The Top 30 of the Portuguese financial technology (fintech) startups total over 275 million euros of investment. This is one of the conclusions of the Portugal Fintech Report 2020, the report on the fintech ecosystem that was presented this Thursday morning by the Portugal Fintech Association.

Those who work in the areas of Payments and transfers, "Insurance" and "Cryptomoeda" were the ones that gathered most funding, according to the same report. On average, 30% of this capital came from international investors and 43% of these startups are still in a very early stage of seed investment.

In the first half of this year alone, the general universe of Portuguese start-ups raised more than 132 million euros in about 25 investment rounds.

"The ecosystem is growing and proof of this are not only the companies that are standing out for their results and the number of collaborations with mature players, but also for the quality of new fintechs to be born in Portugal and the international ones that already look to our country as a fintech hub where they want to be," explains João Freire de Andrade, founder of Portugal Fintech.

When asked what are the biggest obstacles these founders encounter when looking for investment, 54% referred to the ability to scale internationally, 38% pointed to the country where the headquarters of their companies are located and 8% added the talent as a barrier.

In relation to the positive traits pointed out by investors, 31% signaled the market, 29% said it was the talent and 27% mentioned the capacity of execution.

More than half of the Portuguese financial startups (54%) are based in Lisbon, 18% are in Porto, 16% in Braga, 19% are in other European countries and 5% are in the USA. The vast majority (69) employ up to 20 people.

"Today, more than ever, due to the current pandemic situation, the industry is embracing the digital world and, therefore, we believe that collaboration is the key to take the sector further. At a time when leading companies in the sector are recognizing new payment methods as a crucial part of their offering, it is important that we have the ability to continue to adapt to this constantly changing environment and the development of the sector," says Jana Lvova, head of the financial technology department at VISA, one of the report's partner companies.

In the Top 30 of Portuguese fintech are names such as Seedrs, Drivit, Keep Warranty, Lovys, Jscrambler, Loqr, Ydata, DoutorFinanças, Raize, StudentFinance or aGoParity. Portugal Fintech also highlighted seven emerging national fintechs: Swood, Lifin, P4LPRO, Finlayer, Codinglibra, ImpactMaket and Revault.

Published: Observador