WebSummit – Who is going to be the next Unicorn ?
Portugal had the highest number of startups represented at this year´s WebSummit. As we have said in previous post, besides gathering the right ingredients, the availability of funding and Portugal´s very high entrepreneurial quality, those are the key drivers to master the next unicorns.
In fact, Portugal has managed to become in the past years a country which, given its relatively small size, concentrates a lot of tech-related value. In the past decade, 3 unicorns were born in Portugal: Farfetch, Outsystems and Talkdesk. These set precedent to new success stories as more entrepreneurs successfully exit their businesses and foster the ecosystem in the creation of new world-changing ventures. This was the missing element that we were seeing in other more mature ecosystems like US or UK.
Besides these home-grown startups, we are seeing a lot of foreign-based entrepreneurs coming to the country to set up their own startup.
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Let’s take a closer look on what the Portuguese ecosystem has been producing. There are several areas where some startups stand out from AI & Machine Learning to Travel & Hospitality.
Being the most sexy area right now, AI- Machine Learning & Big Data shows 25 companies, notably Apres, Belocal, Builtrix, Emotai, Meight and Network Me, with the Scoring Company setting a new standard for modelling and predictive innovation into performance and evaluation platforms.
Also sexy is Fintech´s with 11 startups, Utopia, Qudo, keezag, HiSonia and Art2Trading promises to deliver disruptive models.
Ecommerce and Retail which with 15 companies is also a heavy contender with The Equal Food Co, Cosmetikke, Eat Tasty and Papos a digital menu, where customers can order from their cell phone by using a QR code, without the need to handle the physical menu- a plus in this covid-19 times!
While the consumer goods ´s category appears three: Boser, Detox in a box and YesYesYes. In the Autotech category, Famel E-Motorcyles combines technology with an electric motor on a motorcycle.
In education, Uni 2all is committed to revolutionizing study methods, Wiser, which unites teachers to students in online and Kriativar is focussing on the application of augmented reality to stimulate children’s creativity.
In the environment, energy and clean tech comes up with strong names like 2B Forest, Crave, Ecological.Earth, Wyze and TradEnergy aims to be disruptive in the traditional electricity market by connecting renewable energy producers to consumers.
In lifestyle & fashion there are already recognized platforms, such as Dona Rosa and Sheer Me, but also more unknown, such as Diverge Sneakers (customization of tennis shoes made in Portugal), Skizo (turns plastic from the oceans and fishermen into products made in Portugal) ), Wagwan and Weclin.In the hospitality and travel sector, there are plenty of startups like Digital Points, Exploreit, GettaGuide, LUGGit, Pynkiwi, SurfingRoute, Tails Project, Live Electric Tours, Tazzi. BestRide stands out by connecting Tourism Animation providers to customers.
