Founder Opportunities

Founders, startup teams, operators, and ecosystem members who want to attend Web Summit Lisbon without applying to exhibit through the startup programme.

Use Build Up Labs ambassador code LEON20 for 20% off a Web Summit 2026 General Attendee ticket. The ticket includes exhibition-floor access, content across 32 industries, tailored networking recommendations, curated meetups, Night Summit, expert masterclasses, partner perks, and attendee discovery tools.

HealthTech founders, entrepreneurs, investors and healthcare professionals who want to discover the startups completing the fourth LISPOLIS Ignite accelerator and connect with Lisbon's health innovation ecosystem.

Attend the participating startups' pitch presentations, a talk on health entrepreneurship, and a closing cocktail and networking session with founders, investors and sector professionals. Registration is free; this is an audience and networking opportunity, not an open accelerator application or a new competition entry route.

Founders pursuing venture-backed growth, from an idea to an early-stage startup with traction, who can work full-time on their company and join the batch in San Francisco. Startups in any industry and from anywhere in the world can apply, including solo founders; the founding team should have the skills to build its own product.

$500,000 investment upon acceptance: $125,000 for 7% via a post-money SAFE, plus $375,000 on an uncapped Most Favored Nation (MFN) SAFE that adds further equity dilution. Dedicated YC partner support, weekly founder meetups, an alumni network, investor introductions and access to partner credits and deals. This is equity investment, not a grant; YC charges no programme fee.

Startups with a product ready to pilot that addresses one or more of 14 corporate challenges in smart energy and EV charging, low-carbon construction, water efficiency, smarter buildings, or digital construction and licensing.

10 selected startups will pitch live to Brisa, REMO, Mota-Engil and Quadrante at this Unicorn Factory Lisboa Web Summit side event, with the chance to discuss future collaboration and start a pilot. The event also offers industry networking; selection does not guarantee a pilot, contract or funding.

Early-stage founders already building their own product, from idea or prototype to an early launch, with global ambition and the technical capability to build and iterate within the founding team. International and solo founders can apply; traction is not required. A focused fit for founders pursuing venture-backed growth, not a general programme for every business.

The standard investment is $500k for 10% upfront via SAFE, plus up to $500k in a qualifying next round of $2m+ within 18 months. This is equity investment, not a grant or an unconditional $1m cheque. The 12-week residency adds practitioner sessions, office hours, customer introductions, hiring support, a founder network and Demo Day investor exposure. Access to partner credits through the Speedrun Marketplace is subject to each partner's amounts and terms.

Agrifood founders, entrepreneurs and researchers developing TRL 4-7 innovations, with an incorporated startup or plans to incorporate one, who need a practical route from technological validation towards market adoption.

A free, nine-hour sprint in English across November and December: assess your Market Readiness Level, build and refine a validation roadmap, co-create with industry experts and peers, and strengthen investment and impact readiness. BGI Sustainable Ventures delivers the programme with EIT Food support; participation offers learning and networking, not a cash award or guaranteed investment.

Founders and startup teams building or working with Europe's critical systems, including energy, health, food, care, mobility and digital infrastructure, who want to connect with investors, policymakers and ecosystem builders during Web Summit week.

Join 200+ founders, investors and ecosystem leaders for debates, practical working sessions and networking on building ethical, competitive and resilient systems in Europe. The programme includes a live startup pitch competition and community drinks; buying an attendee ticket does not secure a pitch slot or investment.

Students, graduates and other members of the Setúbal polytechnic academic community developing a business idea or project, including projects at an initial stage. The team representative must be an IPS student, graduate, teaching or non-teaching staff member.

Develop your business idea through training, mentoring and project support from IPStartUp / UNIPS StartUp during the regional Poliempreende competition. The organiser accepts ideas at any stage of development.

Technical founders, entrepreneurs, developers, UX and web designers, researchers, students and data enthusiasts aged 18+ who want to build solutions for Aveiro's technology ecosystem. Specialist expertise is not required, but teams need enough practical experience to tackle a challenge in a short build window.

Free participation, partner mentoring, hands-on development, networking and pitches to a jury from Aveiro City Council, Instituto de Telecomunicações, Universidade de Aveiro and Altice Labs. A €15,000 cash prize pool is planned across nine teams: €3,000, €1,500 and €500 per challenge. Tackle Smart Aveiro: From Data to Action, Ctrl + F Aveiro: automatic urban-furniture identification, or Altice Labs' Connected Home, Reimagined: AI for the home. Awards depend on the jury and participation rules; this is a builder competition, not a startup grant or guaranteed commercial pilot.

Women founders and co-founders whose registered company or organisation develops breakthrough innovations with positive impact for people or the planet, particularly in deep tech and STEM. Both the founder's legal residence and the company's establishment must be in an EU Member State or a Horizon Europe Associated Country.

EIC Women Innovators awards cash prizes of €100,000, €70,000 and €50,000. EIC Rising Innovators and EIT Women Leadership each award €50,000, €30,000 and €20,000. Winners gain European visibility as role models for women and girls; these are prizes, not an investment offer.

