Small Portuguese Firms Are Starting a New Trend
- Corporate lending is lagging behind consumer, mortgage loans
- Businesses growing by using own funds, attracting investors
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When the founders of Portugal’s Sensei wanted funding for their startup this year, they didn’t go to a bank. They turned instead to a food retailer.
Sensei, whose algorithm helps retailers detect empty shelves and real-time customer movement in stores, secured 600,000 euros ($696,000) in the so-called pre-seed stage from investors including German food wholesaler Metro AG and a unit of Portuguese supermarket owner Sonae SGPS SA. The retailers got stakes in the startup in exchange.