Lisbon

I just got back to London after a couple of weeks in Lisbon. For the past 3 years I’ve been coming to Lisbon frequently, in particular over the winter months. London isn’t renowned for its great weather and this time of year the sun is a particularly rare commodity. Lisbon by contrast is relatively sunny and warm, and only a 2 hour flight away. There’s also far fewer tourists than in the summer months, which gives the city a slightly empty feel that I like.

There are many things I love about Lisbon. The climate is one, but it also has a great food scene, beautiful architecture, it’s enveloped in nature and has the charm of a city somewhat stuck in time. People are very friendly and speak English better than in other southern European countries.

Like Rome, the city is built on 7 hills, which creates many wonderful viewing points like the one below.

Over the past couple of years Lisbon has also grown into a more vibrant tech, and in particular crypto hub. A combination of strong technical talent, a favorable tax system, and good weather all contribute to that trend.

Several of the largest companies in crypto have a strong presence in Lisbon including Ethena and SAFE as well as our portfolio company Cowswap.

I’d like to see that trend continue but it needs more support from the top. Lisbon and Portugal more broadly have always had strong technical talent emerge from top technical universities in Lisbon and Porto, but a lack of opportunities at home has resulted in talent leaving for opportunities abroad.

Over the past couple of years, Portugal has introduced various investment and tax programs to attract more talent and capital into the country. These initiatives have worked but they’ve been punctuated by reversals and changes when leaders or governments change. More unity on a future vision of Portugal across the political spectrum is required for the country to really seize the opportunity to become a major European tech hub.

Talking to the next generation of entrepreneurs and founders whenever I'm there, there's a strong desire to change the prospects of the country and anecdotally I find that more are voting with their feet by opting to build their businesses out of Portugal. When those bottom up efforts are met with an equal measure of top down support, good things will happen.

Lisbon is a wonderful city that I’ll continue coming back to and hopefully a place we do more business in as well.