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Eduardo Migliorelli, Co-Founder & CEO of Atlantic Hub. Their European HQ, Atlantic Station is situated in Edu Hub Lisbon. The Atlantic Hub has been active in Portugal for 5 years now and focuses on helping with the internationalisation of Brazilian companies into Europe and beyond via Portugal. With competencies in the different areas relevant for the internationalisation of Brazilian businesses, such as entrepreneurship, marketing, financial services, and technology, it offers clients various services and support for start-ups – from SMEs to large companies. They organize various trade missions and events relevant to their purpose.
1. Tell us about Atlantic Hub, when was it founded? What is its purpose?
We founded Atlantic Hub in 2016 to meet the demand for Brazilian entrepreneurs and investors wanting access to European markets. In our ‘home’ in Edu Hub Lisbon, we are quite literally the hub connecting across the Atlantic – helping Brazilian investors and entrepreneurs succeed in Portugal and Europe. Strong cultural ties between the two countries meant that this was a well-worn path for businesses but with varying degrees of success. With Brazil’s population of 207 million in Latin America to Portugal’s 10 million in Europe, there was a need to create a robust support infrastructure to help Brazilian businesses to succeed here.
Atlantic Hub’s offering is made up of several components. The first – what we call “Atlantic MarketFit” – is to assess the feasibility of the business for the Portuguese market. Our “Soft Landing” phase prepares Brazilian businesses for entry into Europe and arms them with all the internationalisation tools they need to scale. Immersed in “Atlantic Ignition”, businesses will have a defined roll-out strategy culminating in presenting to potential stakeholders. Our CoreAngels Atlantic is a network of 30 investors who invest in Brazilian start-ups with a business model to expand into Europe – to qualify for businesses must have been trading for two years.
2. Can you give us an overview of what you see as the outlook and the opportunities in Lisbon and Portugal currently?
Everyone wants to go to Portugal, for Brazilians it represents the gateway to Europe. It is very welcoming and diverse and has a great ecosystem supported by the government’s large capital deployment for start-ups, the 200m venture capitalist investment vehicle. Despite the challenges of the past two years, we are seeing an acceleration in all things tech, e-commerce, HR related services, and services across the whole infrastructure for tourism.
3. Can you tell us one of your success stories to date?
Certainly! CQ1 (Conquest One) is a firm that specialises in outsourcing and staffing for technical specialists including SAP, data, development, design, and project management. They embarked on the whole journey with us at Atlantic Hub – from conducting proprietary research for them (Atlantic MarketFit), the first steps of internationalisation, their own hiring, to legal processes. They are now happily instated with us at Atlantic Station.
4. What does Web Summit mean for Atlantic Station?
While it is a hugely influential event based in Lisbon, the event provides a lens onto the whole world and access to important global networks. With our Mission Web Summit, we bring a group of Brazilian delegates to the Summit itself and also use it as an opportunity to introduce them to several high-profile international firms, such as Farfetch and EDP in Portugal to show them how business is done here.
In 2019, we brought 200 Brazilian participants, and in 2021 80 participants. A severely reduced number due to COVID but a very engaged group. Our mission represents the largest group from any one organisation or country and is run in partnership with the Federation of Portuguese Chambers of Commerce in Brazil and No Gap Ventures.
2021’s return to Web Summit saw over 40,000 people attend and it was great to finally be in a physical space but confident in the robust safety protocols they had in place. As always, the event provides an ocean of opportunity to put a flag in the ground and startmaking connections. We have ambitious plans for 2022, which is going to be even better.
5. Why did you choose to base The Atlantic Station within EduHub?
Firstly, there is a very strong affinity with ourselves and the Martinhal group, making the foundation for a great partnership. The location is ideal for us and our customers with good access next to Park of Nations where Web Summit happens, a short distance to the airport, and with an exciting ecosystem of emerging companies as well as established corporates close by including Marvila.
6. What are your hopes for Atlantic Hub in 2022?
During the pandemic, we saw growing numbers of entrepreneurs, business people, and investors interested in expanding their businesses. As we know, businesses are based on relationships, and in this way, we foresee a large number of business missions in 2022 to Portugal. At Atlantic Hub, we will be focussing strongly on growing our innovation area at Atlantic Station. With our participation in the National Network of Incubators in Portugal, we plan to support a large number of entrepreneurs through the Startup Visa. We have a great team that is very prepared to continue helping entrepreneurs to expand their business to Europe through Portugal.
