GOLDEN MONARQUE SCR SA

Their core work

GOLDEN MONARQUE SCR SA, operating under the brand FASTTRACK, is a Lisbon-based startup ecosystem facilitator that helps startups and scale-ups navigate international expansion and access innovation infrastructure across Europe. In H2020, they contributed to projects focused on microelectronics digital innovation hubs and cross-border scale-up acceleration, bringing ecosystem access, matchmaking capability, and entrepreneurial network connections. Their practical value lies in connecting deep tech entrepreneurs with the right competence centers, programs, and markets — not in producing research themselves. They are a bridge organization: they move people, deals, and knowledge between ecosystems rather than conducting R&D.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In their first project (DIATOMIC, 2017), FASTTRACK was embedded in the European microelectronics Digital Innovation Hub ecosystem, helping entrepreneurs access competence centers for advanced micro-electronics and smart system integration — an industry-infrastructure focus. By 2018, with Startup Lighthouse, the focus shifted decisively toward startup acceleration, soft landing, international expansion, and ecosystem exchange — moving away from a specific technology domain toward broader, sector-agnostic scale-up services. The trend is a pivot from industry-specific digital infrastructure facilitation toward generalist startup ecosystem brokerage, with deep tech and job creation as the connective tissue.

FASTTRACK appears to be moving toward becoming a sector-agnostic European soft-landing and scale-up acceleration platform, using their network of Digital Innovation Hubs and ecosystem connections as the underlying infrastructure.

How they like to work

FASTTRACK has participated exclusively as a consortium partner, never as coordinator — consistent with an organization that brings network access and ecosystem reach rather than technical project leadership. Despite only two projects, they engaged with 13 unique partners across 10 countries, suggesting they are plugged into a broad European innovation network and act as a connector node. Working with them likely means gaining access to their startup community, their soft-landing network, or their relationships with Digital Innovation Hubs — not getting them to lead deliverables.

13 unique consortium partners across 10 countries from just two projects — an unusually wide geographic spread for such a small funding portfolio, suggesting FASTTRACK deliberately operates as a pan-European connector. No geographic concentration is discernible from this data alone.

What sets them apart

FASTTRACK occupies a niche that pure research organizations and large consultancies rarely fill: they are a small, agile Portuguese SME with demonstrated access to both the Digital Innovation Hub infrastructure (microelectronics, smart systems) and the startup acceleration ecosystem (scale-ups, soft landing, matchmaking). For a consortium needing a Southern European startup community bridge or an SME outreach partner with real ecosystem relationships, they offer something more grounded than a generic consultancy. Their Lisbon base also positions them as a gateway to the Iberian and Lusophone startup scenes.

Highlights from their portfolio

• DIATOMIC
  Largest funding received (€201,950) and longest duration (2017-2020), placing FASTTRACK inside the European microelectronics Digital Innovation Hub network — a strategically significant infrastructure program.
• Startup Lighthouse
  Reveals FASTTRACK's core identity as a scale-up facilitator, with explicit focus on soft landing and ecosystem exchange — a rare and commercially relevant capability in the H2020 landscape.