Startup World Cup Portugal 2025, the Portuguese stage of the largest international startup competition, takes place in Beato

Unicorn Factory Lisbon will host the world's largest international startup competition.

Lisbon will host, for the first time, the Portuguese stage of the Startup World Cup (SWC), the world's largest startup competition, organized by Pegasus Tech Ventures.

The event will take place on September 10th and 11th, 2025, at the Unicorn Factory Lisboa - Beato Innovation District, bringing together 50 high-potential national startups.

During the conference, these emerging companies will present their projects to a jury of experts, institutional partners, and investors. At the end of the process, 15 semifinalists will be chosen, from which the startup that will represent Portugal in the world final, scheduled for October 17th in Silicon Valley, USA, will be selected. The prize at stake is a direct investment of 1 million dollars.

“We are very excited to finally arrive in Portugal, a country with a vibrant innovation ecosystem and a growing culture of entrepreneurship and investment,” said Anis Uzzaman, founder and CEO of Pegasus Tech Ventures.

The Startup World Cup takes place annually in over 100 cities across 70 countries, attracting around 10,000 applications from startups in various fields such as health, energy, education, technology, finance, and entertainment. In total, the events involve more than 50,000 participants globally.

According to Rui Sales Rodrigues, Executive Director of Startup World Cup Portugal, “when the opportunity arose to launch the Pegasus Tech Ventures Startup World Cup competition in Portugal, we didn't hesitate. Our country has been establishing itself as a hub for innovation and entrepreneurship, but for our startups to scale globally, it is essential to guarantee access to strategic and qualified investment.”.

“We are bringing together an important group of partners, judges, mentors and industry leaders to accompany and support the startups throughout the pitch competition and conference journey, with the aim of identifying the national representative for the final in October, in Silicon Valley,” he further emphasized.

Source: Executive Digest