The 2020 Scaleup Portugal Report has published details about the top 25 startups in Portugal between 2015 and 2020. According to the report, around 65% of the total investors are from countries other than Portugal.
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What does the Portuguese market offer to entrepreneurs and investors?
The same report shows the fact that “All the founders in the Top 25 have some form of formal education with a significant share (58.14%) having at least a master’s degree”. Of the rest, 16% of them have a Ph.D. degree, the report indicates. This result shows how well-educated these founders are. So, this shows that the startup ecosystem in Portugal is at the hands of a qualified community.
Especially Lisbon and Porto are on the rise in terms of a growing ecosystem. Hosting an international network, the government’s incentives for new businesses and startups are determining this success. Furthermore, Porto was also chosen as the “Best Startup-Friendly City of Europe” by the World Business Angels Investment Forum in 2018. It was also regarded as the third fastest-growing tech hub in Atomico’s State of European Tech report in the same year.
Furthermore, this year, Web Summit, the well-known technology conference, will be held in Lisbon in November. The company answers the question of why thousands will gather in Lisbon. It states it is because of the “incredible speakers, unparalleled networking opportunities, and proprietary software that will maximize your experience.”
Also, Lisbon is already home to many branches of the leading companies of the world. These include Amazon Web Services, Oracle, Huawei, and many more. Because these companies are aware of the potential and the network in Portugal, they have started to canalize their branches here.
On another note, a recent Portuguese Immigration and Borders Service (SEF) report shows an apparent intention in investors to invest in the Portuguese enterprise ecosystem. Since 2019, 79 non-EU investors have obtained Portuguese residency by acquiring units of investment funds or venture capital fund of funds. The total inflow to the country has already reached around €29 million.
What is the investment fund option?
The Portugal Golden Visa program provides this recent option for non-EU investors in return for Portuguese residency and citizenship. This entails an investment amount of at least €350,000. When this is completed, you can prepare the necessary documentation to apply for this residency by investment program. Within around six months, your application will be finalized, and you can receive your residency card.
The program requires a few more things, though. You need to renew your residency every two years until the end of the first five years. Within this duration, you are expected to stay in Portugal for at least 14 days in every two years.
When five years are over, you can apply for permanent residency and citizenship as well.
Non-habitual tax resident program and family inclusion are other significant benefits.
The Non-habitual Resident (NHR) program aims to make people stay in the country and exempt from many foreign taxes. To benefit from the program, you need to be a Portuguese resident but not be a tax resident in the last five years. If you stay in the country for at least 183 days a year, you can benefit from NHR. It means that you will be exempt from almost all of your foreign income taxes. And, you will benefit from this program for ten years. So, your golden visa will open the way to benefit from this opportunity.
When you apply for a Portuguese Golden Visa, you can include your family members as well. They can benefit from all the rights you can. These include residency and European citizenship as well. So, they can also work, live and study in any European country when citizenship is obtained.
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