Founders preparing for early-stage investor conversations during Web Summit week who can bring their startup story to an in-person day of practice with Canopy Community and fellow founders.

Sharpen your startup story, practise explaining your problem, solution, customers and validation, and prepare for investor questions through role play, peer feedback and support from the Canopy In Residence team. The day is preparation for fundraising conversations, not a funding offer or guaranteed investor meeting.

Incorporated startups and SMEs planning national or European patent applications, EU plant variety protection, or geographical indications for craft and industrial products. Portuguese SMEs can apply through EUIPO.

Partial reimbursement of eligible IP costs: 75% of national and European patent fees, with separate caps of €1,000 each, and 50% of European patent drafting and filing services, capped at €1,500. Plant variety applications and examination receive 75% reimbursement up to €1,500; craft and industrial geographical indications receive 50% support up to €2,000.

Startup founders with a specific customer, investor, or partner introduction they need and a clear critical ask to present to a vetted network.

Selected founders have seven minutes to share their toughest challenge. Superconnectors offer relevant introductions live, and founders choose a connection that is made on the spot. Attendance is free, subject to approval.

Startup founders ready to present their business and value proposition to venture capital investors in a short voice-only pitch on a moving Lisbon tram.

Twelve selected startups pitch to investors aboard a CARRIS tram. The best pitch wins a cash prize, and promising contenders may receive one-to-one investor meetings. The organiser lists conflicting prize currencies, so confirm the amount and terms before applying.

Innovative SMEs established for at least two years in an eligible European country that have a TRL 4-8 solution and want to validate its technical, commercial, legal, or socioeconomic feasibility in a market in Africa, the Americas, Asia, or Oceania.

A fixed €60,000 grant for a six-month market feasibility project with a local counterpart in the target country. The call funds up to 70% of eligible costs, with €42,000 pre-financing and €18,000 after an accepted final report.

Technology startups and scaleups established outside Spain that are preparing to enter the Spanish market and can show innovation, scalability, a capable team, financial viability, and a credible plan to establish operations there.

A free six-month programme with legal and immigration guidance, tailored mentoring and training, investor and corporate connections, visibility, major-event access, internationalisation support, and help establishing the company in Spain. Specific services are assigned according to each selected startup's needs and ICEX's discretion.

International B2B tech founders and growth teams that are serious about entering or expanding in Germany, whether they already have an active buyer, pilot, evaluation, partner, or procurement case or are working to open their first one.

Bi-weekly remote sessions use each startup's real German buyer case to diagnose blockers, map decision-makers, and define one concrete next commitment. Pioniergeist prepares and pressure-tests cases with a fixed cohort of up to four teams and may bring in external sales coaches or experienced founders.

Startups and SMEs in EU Member States or Horizon Europe Associated Countries with a game-changing, high-risk innovation that has completed TRL 5 and is ready for TRL 6-8 activities, strong scale-up ambition, and funding needs that private investors alone will not yet cover.

A grant component below €2.5 million for innovation activities, plus €1-€10 million in direct equity or quasi-equity for blended-finance applicants. Selected companies also receive coaching, mentoring, investor and partner access, and other EIC Business Acceleration Services.

Pilot-ready agrifood startups with a prospective corporate client and a clear proof-of-concept or small-scale pilot that can show a pathway toward commercial activity.

EIT Food can co-finance startup-corporate proof-of-concept work such as sample creation, field trials, functionality and property tests, or efficiency assessments, helping de-risk pilots that could lead to larger commercial collaboration.

Investor-backed European founders and startups preparing to expand into North America and looking for structured market-entry support, ecosystem access, and guidance from Toronto Business Development Centre.

Market-entry programme support for founders expanding into North America, with a focus on helping European companies understand the market, build local connections, and prepare for commercial expansion.

Women-founded or women-co-founded early-stage deep tech startups in EU Member States or eligible Horizon Europe Pillar III Associated Countries, especially teams preparing to move from validated technology toward market readiness.

€75,000 equity-free grant funding plus personalised business development support, mentoring, training, expert guidance, matchmaking, networking, and help bridging toward other EIC funding and support schemes.

Portuguese startups, SMEs, and eligible national entities needing advanced compute resources.; best for AI, simulation, scientific-computing, and compute-heavy startups.

CPU / GPU hours and storage on advanced computing infrastructure.

Startups and SMEs supported by EIC, EIT, KICs, MSCA or related European innovation programmes that can host a 3-6 month innovation internship; also relevant for researchers, graduates and EIT talents looking for startup exposure.

Access to specialised research and innovation talent without financial burden for hosting companies, AI-assisted matchmaking with company needs, and practical knowledge-transfer between research and startup execution.

Startups and companies with retail-relevant concepts, technologies, or operational solutions that need a controlled environment to test with a major Portuguese retailer.

A practical route to validate concepts quickly, collect operational feedback, and explore collaboration with retail-sector partners instead of only attending a networking event.

