PORTUGAL AS A TECH DESTINATION
MAY 2020 — Portugal is currently the best location in the Western World for starting or growing a tech startup.
A stable and secure democracy, with a high standard of living and great English proficiency. Portugal is also a beautiful and welcoming destination, where people actually want to live in.
With its booming tech scene and top talent, Portugal provides a strategic location bridging US and EU markets and offers the best cost-benefit.
2 BRIDGEIN.PT | [email protected] TABLE OF CONTENTS
TOP TOURIST DESTINATION 4 HIGH STANDARD OF LIVING 6 HIGH ENGLISH PROFICIENCY 8 WESTERN CULTURE 9
EUROPE’S PRIME LOCATION 11 BOOMING TECH SCENE 12 TOP PORTUGUESE TALENT 16 COST EFFECTIVE 18 BUSINESS FRIENDLY 19
3 BRIDGEIN.PT | [email protected] TOP TOURIST DESTINATION
WITH A RICH HISTORY AND BEAUTIFUL SCENERY, PORTUGAL IS A WELL-KNOWN TRAVEL DESTINATION.
— Portugal is the westernmost sovereign state of mainland Europe, and one of the oldest nations in the continent, dating back from the XII century. 600 years ago, the Portuguese started the Age of Discovery marking the beginning of globalization and the discovery of the New World. Portugal has left a profound cultural and linguistic influence across the globe, with a legacy of around 250 million Portuguese speakers. It also discovered new routes and opened global commercial trades between Asia, Europe and the Americas.
Today, the world is coming to Portugal. In 2019, for the third time in a row, Portugal was elected the World's Best Leading Destination by the World Travel Awards [1]. More than just a travel destination, people are also moving to the country to work and live, with a 19% increase of the expat community in 2019 [3], the fourth consecutive year of robust growth, according to Portugal’s Foreigners and Borders Service.
Besides being a beautiful country with a lot of sandy beaches it also has the best weather in Europe with over 290 days of sunshine in a year [2].
Cave in Lagos, Algarve
4 BRIDGEIN.PT | [email protected] A WELL BALANCED DIET WITH TASTY AND HEALTHY FOOD
— The Mediterranean diet, high in vegetables, fruits, fish, olive oil, whole grains, beans, nuts and seeds, is associated with reduced risk factors for cardiovascular disease [4]. It is also recognized by World Health Organization as a healthy and sustainable diet and classified as Intangible Cultural Heritage by UNESCO [5].
The tasty mixture of healthy ingredients is enriched with flavors from spices and herbs, coming from long established trading routes and quite valuable during the middle ages. The once profitable global spice trade also led to some interesting culinary exchanges. The Portuguese were the ones to introduce tempura to the Japanese [6], chili peppers to Asia, and the traditional British 5 o’clock tea in the English royal court [7].
For those with a sweet tooth, the Portuguese cuisine also includes century-old recipes of conventual sweets and pastries. The most famous in modern day Portugal will probably be the custard tart. It is impossible to miss it, with cinnamon, and an espresso.
5 BRIDGEIN.PT | [email protected] HIGH STANDARD OF LIVING
A SECURE AND THRIVING DEMOCRACY
— Portugal has a Very High Human Development Index [8], and is classified as the third safest country in the world to live and work by the Global Peace Index [9] with a Life expectancy of 82 years, 3 more than in the United States [10].
In an age of rising autocratization, Portugal ranks 7th as the best Liberal Democracy in the World [11] only behind North European countries and notably ahead of countries like Germany, United Kingdom and the United States. Legal rights, individual liberties and minority tolerance are cherished values and place Portugal in the 11th position of the Prosperity Index for the category of Personal Freedom [12].
Praça do Comércio in Lisbon
Portugal is also leading the way towards carbon neutrality. Taking the 3rd place in the contribution for Planet and Climate with compliance to environmental agreements and reduced ecological footprint [14]. A key milestone was achieved in March 2018, when the entire country was powered by renewable energy throughout the month [13].
