Lisbon, April 22, 2026 (Lusa) – Portugal's Secretary of State for the Economy, João Rui Ferreira, told parliament on Wednesday that startups have reached a new "level of maturity", noting an increased appetite for investment.
"We are clearly seeing an evolution in maturity within the startup world. A decade ago, investment was typically driven by 'angels' or 'business angels' with funding rounds of €10,000, €20,000, €50,000, or €100,000," he said during a hearing of the parliamentary committee on Economy and Territorial Cohesion.
"Now, given that the ecosystem remains intact, if the investors are the same, they have now reached a level of maturity that gives them the capacity and a tendency to invest in more advanced stages of business […], which also demonstrates a certain degree of maturity within the sector," he said.
The current scenario presents "an enormous opportunity" for a society without a great appetite for risk to gain the incentives and capacity for such investment, according to Ferreira.
He suggested that there should be greater knowledge of financial instruments and startups, as well as a reduction in bureaucracy.
"Often, the greatest cost is not financial, the cost we face is time itself, and therefore we are creating these conditions for simplification," he said, highlighting Startup Portugal's important role in this field.
He said that challenges in management and access to venture capital are not exclusive to Portugal, as they affect the entire European continent.
"This is not an exclusively Portuguese issue. In Europe, access to capital differs significantly from the US, and some startups generally choose the US to leverage their operations at a more advanced stage of their life cycle," he said.
Nevertheless, he said that moving tax domiciles abroad does not imply abandoning the country, noting that "many of these companies continue to have" operations in Portugal.
He said that operations in Portugal and Europe also differ because public policies must seek predictability and competitiveness while avoiding benefits that fail to bring structural reforms.
Portugal holds a competitive advantage regarding startups, he said, noting that more than 5,000 active startups in 2025.
JO/RYOL // AYLS
Lusa
