Portugal’s startup scene heats up
Forgive me for boasting, but Portugal has always been a magical place, a country full of rich history, beautiful architecture, and amazing food and wine. We also offer a good quality of life, an advanced educational system with free and compulsory schooling until the age of 18, and a cost of living that is much lower than in other European countries. This symbiosis of character, history, and a modern way of life is, I’m convinced, helping to drive Portugal’s growing startup scene.
Portugal is, in short, a place to be inspired.
自慢を許してほしいのだが、ポルトガルは、いつだって摩訶不思議な場所であり、豊かな歴史、美しい建築物、そして美味しい食べ物とワインに満ちた国である。また良質な生活ができ、18歳まで無料で義務教育が受けられる先進的な教育システムが提供されており、しかも他のヨーロッパ諸国よりも生活費が安い。特徴、歴史、そして現代の生活様式が共存していることが、ポルトガルのスタートアップの成長を促すのに一役買っていると、私は確信している。
要するに、ポルトガルは触発される場所なのである。
自慢になってしまって申し訳ないが、ポルトガルは、長く豊かな歴史、美しい建築物、美味しい料理にワインがあり、いつだって魅惑的な場所だった。我々は、良好なクオリティ・オブ・ライフ（生活の質）や、高度な教育システムや、18歳までの義務教育を提供するし、生活にかかるコストも他のヨーロッパ諸国に比べると安価である。この、特徴、歴史、そして現代的な生活の共存が、ポルトガルのスタートアップの成長を促しているのだと、私は納得させられている。
ポルトガルは、つまりは、インスピレーションを与えてくれる場所である。
To be fair, the current entrepreneurial boom was initially the result of several dismal years for Portugal’s economy. But the upside of the downturn was more young people choosing to take a chance on starting their own company. Faced with a rising unemployment rate, these young entrepreneurs have been finding inspiration in the real world, recognizing needs in the marketplace, and applying creative solutions. The result has been an explosion of startups, and a rising GDP, up 1.6 percent this year and .9 percent in 2014, after several years in recession.
To help boost entrepreneurship even more, the Portuguese government created an investment agency called Portugal Ventures, a €450 million fund focusing on investments in innovative, scientific, and technology-based companies as well as in companies from the more traditional Portuguese tourism and industrial sectors.
A number of startup incubators have also mobilized, offering new businesses an office or desk to get them off the ground. Startup Lisboa, for example, one of the largest incubators in the country, hosts around 80 startups at any one time from various areas of business, from tech to tourism and everything in between.
また、多くのスタートアップインキュベーターも動員され、順調なスタートが切れるよう、新たな企業にオフィスやデスクを提供している。例えば、同国最大のインキュベーターの1つであるStartup Lisboaは、技術から観光に至る、ありとあらゆるビジネス分野におけるスタートアップ企業約80社を、常時支援している。
多くのスタートアップ・インキュベーターは、新しい事業を結集し、その成功のためにオフィスや机等を提供している。例えば、スタートアップであるLisboaは、ポルトガル内の最大インキュベーターの一つであり、技術から観光まで多様なビジネス分野に亘る約80ものスタートアップをホストしている。
Up north there’s Startup Braga, which has partnered with Microsoft Ventures to focus on pre-acceleration, acceleration, and incubation programs for startups with global growth ambitions.
The Lisbon Challenge is recognized as the fourth most active accelerator program in Europe by Fundacity, promoting growth and internationalization. In just three years, it has sent three alumni to Y Combinator, two alumni to Seedcamp, and one to TechStars. Forty percent of the companies coming out of Lisbon Challenge have secured investment, and one has been acquired.
