The Universidade de Lisboa (ULisboa) leads the academic entrepreneurial ecosystem in Portugal, with more than one thousand start-ups founded by students, faculty, researchers, and alumni, valued at over €24 billion, according to a study presented as part of the ULisboa Startup Impact Report 2025.

The study places ULisboa first in the Ranking das Universidades Empreendedoras de Portugal and highlights the origin of four of the six Portuguese unicorns: Talkdesk, Tekever, OutSystems, and Anchorage Digital. Notably, of the four companies mentioned, three (Talkdesk, Tekever, and Anchorage Digital) were founded and are led by former DEI students.

According to the same report, since 2020, one in every four start-ups created in Lisbon was founded by ULisboa alumni, accounting for 45% of the venture capital invested in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area and raising more than €850 million since 2024.

Start-ups associated with the university operate in more than 40 countries, have created around 36,000 jobs, and include over 170 academic spin-offs arising from scientific research.

While the health sector leads in the number of new companies, software and marketing stand out in terms of the highest market value.

Original news articles HERE and HERE.

(image: dealroom.co)