6 BRIDGEIN.PT | [email protected] HIGHEST QUALITY OF LIVE IN THE WORLD
— A secure country with a wonderful weather, great food, rich cultural heritage, a wide range of leisure activities including world class surfing spots and golf resorts, friendly people and a thriving democracy. Portugal is the country with the highest quality of life in the world [15].
Rank 2019 2018
Expats rank Portugal as the Quality of Life 1 ▲ 1 2 ideal destination for settling down quickly and Leisure Options 2 ▲ 2 4 feeling at home abroad. Foreign residents are more Personal Happiness 2 ▲ 2 4 than content with their life in the country, a third Health and Well-being 7 ▼ 1 6 reports that moving to Portugal actually made Personal Finance 15 ▲ 30 45 them a lot happier. 87% Cost of Living 8 ▲ 3 11 describe the local attitude
towards foreign residents Family Life 18 ▼ 9 9 as friendly, 83% agree it is easy to settle down in the Feeling at Home 1 ▲ 2 3 country. Unsurprisingly over half plan to stay Friendliness 3 ▲ 2 5 forever [15]. Source: Expat Insider
25 de Abril Bridge in Lisbon
7 BRIDGEIN.PT | [email protected] HIGH ENGLISH PROFICIENCY
ENGLISH IS WIDELY SPOKEN ACROSS PORTUGAL
— Most Portuguese people speak English and they do it quite well, arguably with a soft accent – more so than in most Eastern and Southern Europe, notably Spain and Italy. Portugal ranks in the Top 10 of the English Proficiency Index for Europe in 2019 [16] only behind Anglo-Saxon and Nordic countries.
English can effectively be used across Portugal to communicate with locals, book accommodations, order food, purchase goods, and conduct business transactions. Not every single citizen is fluent, and the older and rural populations have a lower number of English-speaking individuals, but it will be incredibly hard to find a place where no one understands or speaks good English. In the urban centers like Lisbon and Porto you will frequently hear the language, spoken by tourists, a rising number of expats, and the Portuguese themselves.
8 BRIDGEIN.PT | [email protected] WESTERN CULTURE
FROM THE ATLANTIC TO THE WORLD
— Throughout its history Portugal always looked West to the Atlantic much more than inland to continental Europe. To expand through the vast ocean, Portugal built the first navy in the world which played a key role supporting Portugal as the first global empire [17] establishing maritime trade routes connecting Asia, Africa and America. This Age of Exploration is a key period in Europe and Western culture which marks the beginning of globalization and the wide transfer of goods, people and culture between the Eastern and Western Hemispheres through the Columbian Exchange.
Cantino planisphere (1502)
The Atlantic mindset and common interests forged the oldest alliance in the world that is still in force, dating back to the 1386, between Portugal and England [18]. In more recent times, this commitment to the North Atlantic and Western values are emphasized by Portugal as one of the 12 founding members of NATO.
Portugal has a rich multicultural background from all the peoples who have inhabited and traded with and in the country over the centuries. This contributed to a social ethos of tolerance and respect for the different cultures and religions, thus combining the western values with a warmth hospitality that welcomes people from everywhere, across the ocean or across the world.
9 BRIDGEIN.PT | [email protected] PORTUGAL — World's Best Leading Destination [1]
Best quality of life in the world [15]
3rd safest country in the world [9]
7th best Liberal Democracy [11]
10 BRIDGEIN.PT | [email protected] EUROPE’S PRIME LOCATION
BRIDGING THE POND
— As the westernmost point in Europe, Portugal is geographically, historically and culturally uniquely positioned to connect the Old and the New World. Lisbon is the first European airport for transatlantic flights, and has direct connections with major cities, like New York, Toronto, Chicago, Washington and San Francisco.
Besides North America, Portugal has deep historical and linguistic ties with the biggest country in South America and the 5th biggest in the World - Brazil, but also with Africa. In fact, TAP Air Portugal, the national flagship airline, is the World's Leading Airline to Africa and South America [19].
Looking inwards, Portugal provides access to Eurozone and an entry point into the European Union, a single market representing 447 million citizens and the second-largest economy in the world [20].
TAP Air Portugal destinations [21]
Being the closest country in Europe to North America also means the smallest time-zone difference. Only a 3-hour difference from Halifax to the Azores, or 5 hours from Lisbon to New York.
