Lisbon’s Unicorn Factory Scaling Up programme helps 50+ companies
The 7th edition of Unicorn Factory Lisboa’s Scaling Up programme has kicked off with 10 new scale-ups – the largest addition to date.
Unicorn Factory has already helped 58 scale-ups that have attracted €379 million of investment, generating around €200 million in annual revenues.
And the startups that have gone through the Scaling Up programme posted an accumulated 58% growth in investment and an increase of 55% in annual revenues.
The Scaling Up programme is a pioneering project in Portugal directed at ‘post-seed’ startups that are in an accelerated growth phase with a focus on international expansion.
The scale-ups selected are: Connected Space, Framedrop, Gaimin, Growappy, Hiop, LoopOS, LUGGit, Noxus, Secretarium and Viads.
The fresh crop of companies have already raised more than €17 million in investments and posted annual combined revenues of €31 million. Together they employ a total of 267 staff and in terms of offices they have 70 dotted around Portugal.
“Unicorn Factory Lisboa’s Scaling Up programme has been a growth driver for scale-ups, helping them to expand their operations, attract investment, and gain international scale.
“This programme plays a fundamental role for the country, as it is an essential pillar to develop innovation in Portugal as a driver of the economy by attracting investment and creating jobs, and strengthening the international competitiveness of the country and Lisbon”, says Gil Azevedo, CEO of Unicorn Factory Lisboa.
Over the next eight months the selected scale-ups will accelerate their growth through eight specialised modules with a focus on international expansion, increasing financing and revenues, scalability of operations, development of strategic partnerships, and fine-tuning the skills of the leadership teams. They will also be able to take advantage of the help of 140 mentors from successful scale-ups, large companies and investors.
Since its creation, the Scaling Up Programme – the only one of its kind in Portugal dedicated to helping startups in a more advanced development phase – have had a significant impact on the entrepreneurial ecosystem, with an accumulated growth of 26% in the number of employees, 58% in finance attraction, and an increase of 55% in annual revenues obtained for the 48 startups supported by the programme.
The programme has received over 240 applications and now helps 58 scale-ups that all told have raised €379 million of investment and generated total combined revenues of €200 million, as well as boasting 18 women founders from among the companies selected.
