Opnova IA wins Black Hat global startup contest

Luso-American startup Opnova IA has won the Black Hat 2026 Global Startup Spotlight in the United States, in a result the company says should strengthen its credibility with buyers, investors and potential hires.

Speaking to ECO, co-founder and Chief AI Officer Pedro Saleiro said the company won both the US final and the global final on the same day. He said the global round brought together winners from Black Hat’s regional events and was judged by chief information security officers and specialist investors, making it “not an ideas or pitch award” but a technical assessment of startups with products already in use by institutional clients.

Opnova, which is headquartered in the US and has its technology hub in Porto, was founded about two years ago to help companies reduce repetitive IT processes. Saleiro said three of the company’s four founders are Portuguese and that “the technology that won in Las Vegas was built in Portugal.”

The startup’s main market is the US, with a focus on banking and regulated financial services, although it also has clients in Japan and Portugal. According to Saleiro, Opnova has more than a dozen banks in production and a similar number in late-stage negotiations. He said its largest client is one of the 40 biggest US banks, where the company expects to help save an estimated 11,500 hours a year in manual IT work related to identity management.

Opnova currently has 20 staff across the US, Portugal and Japan. Saleiro said the company plans to hire in Portugal by the end of the year in AI, systems engineering, frontend and cloud infrastructure. He added that Opnova has raised $5 million so far in pre-seed funding and has seen strong interest from investors and potential clients since the Black Hat victory.

Originally published at Eco.pt