Companies - Case Studies

The city has a long track record of companies that set up and grow their business in Porto - from dynamic new start-ups to multinational corporations.

BLIP

Founded in 2009, BLIP is one benchmark company in software engineering in Porto, focused on high performance web applications.

BLIP supplies its production all 5 continents and has operations in Europe, Australia and the United States of America. The company develops software products using Agile methodologies, proposing innovative and efficient solutions to its customers according to their needs.

The company witnessed an impressive growth and it is now considered one of the main software brands in Portugal.

With a vast experience and a proven track record in the development of web and mobile projects for large international companies. The tech startup is now part of the BetFair Group. It is part of the Porto Tech Hub.

Link: www.blip.pt

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Veniam

Veniam develops Internet of Moving Things solutions and is the company responsible for the development of the world's largest network of connected vehicles in Porto..

Veniam hardware, software and cloud components is running in the world's largest network of connected vehicles, including taxis, waste collection trucks and entire public bus fleet in Porto, offering free Wi-Fi to 115,000 active customers.

With an IP (Intellectual Property) portfolio with more than 150 patents, Veniam's Intelligent Networking platform allows connected autonomous cars and vehicles to move large amounts of data between vehicles and the cloud.

Veniam signed a deal with StarHub, Singapore's second largest telecommunications operator, with the aim of installing mobile wireless networks (WiFi hotspots) in thousands of vehicles circulating in this city-state.

Created in 2012, as a spin-off of the Universities of Porto and Aveiro, the company is headquartered in Mountain View, California and has offices in Singapura and its engineering team in Porto (UPTEC).

Link: www.veniam.com

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Sitel

Sitel is one of the world’s leading outsourcing providers of customer experience management.

The North American company is a market leader in the international call & contact centre sector, with more than 30 years of history delivering outsourcing solutions and with a global presence in 27 territories, offering services in 48 languages.

In Porto, the company employs around 500 people to serve the largest brands in the world with high added value contact center outsourcing services.

Sitel staff is trained to offer high quality services such as Acquisition and Sales, Processing Operations (Back Office), Customer Care and Technical Support in most European languages.

Link: www.sitel.com

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Farfetch

Farfetch is a young company that revolutionized the way people shop for fashion and has turn into the first Unicorn company made in Portugal.

Combining creativity with a world-class technology, Farfetch developed a unique business idea – a website that allows users to buy luxury clothing and accessories from more than 300 of the world’s best boutiques under one address.

With offices in Porto, Lisbon, Guimarães, Braga, London, New York, Los Angeles, São Paulo, Moscovo, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Tokyo and Dubai, Farfetch showcases over 1,000 labels.

Founded in 2008, the result of the entrepreneurial spirit of its founder, the company rapidly grew until it became a global company valued at US $ 1 billion.

Link: www.farfetch.com

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EFACEC

With a history of more than 100 years, EFACEC is the largest Portuguese industrial group operating in the energy, systems and mobility areas.

Efacec positions itself as one of the major global players in its business sectors.

With several innovative projects such as the development of electric buses, the company is also a leading supplier of electric vehicle charging systems and of integrated solutions and equipment in the market of power generation, transmission and distribution.

Efacec is one of the most internationalised Portuguese companies. Present in over 65 countries it has subsidiaries in several geographies, from the US to South America (Brazil; Argentina and Chile), through Spain and Central Europe to the Maghreb (Algeria and Morocco) and Southern Africa (Angola; Mozambique and South Africa).

Link: www.efacec.pt

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Douro Azul

Founded in 1993, Douro Azul is today the leading river cruise company in Portugal, with a fleet of 12 modern luxury river cruise ships, and one of the main drivers of tourism development in Porto and the Northern Region and, in particular, the Douro River region.

The Douro Azul group holds several investments in the tourism and leisure sector, from operations in the touristic animation area (cruises, sightseeing tours, helicopter tours), to theme parks and hospitality up to space tourism.

Following the acquisition of the German operator Nicko Cruises - which operates in 12 countries and three continents - the group has become an important player in the European river cruising market.

Link: www.douroazul.com

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Sonae

Sonae is one of the largest Portuguese business groups, born in Porto in 1959, and one of the largest private employers in Portugal.

Present in 74 countries, Sonae is a multinational company that manages a diversified portfolio of businesses in the areas of retail, financial services, technology, shopping centres and telecommunications.

Currently, Sonae is the leader in the national food retail market, having been responsible for beginning a true revolution in consumption habits in the Portuguese commercial panorama.

Link: www.sonae.pt

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CRITICAL Software

Established in Coimbra in 1998, Critical Software has specialized its activity in the development of software solutions and information engineering services.

It operates in 10 major markets: Aerospace, Automobile, Defense, Energy, Financial services, Government, Medical devices, Rail, Space and Telecommunications. It presents some additional areas of specialization such as: Cybersecurity, Digital transformation, Security management, Systems and software development and Testing services.

