Maria Ribeiro Soares

What I’m exploring

Background

Education and research

• 2015 - 21Instituto Superior TécnicoIntegrated Master (MSc), Electrical and Computer Engineering. Major in Systems, Decision and Control: AI, robotics, machine learning.Minor in Telecommunications. Final grade 16/20.
• 2020 - 21INESC-ID LisbonResearcher, Project HARMONY. Thesis: Coordinated Control of Quadcopters for Large Object Positioning.Distributed optimal control for cyber-physical systems, adaptive algorithms for mobile robots, game-theoretic coordination, multi-robot methodologies.
• 2025 - 26University of CoimbraGuest lecturer, Interactive Virtual Reality Environments.Student evaluations 4.5 to 5 out of 5 in every category. 100% pass rate.
• 2026 - 27IPAMLecturer in Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Executive Master in Business Management.

Work

• 2023 - nowImmersiv StudiosFounder and CEO. XR startup building scalable immersive solutions. Led the development of 35+ experiences across education, retail, and brand engagement. 20+ clients including global and national brands.Work featured in national media, exhibited internationally, and recognised with national awards (see Distinctions).
• 2024 - nowEuromersiveBoard member and Portuguese representative, European XR Association.Representing Portugal in European discussions on XR and building partnerships between local and European stakeholders.
• 2025 - nowPortugal XR MeetupsCo-founder. Portugal had no home for XR professionals, so six of us built one, with the goal of taking the conversation beyond Lisbon.Each edition puts researchers, professors and industry in the same room to talk about the state of the art. Four editions so far in Lisbon and Porto, the fifth on the way. Upcoming editions on Luma.
• 2024 - nowMentorFounder Institute, NOVA Haddad Entrepreneurship Institute, PWN Global, Techstars Startup Weekend.Mentor rating 8 out of 9 at Founder Institute. Building is hard, and harder for women in tech.

Full CV (PDF) →

Distinctions

• 2026Prémio Nacional de InovaçãoFinalist
• 2026AprPrémios EmpreendeXXI, CaixaBank / BPIFinalist, territorial final
• 2025–26Startup World Cup PortugalTop 50, two years running
• 2025NovWeb SummitSelected startup showcase
• 2025OctPitch PME, Crédito AgrícolaWinner, 1st edition
• 2025OctRising Female Award, Unicorn Factory LisboaTop 10 finalist
• 2025Santander X Portugal AwardsTop 6 finalist
• 2025MayYoung Entrepreneur of the YearTécnico Alumni Awards, 1st edition. Given the same night as António Guterres’ career award.

Signals

I often get asked about the early signs that I would become an entrepreneur. Not all of them show from the outside, but in interviews and in conversations with investors they turn out to be the story. These are a few of mine, the ones I or other people have spotted, in order.

• FamilyYoungest of five

  The youngest of five, and the only engineer in a family of journalists, teachers and marketers. I learned early by watching the others, had to make myself heard, and understood the power of branding. I was also trusted with a lot of freedom: my parents had the strange belief that I would always figure things out.
• Age 910 years of competitive sport

  I started competitive figure skating at 9 and did it for ten years, and in the last few I trained with the national coach. I kept training at full intensity through my first year of engineering. Had it not been an amateur sport in Portugal, I would have gone professional. It taught me to handle pressure and to manage my time: if it is a priority, I make it happen. I am really competitive. I love medals, and I love putting in the work to beat my own previous performance.
• Age 17Said no to university

  Told my mother I was not going to university. I thought I did not need it: I could take a coding course and start a company. She pretended not to hear me. Around then I took psychometric tests, and the psychologist said I could follow almost anything. My highest scores were in maths, physics and high-risk activities. Turns out that last one means entrepreneurship. Then I went to Técnico’s open day, someone explained electrical and computer engineering and what AI was, and I thought: this is the future. I applied and got in.
• TécnicoNearly dropped out, then paid my own way

  Nearly dropped out in my first year after a bad programming project. Sat on the stairs with friends who felt the same, and stayed. From 20 I was financially independent, because I did not want to keep living at my parents’. I paid my own rent through tutoring, event work and freelance code while studying full time.
• 2021Turned down a PhD in robotics

  My supervisor is a reference in systems, decision and control, and my thesis was on control algorithms for drones. He wanted me to continue into a PhD, but I could not do it: I was too afraid I would never get to materialise my work. Today I love everything about research and papers, but from a different perspective.
• 6 monthsSix months of trying things

