Portuguese unicorns: the full list of 8 companies (2026)

All eight Portuguese unicorns, past and present, from Farfetch and OutSystems to Sword Health and Tekever: founders, unicorn year, valuation and status.

As of October 2026, Portugal has seven unicorns by the count used in the country, which goes by founder origin rather than headquarters: OutSystems, Talkdesk, Feedzai, Remote, Sword Health, Anchorage Digital and Tekever. Counting companies that have since dropped off the list, eight have reached $1 billion. The eighth, Farfetch, listed in New York in 2018 and has been owned by the e-commerce group Coupang since January 2024. The newest name is the drone maker Tekever, which passed £1 billion in May 2025 and raised money at a $6.4 billion valuation in September 2026.

Startup Portugal, the body that leads the national entrepreneurship strategy, also cites seven unicorns on its “Why Portugal” page (“7 unicorns (and more coming)”), but it does not name them. The names below follow the business news site ECO, which listed the current seven when Tekever joined. Dates and valuations come from the funding announcements and company pages linked in each entry.

All 8 Portuguese unicorns at a glance

In the order in which each first reached a $1 billion valuation:

1. Farfetch (online luxury fashion marketplace): founded 2007, unicorn 2015, owned by Coupang since 2024
2. OutSystems (low-code app development): founded 2001, unicorn 2018
3. Talkdesk (cloud contact-centre software): founded 2011, unicorn 2018
4. Feedzai (fraud and financial crime prevention): founded 2011, unicorn 2021
5. Remote (international hiring and payroll): founded 2019, unicorn 2021
6. Sword Health (digital care for musculoskeletal pain): founded 2015, unicorn 2021
7. Anchorage Digital (crypto custody and banking): founded 2017, unicorn 2021
8. Tekever (drones and autonomous systems): founded 2001, unicorn 2025

Four of the eight crossed the line in 2021, as ECO pointed out when Anchorage Digital became the seventh.

What counts as a Portuguese unicorn

A unicorn is a privately held company valued at $1 billion or more, usually in a funding round. In Portugal they are counted by founders: Portuguese media talk about unicorns “with Portuguese DNA”, meaning at least one founder is Portuguese, wherever the company is based. Startup Portugal has used the same approach. At Web Summit in November 2021 its then executive director, António Dias Martins, spoke of Remote as the country’s fifth unicorn, according to ECO; Remote’s link to Portugal is its co-founder Marcelo Lebre.

This is why most of the list is run from abroad. ECO noted in July 2025 that the seven are located mainly in the United States, and also in Porto and Oeiras.

Two other differences explain why published counts do not match:

• Current or all-time. When Tekever joined in May 2025, ECO wrote that Portugal “once again” had seven unicorns, leaving Farfetch out. Counting every company that has ever reached $1 billion gives eight.
• Portuguese unicorns or unicorns in Lisbon. Lisbon city hall tracks unicorns from any country that open offices in the city. Sword Health’s Lisbon office was counted as the 16th in July 2025, and the US freelance marketplace Upwork was welcomed as the 17th in November 2025. That tally mixes foreign and Portuguese companies and is not a list of Portuguese unicorns.

The eight companies, one by one

1. Farfetch

José Neves founded the luxury marketplace in 2007, and ECO dates its unicorn status to 2015. A $110 million round in May 2016 valued it at about $1.5 billion, and Farfetch made its debut on the New York Stock Exchange in September 2018.

In December 2023 Coupang agreed to rescue the struggling company with $500 million through a UK pre-pack administration, taking it off the stock exchange; shareholders, Neves among them, lost their investment. The purchase was completed at the end of January 2024. Neves then stepped down as chief executive and stayed on as a consultant.

2. OutSystems

Paulo Rosado founded the low-code software company in Lisbon in 2001, with Rui Pereira as co-founder. In June 2018 it raised $360 million from KKR and Goldman Sachs, which took it past $1 billion. A $150 million round led by Abdiel Capital and Tiger Global in February 2021 valued it at $9.5 billion.

OutSystems is privately held. Its company page gives a Boston address, lists Rosado as founder and chairman of the board and names Woodson Martin as chief executive.

3. Talkdesk

Tiago Paiva and Cristina Fonseca started Talkdesk in Lisbon in 2011. In October 2018 a $100 million round from Viking Global Investors and DFJ valued the company above $1 billion. Its $230 million Series D in August 2021 set the valuation at $10 billion. Paiva remains chief executive, according to the company’s website.

4. Feedzai

Nuno Sebastião, Paulo Marques and Pedro Bizarro set up Feedzai in 2011 to fight financial fraud with machine learning. The company was headquartered in Coimbra when, in March 2021, a $200 million Series D led by KKR valued it well above $1 billion. In March 2025 it opened a US headquarters in New York. Sebastião is co-founder, chairman and chief executive.