While it’s impossible to list every innovative and exciting Portuguese startup, I’d like to highlight a few of the hottest to watch for this year:
The Lisbon Challengeは、成長および国際化を促進するFundacityにより、ヨーロッパにおいて4番目に最も成果を上げているアクセラレータープログラムだとされている。たった3年間で、同事業者は、Y Combinatorに3つ、Seedcampに2つ、そしてTechStarsに1つの卒業生を送り出した。Lisbon Challenge出身企業の40%が資金を獲得し、1%が買収されている。
革新的で刺激的なポルトガルのスタートアップをすべてリストアップすることは不可能だが、今年注目すべき、最も活気あるスタートアップをいくつか紹介しよう。
Lisbon Challengeは、成長と国際化を促し、Fundacityによりヨーロッパで4番目に活動的なアクセラレーター・プログラムとして認識されている。たった3年で、卒業生3人をY Combinatorへ、卒業生2人をSeedcampへ、卒業生1人をTechStarsへ送った。Lisbon Challengeを卒業する会社の40パーセントが、投資を確保し、1社は買収された。
全ての革新的で、エキサイティングなポルトガルのスタートアップをリストすることは不可能だが、その中でも今年特に熱いスタートアップに注目してみたい。
Unbabel, is a clever Y Combinator-backed web translation service that combines machine learning and human crowdsourcing. The combination of artificial and human intelligence delivers faster translations with human quality. Businesses are able to use this service by requesting translations via Unbabel’s web order form, email, API, or by integrating it into their daily workflow with Zendesk and Mailchimp. Using machine translation in its service also means huge cost savings. Unbabel estimates it has saved businesses customers $2 million on their translation needs. The Unbabel team takes advantage of its proximity to amazing Lisbon beaches by going surfing every Wednesday!
Cuckuu is a unique alarm clock app that uses social motivation to encourage users to experience life together. Users are able to create their own alarms, called Cuckuus, and follow friends, family, and other users. Cuckuu’s founders, Joao Jesus, Christophe De Weerdt, and Peu Fraga, want to help people connect and motivate one another to do things through fun and social interactions.
PharmAssistant has developed a SmartBottle for pills, a connected device that has a built-in visual and audible alarm when it’s time for the user to take medication. An included app can even analyze medication patterns and detect any possible adverse interactions between the medicines in the unit. The company also offers an optional monitoring service so a family member or healthcare professional will be able to remotely monitor if the user is taking his or her medication on time and according to the doctor’s prescription. Last September 2014, PharmAssistant was awarded a €50,000 grant from major pharmaceutical company Bayer.
MagniFinance offers a financial management platform for small and medium-sized businesses that makes day-to-day management lighter and financial planning more precise. The service helps companies reduce the time managing their finances to just five minutes a day. In addition to the time savings, this system also automatically synchronizes different bank accounts, allowing businesses to issue invoices, check lists of suppliers, and track expenses and revenues while predicting future values. In 2014, MagniFinance was one of the finalists of the International Acceleration Program Lisbon Challenge and won the Caixa Entrepreneurship Award, receiving an investment of €100,000 from Caixa Capital.
このサービスは、財務管理に費やす時間をわずか1日5分に短縮してくれる。この時間節約に加え、このシステムは異なる銀行口座を自動的に同期することで、請求書やサプライヤーの小切手リストの発行だけでなく、支出や収益の追跡管理と将来価値の予想まで可能にする。2014年に、MagniFinanceは、International Acceleration Program Lisbon Challengeのファイナリストに選出され、Caixa Entrepreneurship賞を受賞し、Caixa Capitalから100,000 ユーロの投資を受けた。
Popcorn Metrics spent a year developing a platform that integrates web analytics tools without having to write a line of code. Up until now, managers and marketers who wanted to better understand the behavior of users on their sites had to either work with code themselves or have an IT person do it for them. Cofounder Paul Boyce is an Irish national who left a career in IT to create his own company. He fell in love with Portugal while on holiday and chose to set up his new business in Lisbon. He met partner Luís Correia at a startup event and together they developed Popcorn Metrics.
The past three years have been an incredibly exciting time for Portugal’s startup scene. I believe this is a trend that will continue.
Pedro Rocha Vieir is cofounder, president, and CEO of Beta-i, a non-profit focused on promoting entrepreneurship in Portugal.
