What VOST Portugal does

VOST Portugal - Associação de Voluntários Digitais em Situações de Emergência is a non-profit association of digital volunteers founded in August 2018 in Lisbon, Portugal, in response to the Monchique wildfire. The organization mobilizes volunteer-led digital emergency response using open-source platforms, APIs, social media monitoring, and OSINT (Open Source Intelligence) to collect, validate, and disseminate real-time emergency information during crises such as wildfires, hurricanes, floods, and pandemics. Its core technology portfolio includes fogos.pt (real-time fire tracking via ANEPC API), emergencias.pt (emergency incidents), dash.vost.pt (COVID-19 dashboard), rios.vost.pt (rivers and dams), covid19-api.vost.pt and api.vost.pt (data APIs), rally.vost.pt (event dashboards), and the CONFIRM platform (event and refugee coordination). The back-office information management system coordinates shifts, ground contacts, and real-time information flows during activations.

The organization's primary customers are government emergency response agencies (ANEPC, municipal civil protection, Digital Response Cabinet), with secondary segments including the general public and event organizers (Rally de Portugal, World Youth Day, La Vuelta). VOST Portugal has formal cooperation protocols with ANEPC, was the only non-governmental organization invited into the Portuguese government's COVID-19 Digital Response Cabinet, and was accepted into CloudFlare's Project Galileo and the VOST Europe network. The organization has received the EENA Digital Volunteering Award (2022), JRC Excellence Award from the European Commission (2024), and commendation from the Secretary of State for Digital Transition. VOST Portugal does not generate commercial revenue — all platforms, APIs, and coordination services are provided free of charge to government agencies and the public during emergencies. Funding comes from institutional support, grants, and partner donations. The entity operates with approximately 9 employees supported by a volunteer network.

Name

VOST Portugal

Legal name

VOST Portugal - Associação de Voluntários Digitais em Situações de Emergência

Website

https://vost.pt

Company type

Private

Founded year

2018

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

VOST Portugal is a non-profit association of digital volunteers, founded in 2018 in Lisbon, that provides real-time emergency information dissemination, OSINT, and misinformation combat during crises through open-source platforms and APIs, serving government agencies, the public, and event organizers.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Emergency Response Coordination

NAICS

Political Organizations (81394), Public Relations Agencies (541820)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro primary industry

Emergency Communications, Alerting & Public Warning Systems (HLAJAGAF)

akta.pro secondary industry

Crisis Management & Communications Support (Mass Notification) (BPABANAF)

Keywords

• Digital emergency response
• Crisis information management
• Volunteer coordination
• Open data platforms
• Disinformation monitoring

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Non-profit / Volunteer Organization: VOST Portugal is a non-governmental, non-profit association of digital volunteers operating in emergency situations. It does not generate commercial revenue. Funding comes from institutional support, grants, and partner donations. No products or services are sold.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

VOST Portugal is a non-profit association of digital volunteers that activates during emergencies to collect, validate, and disseminate real-time information through open-data platforms (fogos.pt, emergencias.pt, dash.vost.pt), public APIs, and social media. It coordinates with civil protection authorities, combats misinformation during crises, and provides OSINT-driven support for events, wildfires, weather emergencies, and public health responses. All outputs are provided free of charge to government agencies and the public.

Product overview

VOST Portugal operates as an association of digital volunteers in emergency situations, offering a portfolio of open data platforms, APIs, and awareness campaigns. The core suite includes FOGOS.PT and EMERGENCIAS.PT for real-time emergency tracking, complemented by sector-specific tools like RIOS.VOST.PT for river monitoring and purpose-built APIs (COVID-19 API, VOST API, FOGOS:PT API) providing programmatic access to official government data. The organization also maintains event management platforms (CONFIRM, rally.vost.pt) and public awareness campaigns covering disinformation, online safety, and COVID-19 transparency. All offerings emphasize open data, volunteer coordination, and emergency communication.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• fogos.pt: Fire information and tracking platform providing real-time data through API integration with ANEPC
• emergencias.pt
• dash.vost.pt
• covid19-api.vost.pt
• api.vost.pt
• rios.vost.pt
• rally.vost.pt
• valentes.vost.pt
• CONFIRM

Products and services

• fogos.pt

Quantifiable outcome

• 41+ people located by VOSTPT alone, 171+ with Rescue Beira, during Cyclone IDAI response in Mozambique
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers7 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration5 records