Entrepreneurs from startup to scale-up who want a structured European hub for training, networking, mentorship, funding visibility, and market-expansion resources.

Access to online training, workshops, webinars, MOOCs, community features, mentor and investor marketplace, funding and visibility resources, and learning paths for business growth.

startups in Construction & Real Estate; with solutions involving Cloud Computing, Digital Twins, AI / Machine Learning. Challenge owner: Grupo MCA.

Significantly reduces BIM design and modelling time, improves consistency between technical solutions and digital models, increases engineering and design productivity, optimizes cost and performance and supports scaling projects across geographies.

startups in Construction & Real Estate; with solutions involving SaaS, AI / Machine Learning, Data & Analytics. Challenge owner: Grupo MCA.

Reduces bid-preparation time, increases tender success rate, improves operational efficiency, reduces errors, makes better use of internal knowledge and history and increases the ability to scale participation in international tenders.

startups in Health, Manufacturing & Industry, Construction & Real Estate; with solutions involving SaaS, Cloud Computing, Data & Analytics, APIs / Integrations, ERP / Enterprise Systems. Challenge owner: TMG Automotive.

Reduces spare-part search and identification time, lowers material-selection errors, increases maintenance-team autonomy, reduces machine downtime and improves out-of-hours operational efficiency.

startups in Health, Manufacturing & Industry, Construction & Real Estate; with solutions involving Data & Analytics, Data Infrastructure / Data Engineering, Internet of Things (IoT), APIs / Integrations, Robotics / Automation, Industry 4.0, Hardware / Embedded Systems, ERP / Enterprise Systems. Challenge owner: TMG Automotive.

Improves automatic start/end tracking for each roll, links materials to real production parameters, increases data quality and traceability, supports quality and efficiency analysis and reduces manual logging.

startups in Health, Manufacturing & Industry, Construction & Real Estate; with solutions involving Data & Analytics, Internet of Things (IoT), APIs / Integrations, Robotics / Automation, Industry 4.0, Hardware / Embedded Systems, ERP / Enterprise Systems, Supply Chain Tech. Challenge owner: TMG Automotive.

Increases accuracy and reliability of inbound data, improves stock control and production planning, reduces manual errors and admin rework, integrates weighing into operations without reducing efficiency and scales across materials and logistics contexts.

startups in Manufacturing & Industry; with solutions involving AI / Machine Learning, Data & Analytics, Data Infrastructure / Data Engineering, Internet of Things (IoT), APIs / Integrations, Robotics / Automation, Industry 4.0, Hardware / Embedded Systems. Challenge owner: AAC Têxteis.

Improves production traceability and data reliability, reduces manual control processes and identifies technologies with industrial application potential.

startups in Health; with solutions involving SaaS, AI / Machine Learning, Data & Analytics. Challenge owner: Clínica Santa Madalena.

Reduces no-show rates, increases clinical schedule occupancy, improves absence prediction, enables faster reassignment of available slots, reduces operational disruption and improves the patient scheduling and confirmation experience.

startups in Construction & Real Estate; with solutions involving AI / Machine Learning, Data & Analytics. Challenge owner: Grupo ACA.

Improves predictability of construction timelines and costs, identifies planning deviations earlier, supports site teams with data-driven decision tools and increases efficiency while reducing operational risk in complex projects.

startups in Construction & Real Estate; with solutions involving Cloud Computing, Digital Twins, AI / Machine Learning, Data & Analytics, Internet of Things (IoT), APIs / Integrations, Robotics / Automation, Industry 4.0, Hardware / Embedded Systems, Sustainability / Climate Tech, Mobility / Smart Cities. Challenge owner: MEXT.

The expected benefit is to identify water-related solutions that support more efficient, resilient and circular water management across infrastructure and operations. Selected solutions should improve visibility over water use, reduce avoidable losses, enable reuse opportunities and support better resource planning, generating sustainability and operational value for more resource-efficient, future-ready infrastructure.

startups in Construction & Real Estate; with solutions involving AI / Machine Learning, Data & Analytics, Internet of Things (IoT). Challenge owner: Grupo ACA.

Improves real-time visibility over construction progress, supports safety monitoring, automatically identifies potential non-conformities, reduces manual site-inspection effort and gives operations teams more frequent, structured information.

startups in Construction & Real Estate; with solutions involving Cloud Computing, Digital Twins, AI / Machine Learning, Data & Analytics, Internet of Things (IoT), APIs / Integrations, Robotics / Automation, Industry 4.0, Hardware / Embedded Systems, Supply Chain Tech, Sustainability / Climate Tech, Energy Tech. Challenge owner: MEXT.

The expected benefit is to identify waste-to-energy solutions that support circular, resilient and low-carbon infrastructure and operations. Selected solutions should reduce landfill or low-value treatment, valorize waste into useful energy outputs, lower emissions and environmental impact, improve energy resilience and resource efficiency, create circular business models around waste and energy, and support sustainability and decarbonization goals.