UPTEC startup Bandora Systems wins international pitch competition

“Winning the CEO Summit pitch competition in front of such an inspiring group of innovators and investors is a real honour.” These are the words of Márcia Pereira, founder and CEO of Bandora Systems, a company incubated at UPTEC – Science and Technology Park of the University of Porto. The company was one of five finalists in the Pitch Competition, which took place last June.

The machine learning solution, focused on energy optimisation in buildings, caught the attention of the competition jury, which highlighted Bandora’s scalability, environmental impact and international expansion plan. As part of the prize, Bandora secured a free space at Eureka Park at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2026, which will take place in Las Vegas in January next year.

“Having a guaranteed space at Eureka Park is an incredible opportunity to share our vision, meet investors and expand Bandora’s global connections with a view to international expansion”, said Márcia Pereira.

Founded in 2017, Bandora has been helping commercial buildings operate energy efficiently, maintain comfortable spaces, and detect and report anomalies since its inception. Last year, they secured €1.5 million in funding, and in 2022, they won NOS Startup World in the Deep Tech category.

The company considers itself a Virtual Facility Manager, which essentially operates and maintains buildings. The main objective of this startup is for buildings to become 100% autonomous — through the use of artificial intelligence — meaning that they do not require human intervention for their management.

The solution connects to any existing IoT (Internet of Things) system in the building, whether BMS, HVAC sensors or lighting, and applies machine learning for continuous optimisation of energy consumption, comfort and anomaly detection. It has been proven to reduce energy consumption by up to 40-50%, while maintaining or enhancing indoor comfort.

At Dave’s Hot Chicken restaurant (USA), one of the places where Bandora has applied the technology, it achieved efficiencies of 50-70% in just a few months. In Portugal, it already operates in more than 16,000 square metres, with a reduction of 215 tonnes of CO₂.

About the Consumer Electronics Show

The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is organised by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA). The aim is to strengthen the commitment to European innovation by bringing together regional and global startups and investors, expanding the connection between the European ecosystem and opportunities in the United States market. In this edition, five Portuguese startups were selected as finalists, each having the opportunity to make their pitch.

The evaluation criteria included technological innovation, market scale, environmental impact and global growth potential of the competitors. The jury included venture capitalists, business leaders and entrepreneurs from the technology sector.