Its client portfolio includes NASA, who was its first client, with Critical Software having been involved in 20 space missions (including the recent Exomars mission in 2016). Other examples are: AgustaWestland, Vodafone, Infineon, EDP, Enersis, CGD, BCI, Unimed, AES, BPI, SIBS, mCel, UNITEL and the Bank of New York.

Currently, it has offices in Coimbra, Lisbon, Viseu, Tomar, Vila Real and Porto (opened in 2017), with subsidiaries in the United Kingdom (Southampton and Derby), Germany (Munich), United States (Sunnyvale).

Link: www.criticalsoftware.com

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Devexperts

Devexperts is a German FinTech company, established in Porto since 2018, specialized in the development of complex software solutions and services for the capital markets industry, including trading platforms and market data services.

The company has offices in North America, Europe and Asia. The choice to establish a research and development centre in Porto was due to the "proximity to the academy”, the high quality training and the strengthening of the entrepreneurial ecosystem in the city.

The company develops flexible, customized solutions to fit the needs of its international clients: exchanges, banks, brokers, online brokers, investment funds, etc. designing products for PC and server systems on Windows, Linux, iOS and Android.

Devexperts' R&D team is recognized as one of the best in the world, having received over 25 of the most prestigious awards in the FinTech sector in the last 10 years. The high performance, scalability and integration capabilities of its products and services, combined with 24x7x365 monitoring and support, result in the most recognized and reliable technology in the global financial industry.

Ligação: www.devexperts.com

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Talkdesk

Talkdesk is a company dedicated to the development of software solutions for call centers based on the cloud. The customizable platform that the company created allows to offer routing, reports, data analysis leveraged in artificial intelligence, among other functionalities that enable to collect information in real time on the history of the person making the contact.

The technological company was founded in 2011 and currently is considered a "unicorn”. It has offices in Porto, Lisbon, Coimbra, San Francisco, Salt Lake City and London. It has in its client portfolio Dropbox, Inc., Discovery Education, IBM, Acxiom, among a wide range of other entities.

Talkdesk has shown very significant growth, gaining visibility in the cloud-based contact center market.

Link: www.talkdesk.com

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FairJourney Biologics

FairJourney Biologics is one of the world's leading CROs (Contract Research Organization) in antibody discovery, engineering and production. It was founded in 2012 and has its headquarters in Porto. It provides services to major pharmaceutical companies and major biotechnology companies in the USA, Europe and Japan. Some of its clients are Bayer, Duve Institute Université Catholique de Louvain Brussels, Staten Biotechnology B.V., Merus and arGEN-X.

In addition to an extensive history in antibody discovery projects, it is worth noting the high success rate of them.

Link: www.fjb.pt

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Readiness IT

Readiness IT is a company with 100% Portuguese capital that operates in the area of digital transformation and system integration. It was founded in 2015 and is dedicated to the development of products and solutions that improve the user experience and automate processes.

It is headquartered in Porto and has offices in Lisbon, Fundão, Santiago do Chile and Auckland. Its client portfolio includes brands such as Telefónica, Etisalat, Entel, Spark, Claro, SwissCom, T-Mobile, among others. It has been presenting annual results that exceed expectations in terms of revenue.

Ligação: www.readinessit.com

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Critical Techworks

Critical TechWorks is a joint venture that resulted from a partnership between the BMW Group and Critical Software. It was created to support BMW in building software for the future cars of this brand. The company was established in Porto in September 2018.

Automatic driving, in-car infotainment systems and electrification are just some of the latest technologies being developed by Crtical TechWorks. Besides Portugal, the technology company has offices in the United Kingdom, Germany and in the USA.

Link: www.criticaltechworks.com

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Natixis was founded in 2006 and is a subsidiary of the BPCE Group, one of the largest banking groups in France.

Its activity involves offering solutions in the area of asset and wealth management, corporate and investment banking, insurance plans and in the area of payments. In 2017 the company opened its IT center in the city of Porto due to the innovative and entrepreneurial ecosystem, the dynamic labor market and the city's infrastructure.

Link: www.natixis.com

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EURONEXT

Euronext manages stock exchange operations in Portugal, the Netherlands, Belgium, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Norway and France.

The traded products are stocks, bonds, ETFs, funds, warrants & certificates and structured notes. In 2017 the company established its technological center in Porto. The center, in addition to the management and maintenance of the technological infrastructure, has security skills in the field of Information Technologies and works on the development of new financial solutions and services.

Link: www.euronext.com

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VOLTALIA

Voltalia, a French multinational founded in 2005, produces energy and provides services in the production of renewable energy from wind, solar, hydro and biomass energy, combining storage solutions.

Its mission is to improve the global environment, promoting local development. It has offices in Europe, Central and South America, Africa and Asia. The company opened its Solar Energy Competence Center in Porto in 2019.

Link: www.voltalia.com

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