Portugal’s Granter captured the top prize at Web Summit 2025’s PITCH competition, rising above 2,725 startups and securing the jury’s top score after three days of live pitches. The company’s core product—an AI assistant that finds suitable grants, checks eligibility instantly and helps draft stronger applications—aims to radically simplify how businesses secure funding.
CEO Bernardo Seixas summed up the company’s pitch succinctly: “We help companies find and apply for grants with AI. And we do it well.” He added that the team hopes to become “the next Portuguese unicorn,” a point of pride for Lisbon’s ecosystem, where the founding group is informally known as “the Bernardos” because the CEO, co-founder and first hire all share the same name.
Granter plans rapid expansion. “By next year, we want to be active in at least half of Europe’s markets and continue growing our team,” Seixas said. He also pointed to standout moments at this year’s summit, including meeting the European Commission’s Vice President through Unicorn Factory and watching his engineers explain the product to visitors from around the world.
Runners-up
Nigeria’s VarsityScape and the UK’s SegmentStream took second and third place. VarsityScape uses AI to help educators run online academies more efficiently, while SegmentStream offers an AI marketing analytics platform that evaluates ad performance and high-value customers.
Why PITCH Matters
Thousands of startups join Web Summit’s program each year for a chance at global visibility. Past winners such as Portugal’s Intuitivo and Brazil’s Inspira have leveraged PITCH to accelerate growth and attract investors.
Web Summit 2025: Record Crowds, New Tracks
This year’s Web Summit drew 71,386 attendees from 157 countries, including a record 1,857 investors—a 74% jump from 2024. Startups in AI and machine learning dominated the floor, reflecting the industry’s continued momentum.
A new China Summit track made its debut, encouraging dialogue on global innovation and cross-border collaboration. With more than 260 international delegations, Web Summit reinforced its role as a bridge for partnerships shaping the next decade.
The speaker lineup included Lovable CEO Anton Osika, Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 team principal Toto Wolff, tennis champion and entrepreneur Maria Sharapova, Bluesky COO Rose Wang, Meta CMO Alex Schultz, and Qualcomm President and CEO Cristiano Amon. The program balanced strategic themes with lighter moments such as creator Max Klymenko’s “Career Ladder” feature and synchronized dance demonstrations by Unitree Robotics’ humanoid robots.