11 BRIDGEIN.PT | [email protected] BOOMING TECH SCENE
FROM CARAVELS TO WEB SUMMIT
— Innovation, technology and connectivity are a huge part of the Portuguese mindset since ancient times, when its sailors connected the world by sea using caravels and cutting-edge sailing techniques. Today, the Portuguese still love their technology and being connected, the country has a super high adoption of mobile phones, with a 131% penetration rate for Mobile Broadband connections [22], and an extensive fiber optics network. In fact, Portugal ranked 2nd for Ultrafast Broadband take-up [23], 2.5 times higher than the EU average. Providing a good technological framework for digital businesses.
It is not by chance that Lisbon hosts the largest tech event in the World - Web Summit [24]. The conference was originally held in Dublin, when in 2017 it reached new heights by moving to Lisbon, where it will stay at least until 2028. Web Summit brings together 70,000 attendees from 160 countries, including 11,000 CEOs and more than 1200 investors, with a global media coverage by over 2500 journalists. Speakers have included a remarkable mix of brilliant minds, including CEOs, scientists, celebrities, and politicians, such as Stephen Hawking, Michael Dell, Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, Al Gore, Tony Blair, and U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres. Web Summit brings together the people and companies redefining the global tech industry covering topics that range from deep tech and data science, to future or work and environmental sustainability.
“the best technology conference on the planet” - Forbes
12 BRIDGEIN.PT | [email protected] BURGEONING STARTUP ECOSYSTEM
— Portuguese startup ecosystem has been gaining momentum in the last couple of years. In 2015, the Portuguese entrepreneur José Neves took Farfetch, an online luxury fashion company, to unicorn status [25], followed by a successful IPO in 2018 [26]. In the same year, TalkDesk, founded in Portugal in 2011 by two Portuguese graduates, became the first CCaaS Unicorn [27], and the fastest growing CCaaS provider globally [26]. 2018 was also a great year for OutSystems, a Portuguese company that provides a low-code platform, achieving a unicorn valuation with their $360M funding round [25]. Other promising Portuguese scaleups, like Feedzai, Unbabel, Uniplaces, Veniam, or Aptoide, have raised tens of millions of dollars in funding [26]. Altogether, in 2018, Portugal registered 75 scaleups, with $600 million dollars capital raised, a strong 65% increase from the previous year [28].
There is a rising number of homegrown Venture Capital firms supporting this burgeoning ecosystem. Firms like Indico Capital Partners that started in 2019 with a VC Fund of €54M destined to early stage tech startups and have recently announced the launching of the Indico Accelerator Powered by Google [29]. Or more established VCs like Armilar Venture Partners with +€250M assets under management [30] and Portugal Ventures, a State own fund, with a portfolio of close to 100 companies [31]. Startup founders can also leverage several incubators and accelerators like Startup Lisboa, Founder Institute, Fábrica de Startups, or Beta-I, and use the increasing number of collaborative and co-working spaces, including the 35,000 square meter startup campus Hub Creativo Beato.
13 BRIDGEIN.PT | [email protected] GROWING TECH HUB
— Some of the world’s largest companies, like Google, Uber, PipeDrive, Salsify, Cloudflare and even Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz, recently opened new technology-focused hubs in Portugal.
Pipedrive announced their new office in Lisbon pointing out the language skills and the pool of technical talent amongst several reasons to choose Portugal to open their third location [32].
Salsify started is international expansion with Portugal, noting as key reasons for the decision the business climate, weather, startup ecosystem, language skills, but ultimately, the people [33].
As for Cloudflare, the choice was made after analyzing 45 cities across 29 countries. Lisbon was selected based on the combination of a large and growing existing tech ecosystem, attractive immigration policy, political stability, high standard of living, as well as the time zone and direct flights to San Francisco [34].
Gare do Oriente, transport hub in Lisbon
It is not just big companies that are choosing Portugal as a location, smaller American and European startups are also moving to the country to set up or increase a presence in Europe, solving their hiring problems while reducing their burn rate, and operating from a multicultural, well located, warm and welcoming country.
