Investment in startups at 10-year high

Portugal’s startups ecosystem is continuing to grow rapidly both in terms of venture capital investor numbers and successes.  This is one of the key findings of Startup Genome – Global Startup Ecosystem Report – in a study published on Tuesday based on data from over one million companies in around 100 entrepreneur ecosystems (incubators, hubs and co-work centres) and analysed by one of the best-known technology sources in the world: Voice of Entrepreneurs.

For the first time, Lisbon has appeared in the Global Startup Ecosystem Report despite still being out of the Top 20 main cities. Even so, Genome devoted two pages of its report to the startup situation in the Portuguese capital.

In the report it highlights Startup Lisboa, the Câmara and the accelerator Beta-i. Analising the ecosystem it states $1.26Bn out of Lisbon’s total GDP of $96Bn is generated from startups, with a startup output of 225, a growth index of 6.1 with early-stage funding set at $200,000.

With regards to market reach, 34% were aimed at foreign customers, 54% had software engineers, 48% had Visa success rate, 17% were founded by women and 15% were founded by immigrants.

According to the conclusions of the study, the global startups ecosystem continues to grow rapidly, both in terms venture capital investors and successes. According to the data published, 2017 was the best year in the last 10: over $140Bn of investment in startups worldwide.

China and the United States lead the way. China is the country with the highest growth rate in startups with 35% of the world’s total while the United States continues to be the overall leader with 41%.

The four main growth areas are Robotics, Agtech & New Food, Blockchain & Artificial Intelligence and Big Data & Analytics.