UPTEC startup attracts investment to predict restaurant sales

ADECI, a startup incubated at UPTEC – Science and Technology Park of the University of Porto, has raised an investment of 500,000 euros from Portugal Ventures.

Founded in 2023 by Telmo Taipa and Helder Pereira, ADECI puts Artificial Intelligence (AI) at the service of the restaurant sector, through technology that combines historical data with external factors that can influence the daily activity of the business.

The inspiration behind ADECI came from academic work carried out by Telmo in collaboration with a brewery in the city of Gaia. This was the starting point, which combined with Helder Pereira’s Machine Learning expertise led to the creation of a technological solution capable of predicting customer flows and consumption for restaurants.

The investment raised will be used to expand and accelerate the startup’s growth: “we have the resources to expand our team, strengthen our visibility in the market and improve our technology, expanding ADECI into new markets”, emphasises Telmo Taipa, co-founder and CEO.

ADECI’s technology generates sales forecasts with at least 92% accuracy, which allows restaurants to optimise their orders and production, reducing the cost of goods.  “We’re going to invest in taking more and more factors into account in our predictive model, (…) ensuring ever greater detail in our forecasts, for example with hourly forecasts and by different sales channels, and bringing in new solutions based on artificial intelligence (…)”, explains the CEO.

In addition to the investment made, the plans for the rest of 2025 include expansion into the Spanish market, “with more than 5,000 establishments using our forecasts”, explains Telmo Taipa. They also intend to strengthen partnerships with the main international stakeholders in the restaurant sector, with the aim of reinforcing ADECI’s position “as the company with the most accurate forecasts in the market”.