Porto is Europe's most compelling destination for corporations to relocate their business to

InvestPorto is an investment attraction office established in 2015 by Rui Moreira, Mayor of Porto and the office's mission is to foster a more competitive business environment and attract both domestic and foreign investment to the city, thus ensuring a reliable future of the city's economic ecosystem.

From the setting up phase in 2015 until this month of April, InvestPorto has facilitated interfacing between enterprises and investors and has carried out more than 350 business location proposals and has directly supported the settlement of 121 investment projects, 57 of which are international. The investments in place have significantly enhanced job placement and job creation, generating over 3,000 new jobs in the city so far.

The city's economic dynamics soared over the last three years. This is the reality, and people in Porto feel it in their lives, and the reason for this state of affairs in not limited to tourism itself.

Tourism represents at present time an investment valued at 11 billion euros nationwide, which has helped boost the urban regeneration of cities, but also other economic sectors. 

InvestPorto's main goal is to capitalize on the city's international visibility either by means of tourism or by means of the Porto. brand name.

By taking advantage of the outstanding quality of the University of Porto, the Polytechnic and the remaining Academy of the city, the local authority was able to pave the way to making Porto a secure reference for economic investment, where there is a suitable and skilled workforce available.

TEN EXAMPLES OF COMPANIES THAT CLEARLY STATE THE CITY OF PORTO IS MOVING FORWARD

The first quarter of 2017 broke all records regarding technological and industrial development in the city.

Preliminary indicators show that international business community is locating new economic investment in the region. Porto's economic boom in 2017 has led to the opening of corporate centres over the past two months.

These are some examples of companies that stand out due to their importance and global dimension.

EUROPEAN EXCHANGE MANAGEMENT IN BOAVISTA, PORTO

Euronext moved from Belfast to settle in Porto. The IT Technologic Centre is located at Avenida da Boavista and will secure the trans-European Stock Exchange management platform of this important company.

PORTO IS CRITICAL SOFTWARE'S BEST LOCATION

Critical Software is one of the most important software companies in the world. Its client portfolio includes the United Kingdom Armed Forces, north-American NASA, the  European Agency ESA, Chinese Agency CNSA and Japanese Agency JAXA, Vodafone, Deutsche Telekom, EDP (Energias de Portugal) and the Bank of New York.

INGENUITY AND PRETTY PIXELS IN PORTO, AVENIDA DOS ALIADOS

New year, new life, or in the case of Pixelmatters, new home.

The Portuguese startup moved to downtown Porto, increasing the number of employees to 20. Founded in December 2013, Pixelmatters' mission is to solve people's problems and create solutions. 

OFFICE SPACE IN PORTO 

Founders Founders, a co-working space in the city of Porto that will help boost startups. This building was borne from the fact that the 5 founding startups needed a place to make their businesses grow. All of the "founders" had started their path at UPTEC and decided to find a cost-effective solution in terms of business needs - office space, furniture and technology.

HOSTELWORLD GREETS PORTO

Hostelworld Group is the leading global hostel-booking platform and it operates in 19 different languages. It has over eight million reviews across 33,000 properties in more than 170 countries.

John O'Donnell, Hostelworld's Group Technology Officer, highlighted the tireless support of Porto City Hall as a crucial underpinning to the decision of establishing an office in Porto, stating that Hostelworld hopes to "improve the technological development capacity of the company in order to support the growth strategy."

INDUSTRY IS BACK IN TOWN

After some decade-long divestiture, the city's industrial sector has emerged with investments such as the Beer Factory from Porto, which has generated around 50 jobs and a new brewery brand in the city.

THE RETURN OF QUALIFIED EMIGRANTS

Talkdesk is the world's leading cloud-based call centre software solution. Its headquarters are in San Francisco, CA and they also have an office in Lisbon, Portugal. They have just moved to UPTEC in Porto.

Two young Portuguese entrepreneurs founded this company, Cristina Fonseca and Tiago Paiva, in 2011. By 2015, Talkdesk was cash flow positive, had quadrupled its revenue since their Seed Round and is on a hypergrowth trajectory.

PORTO IS THE CITY OF CHOICE FOR STARTUPS

Joint work by Porto University and Porto City Hall, through InvestPorto, resulted in a new breed of professionally managed major businesses coming to town, such as Bottlebooks, founded in 2013 by Jonathan Harclerode, who was former senior manager in Accenture's emerging technology innovation division, provides a universal wine data solution, allowing information sharing and updating on products within the industry and associated importers, exports, wholesalers, retailers and wineries, as well as bottle shots.

Also highlighted by Bottlebooks's CEO were the talented young IT experts in this area in Porto, the ability to speak several languages and the existing programs to support foreign investment.

DISTRICT OFFICES AND LIFESTYLE IN BATALHA

Former Civil Government building in Porto, now the District, is a business centre that combines several concepts and was opened in February this year after undergoing extensive rehabilitation works. An expanding number of companies from different sectors already seat at the District such as technology, communication, catering, hairdressers or fashion designers, as well as offices, co-working spaces, a small market and an auditorium.

600 JOBS CREATED IN PORTO

Natixis is a French corporate and investment bank established in November 2006 from the merger of the asset management and investment banking operations of Natixis Banque Populaire (Banque Populaire group) and IXIS (Groupe Caisse d'Epargne).

Natixis provide financial data for the 'Markets' section on the news channel, Euronews. 

According to daily French financial newspaper edited in Paris since 1908, Les Échos, Natixis is relocating a large part of the group to Porto, Portugal and it will boost employment. Nearly 600 jobs will be created over the next three years.

The whole Porto Centre building was leased to the French multinational corporation. For Natixis, Portugal is an excellent choice due to its "competitive" wages, as well as "the favourable economic environment for foreign investment" and "important language skills".

Over recent years, Porto has undergone a renewed investment on transport infrastructure to achieve the city's and the north region's full potential, as geographical devolution is vital to free up resources and unlock growth, thus creating new, locally determined funding opportunities and more integrated approaches.