offers profiles that are highly valued by companies:-IT Developer (most wanted profile);
-Engineer (mechanics, electronics, electrotechnics, industrial management);
-Finance Manager & Accountant;
-Foreign Languages speaker (English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Russian, etc);
Find out more aspects of the pool of talent in Porto here.
If you need help growing your company, visit:
Finally, you can find more about the legal aspects of the Portuguese labour system here.
Tech Ecosystem
Fresh Tech
Innovation keeps growing in Porto. Proof of that are the newest startups of the city. Check out the freshest companies of this vibrant ecosystem.
Hot startups & scaleups
New companies
Markets
Explore business opportunities in Porto. as an active and diversified technological ecosystem. See below what type of markets and industries you can find in the only MEGA (Metropolitan European Growth Area) of the northwest peninsula.
Diversity and Inclusion
Inclusion is essential to the development of a healthy tech ecosystem. And that is precisely what you will find in Porto, a friendly environment for everyone.
The highlight goes to the support of female entrepreneurship. Portugal has a well-established Women in Tech Community and many of these female entrepreneurs develop their activity in the city of Porto.
Porto in the media
Barkyn CEO wins João Vasconcelos award
Andre Jordão, Barkyn’s founder and CEO, won the second edition of the João Vasconcelos award, which distinguishes the best Portuguese entrepreneur of the last year. Read everything here.
Didimo receives investment of 1 million euros
Didimo, the startup that creates digital humans, closed a new investment round of 1 million euros. The funding will be used to increase and consolidate the team. You can read the full article right here.
Noocity at the forefront in combating climate change
Noocity, a startup from Porto focused on creating smart urban gardens, is on the list of companies with more innovative solutions to face the negative impact of climate change. The full details are in this blog’s article.
iLoF among the 150 most promising startups in the world
Intelligent Lab on Fiber, a spin-off from the University of Porto, was considered one of the 150 most promising startups in the world in the field of digital health. Find out everything here.
EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE CITY
Porto. The ‘unvanquished city’ conquers the hearts of natives and foreigners. There, in the second-largest Portuguese urban centre, the sun, culture, tradition, the best flavours of gastronomy and well-being abound.
More than a source of security, comfort and happiness Porto is a place to explore opportunities. Meet the startups, incubators, investors, tech service providers, communities, and more, right here.
More about Porto
- Strong + Innovator: in the Regional Innovation Scoreboard 2019;
- World-Class R&D Institutes: (I3S), INESC TEC, INEGI, CITEVE, CATIM, CEIIA;
- Increasing Turnover of Enterprises: increased 28,4% from 2014 to 2019;
- Highly-qualified labour: 27% of the population with a higher education degree;
- Low-cost labour: 20% to 60% below the European Union average;
City Map
ACTIVITIES & CASE STUDIES
Porto strives to support the growth of the ecosystem. Focusing on its role as an aggregator, the city has launched several initiatives, such as:
-Call for activities: a programme that aims to boost the tech startup and scaleup communities of Porto while increasing the impact of their activities on the city’s Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Technology culture. To achieve this goal, the initiative provides the selected activities with financial support up to €10,000 each, from a total budget of €70,000.
-Doing Business: a match-making event where large companies and startups are challenged to come together to explore opportunities for collaboration, promoting innovation and stimulating the capacity for joint growth.
Find out more about other initiatives here.
Latest news
Opportunities
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