Critical Software is a Portuguese international information systems and software company, headquartered in Coimbra. The company has offices in Porto, Lisbon, Tomar, Vila Real and Viseu (Portugal), Southampton and Derby (UK), Munich (Germany) and Sunnyvale (California, USA). Critical Software's core competencies include cyber security, digital transformation, safety management, systems & software development, testing and verification & validation and user experience design (UxD).

History 
The company was founded in Coimbra in 1998 by Diamantino Costa, Gonçalo Quadros and João Carreira. The three met while studying for their doctorates in computer engineering at the University of Coimbra. Critical Software's first customer was NASA. While growing rapidly, Critical Software launched the first commercial deployment of csXception™ software.

In 2003, the company became the first Iberian company to be awarded the ISO 9001:2000 TickIT quality certification. Other certifications such as NATO/AQAP 2110, AQAP 150 and CMMI-SE/SW Level 3 followed. Critical Software opened new offices in Portugal (Porto and Lisbon) and the UK (Southampton).

In 2007 Critical Software became the main independent software tester for ESA's EarthCARE space mission projects, contributed to the enlargement of the Schengen area, opened further offices in Brazil, Mozambique and Angola and launched several spin-off companies under the Critical Group such as Critical Links, Critical Materials, Critical Health and Critical Manufacturing.

In 2011, the CMMI-SE/SW certification was upgraded to level 5, making Critical Software one of the few companies to achieve this distinction. A new office was opened in Munich, Germany and the company was listed by Business Week as one of the top 500 fastest growing companies in Europe.

Critical Group 
The Critical Group comprises a series of technology companies, many of which were formed from ideas originally developed within Critical Software.

 Critical Materials develops products that provide diagnostics and prognostics for critical structural systems. The company was acquired by the original co-founders of the company and rebranded Stratosphere S.A.
  is a technology company that helps seniors living in long-term care across Europe, the United States, and Brazil.
 Critical Links provides solutions to simplify the delivery of digitized content to schools.
 Retmarker provides software for screening and progression monitoring of retinal diseases.
 Critical Manufacturing provides automation and manufacturing software for high-tech industries. The company was acquired by ASMPT in 2018.
 Watchful Software provided software that kept sensitive information safe from disclosure or security breaches. Symantec acquired it in 2017.

Industries 
Critical Software works across a range of industries, serving different needs in each.

 Automotive
 Aviation
 Defence
 Ecommerce
 Energy
 Finance
 Government
 Medical Devices
 Railway
 Space
 Telecoms

External links
Official site
Critical Software S.A., BusinessWeek
Achievements Small & Medium Sized Enterprises, European Space Agency
Critical Software Shows Portugal Can Grow, Forbes
Critical Software – Pioneers, Up Magazine

Notes and references 

 
Software companies of Portugal
Portuguese brands