Jungle AI, for example, had no intention of relocating from Amsterdam to Portugal, but quickly realized that the answer to the hiring troubles they were experiencing in the Netherlands could be found in Lisbon. Shiptimize was also drawn from the Netherlands to Lisbon but for different reasons. They wanted to expand the company’s automated shipping service into Latin America, and chose Portugal over Spain due to higher levels of English language proficiency [35].
14 BRIDGEIN.PT | [email protected] “When we made the decision to open a new office, we knew we had to do so in a city that understands and values the spirit of innovation. As we researched opportunities around the world, Lisbon quickly became the obvious choice for Dashlane’s newest home. The city is passionate about building forward-thinking businesses and has the skilled and motivated workforce to make it happen.” [36] — EMMANUEL SCHALIT (CEO AT DASHLANE)
15 BRIDGEIN.PT | [email protected] TOP PORTUGUESE TALENT
A SKILLED WORKFORCE
— In Portugal, entrepreneurs find a high number of graduates in Sciences and mature digital and technological skills. In the latest IMD World Competitiveness survey, executives mentioned a skilled workforce (77.8%), cost competitiveness (76.4%), and reliable infrastructure (68.1%) as key attractiveness factors of Portuguese economy [37].
Portugal puts a high value on Education. It is the 5th country in the world that spends more on education per student as percentage of GDP [37]. The most popular fields of study among graduates are engineering and manufacturing. With the second biggest proportion of engineering graduates in the European Union, Portugal takes the 6th place in graduates per capita with a master’s degree [38]. Business Schools are also recognized internationally, with two schools ranking on the top 25 best full time MBAs in Europe [39].
Portugal is positioned in 23rd at IMD World Talent Ranking 2019 [40] comparing favorably with UK, France and Spain. Regarding talent Investment & Development, Portugal takes the 13th place, ahead of most countries including the US. Although it trails behind on the Appeal factor, undoubtedly due to lower compensation compared to other Western countries. It significantly outperforms on all aspects when comparing to countries from Eastern Europe, South America or Asia, some of them popular IT outsourcing locations. “Lisbon graduate-level hires are high calibre and easier to come by” - Tim Kock (Co-Founder at Jungle AI) [35]
16 BRIDGEIN.PT | [email protected] “As the first office outside our Boston HQ, this is a big step for the company and the question we get most often is how we chose Lisbon. There were a lot of factors in our selection from the business climate and the weather to the startup ecosystem and access to talent to the convenient airport and breadth of language skills, but ultimately it came down to one thing: the people.” [33] — JEREMY REDBURN (CO-FOUNDER AT SALSIFY)
17 BRIDGEIN.PT | [email protected] COST EFFECTIVE
AFFORDABLE WESTERN EUROPE LOCATION
— Although growing in Compare popularity, Portugal is still an to Avg of affordable Western Europe Rank Price all Cities destination. The high Cappuccino $2.10 -38% standard of living at a fair cost, and access to the Beer $1.40 -29% borderless European Schengen area appeals to Lunch $11 -5% digital nomads, skilled workers, and entrepreneurs. 5Km taxi ride $4.90 -41%
Lisbon is a charming mix of Movie ticket $7.70 -23% Paris and San Francisco, at a fraction of the price. With a Monthly fitness club $51 +4% median rent of $1100 for a membership medium apartment in city Broadband internet $28 -24% center and daily living costs
on average 45% cheaper Source: Teleport.org than in San Francisco [41].
Setting up a software development team is also significantly more affordable than in other western cities. In Portugal, it is possible to have a well-located office with all the amenities and hire top talent for a third of what it would cost in major US cities and about half for most European cities [42].
Besides being a major gateway to the European market with direct flights to the major US cities and most of the modern world, living costs and labor costs within the IT and software sectors, remain lower in Lisbon than other European tech hubs such as London, Berlin, and Barcelona.
18 BRIDGEIN.PT | [email protected] BUSINESS FRIENDLY
STARTUPS ARE WELCOMED
— Since the last global financial crisis in 2007, the Portuguese government has passed several policies that make the country more business-friendly, reducing time and cost for company incorporation, and further opening it to the exterior. Accordingly to the World Economic Forum, Portugal currently ranks in 6th place for trade openness and non-tariff barriers [43].
