The startup scene in Portugal

Unicorn Factory Lisboa describes its remit as supporting Lisbon’s innovation ecosystem and characterizes itself as a flagship city initiative supporting startups and scaleups. It lists education and university partnerships, startup acceleration and incubation, and scaleup acceleration among its activities. Its homepage reports cumulative totals of more than €1 billion fundraised and more than 1,100 startups supported.

Técnico’s Lab2Market is a technology commercialization program connecting Técnico-developed technologies with commercialization support. Its page describes 250 hours of specialist consultancy and training over nine weeks for selected teams. The listed audience is Técnico teachers, researchers, doctoral students, and master’s students. A 2026 edition heading appears, but intake dates were not displayed, so current intake status is unknown.

Técnico reported on May 20, 2026, that its BreastScreening-AI spin-off received €500,000 through the EIC Pre-Accelerator for breast cancer screening technology. Its system combines mammography, ultrasound, and magnetic resonance imaging. Técnico also reports that Tekever was founded by Técnico alumni and belongs to its IST Spin-off community; in 2025, it reported that Tekever exceeded a $1 billion valuation. These are reported institutional relationships and outcomes, not evidence of the companies’ current locations.

As checked October 2, 2026, the healthhub Open Innovation call’s published application window ran from August 31 through October 4, 2026, and was in progress on the check date. Its startup challenges come from Lisbon hospitals. The rules do not restrict eligibility by applicant nationality, headquarters, or company registration location, accept applications in English or Portuguese, and describe pilot access and visibility rather than guaranteed cash.