Founder communities in Lisbon: 14 compared (2026)

The right founder community in Lisbon is the one you'll go back to: a Saturday run along the river, a free coffee morning, a rooftop drink after work or a hub where other founders work every day. Several of these groups are built with newcomers in mind, and most list their events in English. Below are 14 communities across Lisbon and Cascais, each checked on its own pages on 28 October 2026, with what each costs, how to get in and when it next meets.

A note before you read on: this guide is published by Remote Builders, our own free community for founders who build companies remotely, which you can join online from Lisbon. It isn't in the table, because it doesn't meet in Lisbon. We've left out any number we couldn't find on a community's own page.

How to choose a founder community in Lisbon

Runs, walks and coffee

• Founders Running Club Lisbon runs every Saturday at 9:30am from Praça do Comércio, at your own pace or with a pacer, then coffee.
• staaake runs Sunday founder power walks of about 6,000 steps and curated dinners where every guest is hand-picked. It says it's in Lisbon for a limited time.
• Open Coffee Lisbon is a free morning un-meeting run by volunteers, where everyone gets one to two minutes to present. It also runs Open Coffee Ericeira on the first Friday of each month.

After-work meetups

Tech Startups on the Rooftop is a free monthly rooftop drinks night with no talks or pitching. IndieBeers Lisboa is a monthly meetup for indie hackers and makers. Lisbon Innovators and Entrepreneurs holds informal discussion meetups at Parque das Nações. AI Builders Lisbon holds a monthly evening of AI demos for developers and founders, with pay-what-you-like tickets.

Founder circles and pitch nights

Startup Grind Lisbon runs Founder's Circle evenings, where you put your name in a bowl to share what you're stuck on, plus pitch nights and talks. START Lisbon is run by international students and held a pitch night at Nova SBE in Carcavelos on 22 October 2026, where ten startups pitched to investors.

Women founders

Female Founders Breakfast Lisbon holds breakfasts with table introductions in Lisbon, Cascais and Carcavelos, with the option to stay and cowork for the day.

Hubs, associations and housing

• Unicorn Factory Lisboa, Beato: set up by Lisbon City Council, with incubation, coworking, events and CASA Startup Lisboa, a house where founders can stay for up to six months. It says it has incubated 950+ startups since 2012.
• 351 Portuguese Startup Association: free weekly Coworking Thursdays in rotating Lisbon spaces, plus Slack and WhatsApp channels. Membership is free, €47 a year for individuals or €97 a year for startups.
• Casa do Impacto: an impact hub in the Convento de São Pedro de Alcântara, with the RISE for Impact programme and a virtual residency for people outside Lisbon.
• DNA Cascais: Cascais's municipal startup agency, with incubation at Hub Cascais and a yearly ideas and business contest worth €10,000 to the winner.

Founder communities in Lisbon compared

These are 14 communities, all checked on 28 October 2026. Every row was active when we checked: an event, intake or post dated May 2026 or later, or open registration for an upcoming event. "Says" means the figure is the community's own claim.

Notes on the table

• Upcoming events. 351's Coworking Thursday is on 29 October, Lisbon Innovators and Entrepreneurs meets on 30 October, Founders Running Club runs on 31 October, staaake's power walk is on 1 November, Female Founders Breakfast is on 6 November, Unicorn Factory's International Pitch Night is on 9 November and AI Builders Lisbon meets on 18 November.
• Web Summit week. Tech Startups on the Rooftop meets on 11 November and Open Coffee Lisbon holds a Web Summit Special on 12 November.
• Approval. staaake hand-picks dinner guests, and some Female Founders Breakfast editions need host approval.
• Language. Casa do Impacto and DNA Cascais publish their pages in Portuguese.

Communities we checked and left out

We left out groups whose last Lisbon event was before May 2026, groups that have moved online, one-off events, groups that weren't for founders, and a site that blocked us. We didn't find a founder coliving in Ericeira or Cascais whose own page says it's for founders; if you run one, tell us and we'll check it.

Lisbon's founders in numbers

Startup Portugal's Startup & Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Report 2025, published on 12 November 2025, counted 5,091 active startups in Portugal, up 8% on 2024, and found that 45% of them are in Lisbon, against 16% in Porto. It put startup employment at about 28,000 workers.

How to get value in your first month

1. Start with the free ones. Open Coffee, a Saturday run and a rooftop night cost nothing.
2. Go to the same one three times. By the third, people know what you're building.
3. Bring one specific ask. "I need an intro to a founder who has hired in Portugal" gets you somewhere.
4. Use the city's hubs. Unicorn Factory Lisboa and 351 run events for international founders.
5. Add a broader group. Our Europe guide covers national associations, and our comparison of communities for remote founders covers the online options.

Common mistakes

• Only going during Web Summit. The weekly and monthly groups are where people get to know you.
• Only going to pitch nights. Most of the help comes from other founders, not investors.
• Assuming you need Portuguese. Most of these groups list their events in English, so check each listing.
• Waiting for the perfect group. If nothing fits your niche, start one. Our guide to starting a founder meetup covers the first three events.