The implementation of a National Strategy for Entrepreneurship, promoted by Portuguese Government, was instrumental to develop the local startup ecosystem and attract foreign investors and founders, from early-stage startups to fast growing scale-ups. There are incentives, like Startup and Incubation Voucher, to support the development of ideas, and a state sponsored €200M co-investment fund aimed at bolstering foreign investment in the country [44].
Besides investment, Portugal welcomes anyone looking to start or scale their business. There are several programs running to enable foreign founders and investors to move into the country. Including the Startup Visa, a residence visa for founders, the Tech Visa, targeted at attracting highly qualified and specialized staff to Portugal, and even the Golden Visa, a residence by investment program [45]. There is also a new E-Residency program for digital nomads and entrepreneurs without a fixed base [44]. With so many options, it is easily understandable why Portugal is 5th country in the world with more favorable Immigration laws [37].
19 BRIDGEIN.PT | [email protected] “Lisbon’s combination of a large and growing existing tech ecosystem, attractive immigration policy, political stability, high standard of living, as well as logistical factors like time zone (the same as the UK) and direct flights to San Francisco made it the clear winner.” [34] — JOHN GRAHAM-CUMMING (CTO AT CLOUDFLARE)
20 BRIDGEIN.PT | [email protected] REFERENCES
[1] World Travel Awards (2019), [8] United Nations Development “World's Leading Destination”, Program (2019), “Human https://www.worldtravelawards. Development Reports”, com/award-worlds-leading-dest http://hdr.undp.org/en/countries ination-2019 /profiles/PRT
[2] Weather Atlas, “Lisbon [9] Vision of Humanity (2019), Climate”, “Global Peace Index”, https://www.weather-atlas.com/ http://visionofhumanity.org/inde en/portugal/lisbon-climate xes/global-peace-index/
[3] Ministry of Economy - Office [10] The World Bank (2018), “Life for Strategy and Studies (2019), expectancy at birth, total “Resident Foreign Population in (years)” Portugal”, https://data.worldbank.org/indic https://www.gee.gov.pt/en/publi ator/SP.DYN.LE00.IN cations/thematic-statistics/resid ent-foreign-population-in-portu [11] V-Dem (2020), “Democracy gal Report 2020”, https://www.v-dem.net/en/ [4] Mayo Clinic (2019), “Mediterranean diet: A [12] Legatum Institute, “The heart-healthy eating plan”, Legatum Prosperity Index 2019”, https://www.mayoclinic.org/heal https://www.prosperity.com/ran thy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healt kings hy-eating/in-depth/mediterrane an-diet/art-20047801 [13] Climate Action (2018), “Portugal runs on renewable [5] UNESCO (2013), power for the whole of March”, “Mediterranean diet”, http://www.climateaction.org/ne https://ich.unesco.org/en/RL/me ws/portugal-runs-on-renewable diterranean-diet-00884 -power-for-the-whole-of-march
[6] SFGATE (1999), “You Can [14] The Good Country (2018), Blame Portugal For Japanese ”Good Country Index - Results”, Tempura”, https://www.goodcountry.org/in https://www.sfgate.com/food/art dex/results/ icle/You-Can-Blame-Portugal-F or-Japanese-Tempura-2916045. [15] Inter Nations (2019), ”Expat php Insider 2019”, https://www.internations.org/ex [7] BBC Travel (2017), “The true pat-insider/ story behind England’s tea obsession” [16] EF Education First (2020), http://www.bbc.com/travel/story “English Proficiency Index” /20170823-the-true-story-behind https://www.ef.com/wwen/epi/ -englands-tea-obsession
21 BRIDGEIN.PT | [email protected] REFERENCES