5. Remote

Job van der Voort and Marcelo Lebre founded Remote in January 2019. It lets companies hire and pay staff in other countries through its own local entities. In July 2021 Accel led a $150 million Series B that valued it at over $1 billion, and a $300 million Series C led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 in April 2022 lifted the valuation to about $3 billion. Remote’s website lists van der Voort as chief executive and Lebre as president; the whole team works remotely.

6. Sword Health

Virgílio Bento and Márcio Colunas co-founded Sword Health in 2015 to treat musculoskeletal conditions with digital therapy, with its technology base in Porto. In November 2021 a $189 million Series D led by Sapphire Ventures valued it at $2 billion. In June 2026 ECO put its latest known valuation at about $4 billion.

The company, now based in New York, announced in January 2026 that it would buy its rival Kaia Health for $285 million. In November 2025 it said its team in Portugal numbered around 500 people and would grow to more than 930 by 2028.

7. Anchorage Digital

Diogo Mónica and Nathan McCauley founded Anchorage Digital in San Francisco in 2017; Mónica is the Portuguese co-founder, and the company has an office in Porto. In January 2021 its bank became the first crypto bank in the US to receive a federal charter from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. A $350 million Series D led by KKR in December 2021 valued it at about $3 billion.

In February 2026 Tether, the company behind the USDT stablecoin, invested $100 million. As of October 2026, Anchorage’s own website states a valuation of $4.2 billion. Mónica is co-founder and chairman.

8. Tekever

Tekever was founded in 2001 by computer scientists and artificial intelligence researchers and, according to the company, financed itself from the start. It makes the AR3 and AR5 drones and other autonomous systems. In May 2025 a round led by Ventura Capital, with Baillie Gifford, the NATO Innovation Fund, Iberis Capital and Crescent Cove, confirmed a valuation above £1 billion.

On 23 September 2026 Tekever announced the first close of a $580 million Series D at a $6.4 billion valuation, led by Baillie Gifford and UC Investments, the University of California’s investment office. Chief executive Ricardo Mendes told ECO in October 2026 that the company is preparing internally for a possible stock market listing and looking at Lisbon, London and New York, but that no decision has been taken.

Where each company stands in October 2026

• Private and venture-backed: OutSystems, Talkdesk, Feedzai, Remote, Sword Health and Anchorage Digital.
• Private, weighing a listing: Tekever, which says no decision has been made.
• Acquired: Farfetch, taken private by Coupang in January 2024 after just over five years on the New York Stock Exchange.

The valuations above are the figures reported at each funding round, or stated by the company. They are not market prices, and several date from 2021, so they may not reflect what those companies are worth today.

The wider Portuguese startup sector

Startup Portugal’s 2025 ecosystem report, prepared with data from Informa D&B, counted 5,091 startups, 8% more than a year earlier. Together they employed about 28,000 people, had a turnover of €2.856 billion and exported €1.571 billion; the report puts their turnover at about 1% of Portugal’s GDP.

Web Summit returns to Lisbon on 9–12 November 2026; it and other events are in our 2026–27 conference calendar. For a comparison with another small country, see our list of Estonian unicorns, and for more company and founder stories, our startups and founders sections.

Frequently asked questions

How many unicorns does Portugal have?

As of October 2026, seven companies with Portuguese founders are counted as unicorns: OutSystems, Talkdesk, Feedzai, Remote, Sword Health, Anchorage Digital and Tekever. Counting Farfetch, which went public in 2018 and was bought by Coupang in 2024, eight have reached a $1 billion valuation.

What was Portugal’s first unicorn?

Farfetch, the online luxury marketplace José Neves founded in 2007. ECO dates its unicorn status to 2015, three years before OutSystems and Talkdesk passed $1 billion.

What is the newest Portuguese unicorn?

Tekever, a maker of drones and autonomous systems founded in 2001. It passed £1 billion in May 2025, and its Series D in September 2026 valued it at $6.4 billion.

Why are Remote and Anchorage Digital counted as Portuguese unicorns?

Portugal counts unicorns by founder origin, not by headquarters. Remote was co-founded by Marcelo Lebre and Anchorage Digital by Diogo Mónica, who are both Portuguese.

Which Portuguese unicorn is the most valuable?

On announced round valuations, Talkdesk ($10 billion in August 2021) and OutSystems ($9.5 billion in February 2021) rank highest, followed by Tekever ($6.4 billion in September 2026). The 2021 figures are five years old and may not match what those companies are worth now.