Networkme raises €1 million in investment round
By the end of the year, the Portuguese startup wants to grow 30% in the team and reach 80,000 users.
The Portuguese company Networkme closed a €1 million investment round and, after entering Spain, is already aiming at new markets. “The main goal of this investment round is to expand and solidify the business in the markets where we are already present, Portugal and Spain. We have other markets in sight, such as the UK, Germany and Brazil”, Felipe Vieira, co-founder & CEO of Networkme, tells ECO. By the end of the year, they want to grow 30% and reach 80 thousand users and, by the end of 2023, 300 thousand users.
With this new investment round – led by Big Sur Ventures, with the participation of Bankinter Innovation Foundation and venture capital companies Demium, Newzone and Savvy Capital – the national startup raises €1.2 million in investment at a time of capital market slowdown.
“There has indeed been a slowdown in investment rounds, but interest in investing in businesses and technologies with a future continues. We are confident in the role that Networkme plays in connecting young higher education students and companies, helping the former to define their careers and, the latter, to recruit the right talent for their teams,” says Felipe Vieira.
The startup will inject the money into the market and team expansion project. In the short term, the plans are to consolidate the countries where they are already present: Portugal and Spain, the latter since June.
“We already have some partner companies in the Spanish market but are still in an initial phase that does not allow us to identify them. We are active in the market and starting from the ground up regarding the platform’s notoriety among higher education students in Spain and businesses,” informs the CEO.
The United Kingdom, Germany and Brazil are other markets in the startup’s sights, but without dates for a potential entry.
“At this stage, we are focused on a closer horizon: solidifying our presence in Spain and consolidating our work in Portugal. England, Germany and Brazil are markets we follow and see as having a lot of potential for Networkme and where we can make a positive difference in the connection between young people and companies,” he explains.
Reinforcing the team is in the startup’s plans to support the growth plan: “We want to reinforce our team as well as develop new updates and technologies for the platform, to reach the goal of 80,000 users by the end of this year and 300,000 by the end of next year in the two markets”, says Felipe Vieira.
