Portugal Ventures keeps investing in Portuguese startups. Since it started, PV already invested in 30 startups and has plans to invest in many more. More recently, it invested in Whizztek, B Parts and Xtourmarker, three promising Portuguese startups ready to become global.
Whizztek is a software development company based in Oporto at the UPTEC Centre at the University of Porto. Founded in 2012, it’s presently comprised of 11 passionate developers and designers whose mission is to use new technologies to transform how sports fans live their passion. At the beginning of 2014, Whizztek launched Fan Valley, the social network for sports. This is where fans manage their fan profile, stay in touch with their preferred clubs, participate in the matches, and try their luck at predicting the scores. Currently, the free app for football fans is available in 9 languages and has over 10,000 fan clubs for football teams in 120 countries. “Fan Valley gives sports fans a voice and lets them live their passion via their smartphone” says José de Bastos, founder of Whizztek S.A.
BParts is a marketplace for recycled auto parts that links auto scrap yards and car workshops. A powerful tool for sales, communications and auto parts matching. BParts is operating on a B2B model that simplifies the whole process of selling and buying parts on-line for professionals. “Nowadays everything is online and we’re changing the way used parts are traded. BParts provides the right tools for scrap yards to catalogue their inventory and at the same time have a powerful sales channel. For car workshops, there’s a 24/7 access to a nationwide stock from multiple providers.” said Luís Vieira CEO and Founder of BParts.
XTtourmaker provides innovative mobile solutions for the hospitality sector, combining the know-how of tourism promoters (they were at the launch of GocarTours Lisboa) with cutting-edge cloud-based technology. Hotels and hostels can now offer a mobile pocket concierge to their guests. The platform allows the user to quickly create an app on iOS and Android, fully customized, with tourism content in the multiple languages already installed, and with thematic GPS guided tour routes near their geographic location. It’s a unique communication tool for hotels and their guests. Euclides Major adds “At a time when more than 90% of Europeans and North Americans use their smartphones or tablets during their holidays, offering a mobile solution that completes the guest’s experience is a differentiating advantage for a hotel in a market that is highly competitive”.
Submissions for the Ninth Call For Entrepreneurship start on October 13th. More info here.