Tourism startup ecosystem
We track 3 organisations in this sector across 2+ countries.
Showing 3 of 3 Tourism
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Tourism results
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KLAK – Icelandic Startups
KLAK is a non-profit accelerator and entrepreneurship support organization founded in 2000, formed through the 2013 merger of Klak and Innovit. It is owned by the University of Iceland, Reykjavík University, the Kría Innovation Fund, and the Federation of Icelandic Industries. KLAK runs three to four sector-specific accelerator programs annually, operates the Gulleggið startup competition (Iceland's largest, with over 3,000 ideas submitted since 2008), and provides mentorship and international growth support to early-stage Icelandic companies.
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Portugal Ventures
Portugal Ventures is Portugal's principal state-backed early-stage venture firm, established in 2012 through the merger of Inovcapital, AICEP Capital Global Ventures and Turismo Capital. Headquartered in Porto with a Lisbon office, it operates within the Banco Português de Fomento group and manages roughly €288M across 16+ funds. Its mandate is to stimulate Portuguese entrepreneurship with risk capital at pre-seed, seed and Series A, writing tickets of €50K–€1.5M across digital and technology, industry, healthcare and tourism. Since inception it has deployed over €230M into 256+ companies. Its portfolio has produced unicorns including BitSight (cybersecurity), Fever (live entertainment, exited 2026 at 15x) and Glovo, alongside exits in OutSystems and Farfetch (NYSE IPO, 2018). Other notable holdings include Feedzai, Aptoide, Codacy, JScrambler and Sword Health. New leadership for the 2025–2027 term is led by CEO Marco Neves.
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Startup Lisboa
Startup Lisboa is a key incubator in Portugal’s capital, established in 2012 as a public-private initiative to boost entrepreneurship in the city. Situated in downtown Lisbon’s Baixa district in renovated historic buildings, Startup Lisboa provides mentorship, workspace, and networking for early-stage startups across sectors. It was launched with backing from the Lisbon City Council, bank Montepio, and IAPMEI (the Portuguese SME agency), reflecting strong civic support. Over an incubation period of up to 3 years, startups receive guidance on refining their business model, access to strategic partners, and help connecting with investors. Office space is a big draw: Startup Lisboa offers subsidized offices and co-working spots to dozens of startups, easing a major burden in early stages. The incubator runs several vertical programs, including dedicated tracks for tourism, social innovation, and fintech in partnership with corporates. Lisbon’s booming tourism industry spurred Startup Lisboa to create initiatives for travel-tech and “Smart Tourism” – alumni in this space include Unbabel (AI translation for customer service, now a scaleup with $90M+ raised). Other success stories from Startup Lisboa’s portfolio are EatTasty (food delivery, expanded to Madrid) and Hole19 (a golf app with millions of users). Besides incubation, Startup Lisboa manages events like the Lisbon Challenge (an international acceleration program) and interfaces with Portugal’s Startup Visa program to attract foreign founders. They also collaborate with Web Summit (the major tech conference hosted in Lisbon) to showcase local talent. A distinctive project is the “Made of Lisboa” community brand, which Startup Lisboa spearheads to unite the city’s tech scene. The incubator has supported over 300 startups, which have created an estimated 3,000+ jobs. Startup Lisboa also played a role in rejuvenating Lisbon’s downtown, turning it into a lively startup hub. With Lisbon now on the map as a startup-friendly city (helped by initiatives like €200M VC fund of funds from the government), Startup Lisboa continues to be at the heart of it – fostering new companies in an open, founder-centric environment, and solidifying Lisbon’s reputation as a launchpad for international startups in Southern Europe.
