Portuguese startup Live Electric Tours is recognized as the best European startup in the Tourism category at StartUp Europe Awards (SEUA), an initiative of the European Commission and the Finnova Foundation in collaboration with Startup Europe.

“We worked hard in order to create our product that is unique in the world.”

After going through several stages and being chosen to represent Portugal in this category, Commissioner for Society and Digital Economy Mariya Gabriel presented the award to Live Electric Tours, which accredits the Portuguese startup as a European winner during the Startup Europe Summit 2018 hold in Sofia, Bulgaria in the presence of Prime Minister of Bulgaria, Boyko Borissov and several European prime ministers and ministers.

“This award represents a lot for Live Electric Tours and for our team. We worked hard in order to create our product that is unique in the world,” said Live Electric Tours CEO Djalmo Gomes.

“We are very grateful to our partners who have always believed in us from the beginning, to our customers who choose every day an innovative way to get to know the city of Lisbon. This award leaves us stronger and with a greater conviction that to expand to other cities and reach other markets,” the CEO added.

Currently, Live Electric Tours is present in the city of Lisbon with a fleet of 16 electric vehicles, and with 10 employees. It received an investment of 700K Euros from Portugal Ventures, which allowed it to reinforce the fleet, improve operational conditions and implement an expansion plan for two other Portuguese cities, Porto and Évora, by the year 2019.

“Europe wants to have more like you.”

Live Electric Tours is the first company in the world to introduce Live Streaming technology in Tourism.

Read More: Portugal Ventures invests €2M to promote tourism startups highlighting culture, heritage

In her speech, Commissioner Gabriel congratulated Live Electric Tours and the rest of the European winners and encouraged them to continue working hardly as they have been doing until now.

“Europe wants to have more like you. More of your passion, dedication, talent and energy. We believe in your dream and you have already showcased that progress is made with small steps, and that to become successful it takes a long nights and serious thinking on how to approach the most challenging topics. You showcased that success can come from anywhere in Europe. And you showcased that in order to succeed you must be bold and brave,” she expressed.

StartUp Europe Awards proposes an open innovation methodology through public-private partnerships, “which works to help public entities to find a solution to their local challenges, and also to help startups by testing their innovations on pilots supported with European Union funding” said Juan Manuel Revuelta, director of the StartUp Europe Accelerator by Finnova Foundation.

The European winners of StartUp Europe Awards according to the 18 categories are: Enova (Water), Biomyc (Green), Simbound (EdTech), Sky Tronic (IoT), Macedonian Honey (Climate), TOMMI (E-Health), Cyclefi (Smart Cities), Corrata (Cybersecurity), Helperbit (FinTech), FuVeX (Space), Courtsdesk (Legal), Uncovercity (Gastronomy), Eyesynth (Social), Plactherm (Energy), Italian Artisan (Fashion), Popertee (Creative), Evvos (AgriTech) and Live Electric Tours (Tourism).

Live Electronic Tours and the other European winners of the StartUp Europe Awards will gain visibility thanks to the Media Partner Alliance, made up of 25 members from Spain, France, Belgium, Latvia, Luxembourg, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Cyprus, Ireland, Sweden, Mexico, Norway and Denmark, among others.

Startups will also have access to a mentoring program (in internationalisation, European funds such as the €50,000 to €2.5 million non-reimbursable grant SME Facility, international communication, etc.), through the Finnova Foundation’s StartUp Europe Accelerator, which will enable them to boost their projects and make them more viable worldwide.