  After the thesis I spent six months experimenting and iterating: apps, websites, games, teaching myself from YouTube and books to find out what the market would pay for. Looking back it seems like a fun time. At the time I was stressed, because I had rent to pay.
• 2022Landed a big client without a portfolio

  Right before turning 25 I opened my first company, and soon after I landed my first big client: Europcar. I had no portfolio, but I convinced them I was the right person to manage their 14 micro-sites. At the time I was working mostly on the digital side of companies, and I was fixed on the idea of a company of one. I did not own a car, so I thought I might as well negotiate one into the deal.
• ThenSaid yes to VR before I knew what it was

  One day a client asked if I could build VR training for their tractor software. I said yes before I knew what VR was. I found the game engine, learned it, coded everything myself and delivered on deadline. After that, I pivoted and founded Immersiv Studios.
• 2023Pivoted and founded Immersiv Studios

  Immersiv Studios came a year after my first company. We bootstrapped it and have been profitable from day one. It took a while to define a clear value proposition, but we got there. 35+ projects since, working with global brands.
• 2026Racing in open water

  I had wanted to try open water for a while, and this was the year. I started at the end of May and have already done a few competitions, including a 2.5 km crossing to Egholm, in Aalborg. Beginner again, on purpose.

Tap any line to read the story.

Some things I believe

Innovation is no longer measured only by visual impact or technical novelty, but by the quality of the interaction. Translated from Briefing, January 2026

1. Building something is not the same as building something of value. AI made the first part cheap. The second is as hard as it ever was.
2. Some companies should be bootstrapped and some cannot be. Services can pay for their own discovery. Robotics cannot.
3. Warm introductions beat cold outreach, and the way to earn them is to be useful to people first.
4. Introvert is not the same as shy. A founder’s job is to speak, and to sell themselves and the product, so every day is a blind date: we walk into rooms where we know nobody. For an introvert it works like the gym. It only gets easier with reps.
5. The shift that turns an engineer into a founder is caring about market results, not only technical output.
6. Measure everything. Samsung, one of our clients, pushed us to instrument every experience with real-time data, and it became obvious that knowing how people actually interact with what you built is the ultimate advantage. We could tell a brand how many people interacted with it while the event was still running.
7. A company that is not venture scale can still be the best evidence you have. Immersiv has been more than three and a half years of selling, building and delivering without anyone funding it, and the greatest and most difficult exercise of my life.

Press

• 2026Imagens de Marca, SIC NotíciasInterview
• 2026BriefingInterview
• 2025RTP, Os InovadoresTV feature
• 2024ObservadorOp-ed

Full clipping, press and talks →

Speaking

20+ talks, panels and keynotes since 2024, in Portugal, Canada, the Netherlands and online. I speak about immersive technology, and just as often about entrepreneurship and innovation: bootstrapping, building credibility through delivery, and what engineers get wrong about markets. Toastmaster since 2023, which is where the stage stopped being frightening.

• 2026APPM National Marketing CongressClosing speaker, Lisbon
• 2025Graduation ceremony, Técnico LisboaKeynote, Lisbon
• 2025Web SummitStartup showcase, Lisbon
• 2025Porto Tech Hub ConferenceTalk, Porto
• 2025GatherVerse, XR and AIGlobal panel, online
• 2025Virtual Worlds, ANACOMExpert panel, Lisbon
• 2025Ordem dos EngenheirosPanel on innovation
• 2024Immersive Tech WeekPanel, Rotterdam
• 2024Global Startups ConferenceTalk, Toronto
• 2024Portugal Digital SummitPanel, Lisbon

Also invited to speak inside ANACOM, Vieira de Almeida, GfK, Vodafone Innovation Lab, Técnico, NOVA SBE and Universidade Católica.

Invite me to speak → Full clipping, press and talks →

Reading

Papers

• LeCunA Path Towards Autonomous Machine IntelligenceThe position paper on world models and the JEPA architecture.
• Follow-upCausal-JEPA: Learning World Models through Object-Level Latent InterventionsExtending JEPA with causal reasoning.

Books

• NowThe Black SwanNassim Nicholas Taleb
• Non-fictionLeonardo da Vinci · Factfulness · No Rules Rules · Shoe Dog · The School of LifeIsaacson, Rosling, Hastings, Knight, de Botton
• FictionThe Midnight Library · 1984 · Brave New WorldHaig, Orwell, Huxley

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