Porto’s startup ecosystem has reached a new stage of maturity. According to the ScaleUp Porto 2025 Ecosystem Report, the region is now home to 706 startups and scaleups, generating €5.1B in combined enterprise value and supporting 17,500 jobs, with employment growing at 28% CAGR between 2019 and 2024.
These numbers place Porto among Europe’s most dynamic emerging ecosystems. Yet, beneath this momentum lies a structural challenge.
Only around 8% of companies in the Porto Region have reached the scale-up stage. While startups make up the vast majority of the ecosystem, scaleups account for 86% of total enterprise value, highlighting a strong imbalance between volume and impact.
This matters because scaleups are the primary drivers of sustained job creation, international expansion and ecosystem visibility. Between 2019 and 2024, while startups increased their share of employment from 14% to 35%, scaleups still concentrated the majority of jobs and value.
The data suggests that Porto does not lack entrepreneurial activity. Instead, the bottleneck lies in progression. Access to later-stage capital, experienced operators, international markets and growth-ready support structures remain decisive factors in whether startups successfully scale.
Unlocking the next growth phase will require shifting focus from creation to conversion. Supporting startups to scale is now one of the most critical challenges, and opportunities, for the region.
👉 Read the full ScaleUp Porto Ecosystem Report to explore the data behind Porto’s scale-up cenario.