AI capability5 records

Feature11 records

Partnerships

16 partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• Câmara Municipal de Castelo BrancominorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 July 2023Partnership with Castelo Branco municipality for VOST Portugal activation during the La Vuelta 2024 cycling event, providing digital coordination and crowd management tools.
• World Youth Day (JMJ) Organizing CommitteecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 July 2023VOST Portugal activated for World Youth Day 2023 in Lisbon and the preceding week, building on experience from Rally de Portugal and using the CONFIRM platform for coordination.
• Força Aérea PortuguesaminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 July 2022Activation of VOST Portugal in partnership with the Portuguese Air Force for its 70th anniversary event, providing digital communication and coordination support.
• Government of SlovakiacoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 March 2022Since March 2022, VOST Portugal has been cooperating with the Slovak government to support the refugee response from Ukraine, providing the CONFIRM platform (SK4U) for managing refugee information and needs coordination.
• ANEPC (Autoridade Nacional de Emergência e Proteção Civil)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 May 2021A formal cooperation protocol was signed between VOST Portugal and ANEPC, giving VOST Portugal personalized access to the FOGOS:PT API and enabling technology solutions for fire season coordination. The protocol covers annual fire season cooperation.
• ACP Motorsport (Rally de Portugal)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 May 2021VOST Portugal has partnered with ACP Motorsport since 2019 to provide digital coordination tools for Rally de Portugal. This includes real-time dashboards, crowd management, and information dissemination. The partnership continued through 2024 editions.
• Waze Portugal VolunteersminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 May 2021Waze Portugal Volunteers collaborated with VOST Portugal during Rally de Portugal 2021, pre-mapping access routes to show areas and providing real-time updates via the Waze application during the event.
• VOST Spain and VOST GaliciaminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 May 2021Through the VOST Europe network, VOST Portugal coordinated with VOST Spain and VOST Galicia to provide multilingual information to international visitors during Rally de Portugal 2021.
• ISCTE Media Lab (Instituto Universitário de Lisboa)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 March 2021Collaborative study with ISCTE Media Lab on a disinformation case involving a fake COVID-19 deconfinement plan that circulated on WhatsApp. ISCTE published institutional findings on the reach and impact of VOST Portugal's rapid response debunking.
• DSSG-PT (Data Science for Social Good Portugal)coreTechnology or Integration · 1 January 2021VOST Portugal partnered with DSSG-PT to develop the covid19-api.vost.pt API, providing access to official COVID-19 data. This API was later made available through the government's digital response cabinet.
• Web Foundation (Web Foundation)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2021VOST Portugal was mandated by the Web Foundation to present the Contract for the Web to the Portuguese Secretary of State for Digital Transition, leading to the government audience that resulted in the COVID-19 Digital Response Cabinet invitation.
• Portuguese Government (Gabinete de Resposta Digital à COVID-19)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2020VOST Portugal was invited by the Portuguese government to join the Digital Response Cabinet for COVID-19, contributing to data and communication working groups. The collaboration began in January 2020 and was renewed in January 2021. The organization contributed open data platforms, disinformation monitoring, and communication expertise.
• CloudFlarecoreTechnology or Integration · 1 August 2019VOST Portugal was welcomed into CloudFlare's Project Galileo program for non-profits, which provides free website protection and performance services. This was triggered by the Já Não Dá Para Abastecer platform during the 2019 dangerous materials drivers' strike.
• Rescue Beira (Spontaneous Volunteer Group, Beira, Mozambique)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 March 2019Spontaneous group of residents in Beira, Mozambique who partnered with VOST Portugal during the Cyclone IDAI response. Together they located over 171 people in the affected area.
• VOST EuropecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 October 2018VOST Portugal was invited to join the VOST Europe network following its Hurricane Leslie activation in October 2018. VOST Europe is a network of digital volunteer organizations across Europe. Membership enables international coordination, best practice sharing, and cross-border emergency response support.
• GNR (Guarda Nacional Republicana)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 October 2018During the Hurricane Leslie activation, VOST Portugal coordinated efforts with the GNR's Twitter account and shared information to support their on-the-ground operations. This partnership was cited as proof of VOST Portugal's credibility with official authorities.

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Standby Task Force: Standby Task Force is an international digital humanitarian volunteer organization that uses OSINT and remote analysis to support humanitarian operations during crises. It directly competes in the same niche of skilled digital volunteers supporting emergency response, with overlapping operational methodology and audience.
• VOST Italia: VOST Italia is the Italian member of the VOST Europe network, applying the same digital-volunteer emergency-response model in Italy. It is a directly comparable national VOST organization with the same volunteer profile, government partnership structure, and platform approach.
• VOST Europe: VOST Europe is the parent network of national digital volunteer emergency organizations across Europe, of which VOST Portugal is a member. Both share the same core model of OSINT-driven, social media-coordinated emergency response, and VOST Portugal's activations (Slovakia SK4U, VOST Spain/Galicia during Rally de Portugal) are coordinated through this network.
• VOST France: VOST France is the French national digital volunteer organization for emergencies, operating the same OSINT and social-media-based coordination model within the VOST Europe network. It serves as a directly comparable national VOST peer with identical mission and structure.
• VOST España: VOST España is the Spanish counterpart operating the same digital volunteer emergency-response model in Spain. VOST Portugal directly coordinated with VOST España and VOST Galicia to provide multilingual information during Rally de Portugal 2021, demonstrating identical operating model and customer base across Iberia.

Emerging players

• CrisisMappers Net: CrisisMappers is the international network of practitioners applying digital tools and crowdsourcing to humanitarian and crisis response. It overlaps thematically with VOST Portugal's mission of organizing digital volunteers around crisis information and OSINT, and serves as a peer-level convening body in the same ecosystem.
• Ushahidi: Ushahidi operates an open-source crisis-mapping and crowdsourcing platform used globally for election monitoring, disaster response, and civic accountability. It overlaps with VOST Portugal's open-platform approach to crisis data collection and dissemination, though its geographic focus and feature set are broader.
• Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team: Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) coordinates a global volunteer community producing open geospatial data for disaster response and humanitarian use. It is comparable to VOST Portugal as a digital-volunteer organization that provides open data and maps (e.g., similar to fogos.pt and rios.vost.pt) for emergency response, with a similar volunteer-driven model.

Others

• EENA (European Emergency Number Association): EENA is the European association that awarded VOST Portugal its 2022 Digital Volunteering Award. It is a relevant adjacent player in the European emergency-response ecosystem that convenes 112 emergency services, vendors, and volunteer organizations, and is a natural peer for ecosystem-level positioning even though it does not directly compete.
• DSSG Portugal (Data Science for Social Good): DSSG Portugal partnered with VOST Portugal to develop the covid19-api.vost.pt API. It is a directly comparable Portuguese civic-tech organization with an overlapping volunteer-data-science community and similar open-data mission tied to social impact.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/vostpt
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/vostpt

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 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 VOST Portugal