Name

Cinco Estrelas

Legal name

Five Stars Consulting Portugal Lda

Website

https://cinco-estrelas.pt

Company type

Private

Founded year

2014

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Lisboa

HQ country

Portugal

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Brand Evaluation and Certification Services: Companies pay for brand evaluation services under the Cinco Estrelas methodology. All evaluated brands receive detailed reports of various tests and market research conducted on their brand and the overall results of competing brands. Winning brands additionally receive seal usage rights and a communication plan.
2. Communication Plan Services: Winning brands benefit from a communication plan implemented by the award organization, allowing use of the 'Cinco Estrelas' seal for 12 months.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Cinco Estrelas is a brand evaluation and certification company that measures the degree of satisfaction that products, services, and brands provide to their users through a proprietary 5-criteria consumer-led methodology. Brands apply directly for evaluation across three phases (focus group, blind experimentation tests, and massified market studies), and certified winners receive a 12-month seal license plus an implemented communication plan. The company also offers related certification programs including the regional Prémio Cinco Estrelas Regiões, the Five Stars | Safe Spot sanitary certification, and the Clube Cinco Estrelas loyalty program.

Product overview

Cinco Estrelas operates a multi-product brand evaluation and certification ecosystem. The core offering is the Prémio Cinco Estrelas, a brand evaluation system that certifies products, services, and brands across 5 criteria through consumer testing, market studies, and committee evaluation. The portfolio includes the national Prémio Cinco Estrelas for mass-market brands, the regional Prémio Cinco Estrelas Regiões for Portuguese brands with regional presence, the Clube Cinco Estrelas loyalty program, the Five Stars | Safe Spot sanitary certification (partnered with Bureau Veritas), the Star Talks conference/talk series, and the U-Scoot urban mobility initiative. The company also publishes a newsletter and organizes annual conferences.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Clube Cinco Estrelas: A club associated with the Cinco Estrelas brand for winners and brand engagement.

Products and services

• Prémio Cinco Estrelas A brand evaluation and certification system that measures the degree of satisfaction that products, services, and brands provide to their users across 5 criteria: satisfaction by experimentation, price-quality ratio, purchase intention/recommendation, brand trust, and innovation. For national and international brands with massified presence in 4 or more of Portugal's 7 NUT II regions.
• Prémio Cinco Estrelas Regiões Regional version of the Prémio Cinco Estrelas targeting exclusively Portuguese-origin brands with regional presence (not massified nationwide), using the same 5-criteria evaluation methodology as the national award.
• Clube Cinco Estrelas Loyalty club program for Prémio Cinco Estrelas winners, providing ongoing benefits and communication support for certified brands.
• Five Stars | Safe Spot Certification system evaluating public-access spaces for safety, hygiene, and service excellence, combining Bureau Veritas sanitary audits with consumer experience evaluation under the Cinco Estrelas methodology. Valid for 12 months with 6-month re-evaluation.
• U-Scoot Urban mobility project related to sustainable mobility solutions, aiming to improve city movement, economy, environment, and optimize time through alternative sustainable mobility offerings.

Quantifiable outcome

• 98.9% of consumers identify the Cinco Estrelas seal
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core and supporting.

• Bureau VeritascoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2020Partnership for the Five Stars | Safe Spot certification project, combining Bureau Veritas's sanitary evaluation and audit services with Cinco Estrelas's consumer experience and brand evaluation methodology. Bureau Veritas conducts checklist verification, documentary and in-person audits for health and safety compliance.
• Ipsos ApemecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMarket research company collaborating on tests within the Cinco Estrelas methodology. Responsible for conducting market studies and brand evaluations among representative population samples.
• Multidados (The Research Company)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMarket research company collaborating on tests within the Cinco Estrelas methodology. Conducts consumer satisfaction surveys and massified market studies for brand and innovation evaluation.
• CCP - Confederacao do Comercio e Servicos de PortugalsupportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerConfederation of Commerce and Services of Portugal, represented on the Cinco Estrelas Evaluation Committee by Sara Pasadas.
• Laurel - Associacao Portuguesa das Marcas de ExcelenciasupportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerPortuguese Association of Excellence Brands, represented on the Cinco Estrelas Evaluation Committee by Francisco Carvalheira (General Manager and Secretary General).
• KPMG PortugalsupportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerRepresented on the Cinco Estrelas Evaluation Committee by Teresa Cortes (Sustainability Specialist and Head of Marketing), contributing expertise in sustainability assessment.
• BoConsultingsupportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerBusiness strategy consultancy represented on the Cinco Estrelas Evaluation Committee by Francisco Carvalho (General Director), who also coordinates the Committee.
• HubMediasupportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerIntegrated Communication Agency represented on the Cinco Estrelas Evaluation Committee by Vanda Rosario (Founder).
• Five Stars ConsultingcoreOthersParent company 'Five Stars Consulting Portugal Lda' owns the Cinco Estrelas methodology and U-Scoot urban mobility project. Founded by Ana Lourenco and Debora Silva in 2014.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• J.D. Power: Independent consumer research firm whose surveys underpin widely cited awards for vehicles, products, and services. Comparable because Cinco Estrelas similarly converts consumer-survey results into public recognition that drives brand pull-through.
• DECO Proteste: Portuguese consumer-rights organization that runs independent product tests and the Escolha do Consumidor designation. Direct in-country peer because both are Portugal-based, consumer-tested brand/product recognition programs competing for the same set of paying brands.
• Élu Produit de l'Année: International consumer-voted product award present in 40+ countries. Comparable because both use massified consumer surveys to award winners a recognizable quality label — Cinco Estrelas in Iberia and Produit de l'Année across wider Europe.
• Superbrands: International brand-recognition and certification organization that evaluates and awards consumer and business brands across multiple countries. Highly comparable because both use an editorial/consumer-evaluation methodology to issue a recognized 'seal' of brand excellence.

Others

• Kantar: Global market-research and brand-measurement firm (including Kantar Millward Brown, BrandZ). Comparable because both organizations evaluate brand performance from the consumer perspective; Kantar supplies data, Cinco Estrelas wraps that data into a pay-to-be-certified seal.
• Brand Finance: Independent brand valuation consultancy that publishes the Brand Finance Global 500 ranking and country-level brand tables. Comparable as a peer in the broader brand-evaluation ecosystem that publicly recognizes brand strength across markets.
• Interbrand: Global brand consultancy that publishes the Best Global Brands ranking. Comparable because both publicly recognize and rank brand strength, though Interbrand focuses on financial valuation while Cinco Estrelas focuses on consumer-tested perception.
• Ipsos: Global market-research firm and named Cinco Estrelas partner (Ipsos Apeme), running market studies within the Cinco Estrelas methodology. Comparable because both operate consumer-research infrastructure, though Ipsos is a much broader research supplier.
• Nielsen: Global consumer-measurement and analytics firm (NielsenIQ) providing retail-read and consumer-behaviour data. Comparable because both sit in the consumer-research-driven brand-measurement stack, though Nielsen does not run consumer-recognition seal programs.

Broad incumbents

• Bureau Veritas: Global testing, inspection, and certification group operating across industrial, environmental, and sanitary categories. Comparable because Cinco Estrelas partnered with Bureau Veritas for Safe Spot and operates in adjacent certification territory, even though Bureau Veritas's portfolio is far broader and accredited at ISO/IEC scale.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Subsidiaries4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Cinco Estrelas