[17] Guinness World Records, [24] Web Summit, “First global empire”, https://websummit.com/ https://www.guinnessworldrecor ds.com/world-records/first-global [25] Portugal Startups, “Portugal -empire/ Has A New Unicorn”, https://portugalstartups.com/201 [18] GOV.UK Blog - History of 8/06/portugal-unicorn/ government (2016), “History’s Unparalleled Alliance: the [26] Crunchbase, Anglo-Portuguese Treaty of https://www.crunchbase.com Windsor, 9th May 1386”, https://history.blog.gov.uk/2016/0 [27] Techcrunch (2018) “Talkdesk 5/09/historys-unparalleled-allianc nabs $100M at more than $1B e-the-anglo-portuguese-treaty-of valuation for its smart call -windsor-9th-may-1386/ centers”, https://techcrunch.com/2018/10/ [19] World Travel Awards, “TAP Air 03/talkdesk-nabs-100m-at-more- Portugal Awards”, than-1b-valuation-for-its-smart-c https://www.worldtravelawards.c all-centers/ om/profile-8070-tap-air-portugal [28] Startup Europe Partnership [20] International Monetary Fund, (2019), “SEP Monitor”, "World Economic Outlook https://startupeuropepartnership Database, April 2019", .eu/reports/ https://www.imf.org/external/pub s/ft/weo/2019/01/weodata/index.as [29] Indico Capital Partners, px https://www.indicocapital.com/
[21] TAP Air Portugal, ”TAP [30] Armilar Venture Partners, Destinations”, https://www.armilar.com https://www.flytap.com/en-pt/des tinations [31] Portugal Ventures, https://www.portugalventures.pt [22] GSMA, “GSMA Mobile Connectivity Index”, [32] Pipedrive Blog (2017), http://www.mobileconnectivityin “Pipedrive Opens an Office in dex.com/ Lisbon” https://www.pipedrive.com/en/bl [23] European Commission, “The og/pipedrive-opens-office-lisbon Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI) 2019” https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single -market/en/scoreboard/portugal
22 BRIDGEIN.PT | [email protected] REFERENCES
[33] Salsify - Digital Shelf Blog [39] Financial Times, “European (2018), “Olá Lisboa e Olá Europe! Business School Rankings 2019”, As Salsify Grows, We Launch an http://rankings.ft.com/businesss EMEA Office”, choolrankings/european-busine https://www.salsify.com/blog/sal ss-school-rankings-2019 sify-grows-we-launch-an-emea- office [40] IMD World Competitiveness Center (2019), ”IMD World Talent [34] Cloudflare Blog (2019), Ranking”, “Cloudflare's new Lisbon office”, https://worldcompetitiveness.im https://blog.cloudflare.com/clou d.org/rankings/talent dflare-lisbon-office/ [41] Teleport, “Quality of Life in [35] Sifted (2020), “Why startups Lisbon”, are relocating to Lisbon and https://teleport.org/cities/lisbon/ what they’re finding behind the hype”, [42] Glassdoor, “Company https://sifted.eu/articles/startups salaries”, -relocating-lisbon-behind-the-h https://www.glassdoor.com/Sala ype/ ries/index.htm
[36] Dashlane Blog (2018), [43] World Economic Forum, “Dashlane Expands Global “The Global Competitiveness Operations, Opens New Office Report 2019” in Lisbon”, https://www.weforum.org/repor https://blog.dashlane.com/lisbo ts/how-to-end-a-decade-of-lost- n/ productivity-growth
[37] IMD World Competitiveness [44] Startup Portugal, Center, (2019), ”Country https://startupportugal.com/ Overview - Portugal”, https://worldcompetitiveness.im [45] Nomad Capitalist, “Portugal d.org/countryprofile/overview/PT Golden Visa: The Ultimate Guide”, [38] Eurostat, “Graduates in https://nomadcapitalist.com/201 tertiary education”, 9/07/19/portugal-golden-visa/ https://appsso.eurostat.ec.europ a.eu/nui/
23 BRIDGEIN.PT | [email protected] About BRIDGE IN — We are Experts in Scaling Tech Startups, with a Local Presence and a strong Partner Network. You can benefit from our expertise to find great Talent, open new Office Locations and expand your Operation.
We are currently focusing on helping startups expanding to Portugal 🇵🇹 as it provides a Strategic Location bridging US and EU markets and offers the best cost-benefit.
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