Porto, Portugal, May 22, 2026 (Lusa) – The Portuguese startup SpotGov aims to become the European benchmark for public procurement, the CEO said in an interview with Lusa, revealing plans to launch international expansion in Spain and the UK.
"SpotGov is an operating system for the future of public procurement in Portugal and in Europe," said João Alves, who leads the Portuguese tech company founded over a year ago.
The Portuguese artificial intelligence (AI) platform specialises in public procurement and public tenders and uses proprietary algorithms to analyse all stages of the process, the technology company said.
Alves outlined a medium-term goal to transform the startup into a major European player.
Winning that market will turn the startup into a billion-dollar company, meaning it will achieve unicorn status.
The long-term objective is to become a unicorn as quickly as possible.
The CEO of Lisbon-based SpotGov said that the current strategy to achieve this involves becoming a benchmark player in its field globally, but primarily within Europe.
The company currently employs 12 people and is recruiting in foreign markets.
The business continues to grow rapidly. "We acquired more than 100 clients in Portugal, a good portion of them enterprise clients, meaning quite large companies in Portugal, representing more than €1.5 billion in public procurement in Portugal," Alves said.
This progress means the startup captured between 8% and 10% of the Portuguese market within a year, generating a first-year turnover of around €600,000.
"My goal is to increase turnover fivefold every year, or even more, over the next three years," he said.
The objective now focusses on "growing exponentially and expanding internationally beyond Portugal", he said.
"We started in Portugal with Portuguese clients who also operate in other countries," he said, adding that the company is leveraging these relationships to begin its international expansion before executing a broader go-to-market strategy.
"Ideally, we will begin expanding into Spain and the UK," he said.
The strategy for Spain relies on client proximity, while the UK represents a target because "it is one of the largest markets in Europe." The long-term vision involves establishing the company as the benchmark for public procurement across Europe, and eventually worldwide.
Regarding the US, "it is not out of the question", but the first step is Europe, where procurement processes are bureaucratic and there is "a great need for a solution like this," he said.
"Most public procurement laws derive from European directives, which then have some country-specific laws, but the process itself remains the same throughout Europe," he said. Consequently, the company views Europe as a cohesive and united market to target quickly as a single entity.
After Europe, the startup is targeting Brazil and the Middle East, noting that the latter invests significantly in this area.
The entire public procurement process is "extremely manual, complex, and bureaucratic, the same as 20 or 30 years ago." SpotGov intends to "redefine this with an AI platform that automates" everything from end to end, Alves explained.
As an "AI-native" company, SpotGov assists "from the moment companies find opportunities, meaning they find the tenders, until the moment the proposals are submitted, and we analyse past proposal data to help make future decisions." Within this operating system logic, "there is no incumbency in the market," he said.
Regarding public procurement reform, "I think what the government is doing is bringing efficiency to the process," he concluded.
SpotGov was one of the startups present at the SIM (Startups & Investment Matching) Conference in Porto between 14 and 15 May, organised by Startup Portugal. The event served to engage with potential investors, partners, and clients.
The startup is bootstrapped and has been "profitable since month two".
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