Where São João Lights meet Startups | Week #22

It’s June the month of the Popular Saints, when Portugal bursts into celebration for Santo António, São Pedro, and, above all, São João. These are not just festivals; they are full-sensory experiences. If you’re in Porto, no description can truly capture the magic, you simply have to be there.

In Porto, São João is more than a festival, it’s the night of the year. Streets are filled with laughter, music, grilled sardines, and a sea of plastic hammers. It’s spontaneous, chaotic, joyful and deeply collective.

That same spirit fuels Porto’s startup ecosystem, where collaboration, resilience, and creativity are alive year-round. With the support of the Câmara Municipal do Porto, the city has cultivated a fertile environment for innovation, helping build a sustainable ecosystem that nurtures talent, investment, and international ambition.

Anchored by players like Founders Founders, UPTEC, and Porto Digital, and energized by major events like the SIMConference —a flagship gathering of innovators, investors, and founders— Porto continues to cement its place on the European startup map. It’s no surprise that Porto-based startups now represent over €6b in associated value, earning the city a well-deserved spot among the Top 100 Emerging Ecosystems globally.

Porto is not just keeping up, it’s setting the pace. It’s becoming one of Europe’s most exciting entrepreneurship hubs, all while staying deeply connected to its identity. São João is the perfect moment to celebrate this unique blend of tradition and transformation, in a city that proudly preserves its culture while boldly building its future.

Like weaving through the crowded São João festivities, Porto’s Startups know how to hustle, pivot, and find their own way forward.

So, whether you’re dancing under fireworks or pitching your next big idea, remember: in Porto, tradition and innovation go hand in hand. Always with a deep sense of belonging, to your neighborhood, your roots, and this city that breathes the world while staying unmistakably itself 💙

Check out the official festivities and our events calendar to find the celebration that speaks to you.

• 📝 Help select the Innovation Champion by Prémio Nacional de Inovação. Vote here

✍ Quote of the week

If you’re offered a seat on a rocket ship, don’t ask what seat. Just get on.

Sheryl Sandberg

Week highlights go to:

• 🔷 Kick off this week Escola de Startups - Get Funded, the new program from UPTEC - Science and Technology Park of the University of Porto that addresses all phases of investment attraction through a structured and comprehensive methodology

• 🔷 the Fado Brunch w/ Fiona, happening at Cafe Joyeux this Friday. For a musical lunch break!

• 🔷 RedBridge California Experience. Three days (18, 19 & 20) of immersive, human-scale events at SHACK15, San Francisco, USA

• 🔷 TRANSFORMING KNOWLEDGE INTO IMPACT: BE “OPEN” TO THAT “IDEA” the OPEN and IDEA programs, promoted by NOVA University Lisbon as part of CONNECT – the Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship Initiative (IIES)! Applications are open until Friday

Congrats

• 👏 Sword Health raises 35M, for a 4B evaluation

• 👏 4 Portuguese startups rank among Southern Europe’s fastest-growing tech companies in the Sifted 100: France & Southern Europe 2025: sheerME , Bloq.it, Coverflex, and Equal Food

• 👏 University of Porto ranks among the top 10 higher education institutions in the European Union for generating science and technology-based companies

Something to read, listen and watch

• 📚 Que medidas querem fundos e empreendedores do novo Governo?

📚 ambi.careers 2025 Startup Talent Report

• 📚 AI Fluency: The AI Fluency Framework

• 📚 From Idea to Launch: What Every Founder Should Take Into the Next Stage by Carlos Mendes

• 🎧 Founder Tales: The birth of Porto’s Ecosystem (Clara Gonçalves)

• 🎥 YC: How to Start a Startup (Sam Altman, Dustin Moskovitz)