YDreams, originally known as Ideias Interactivas, first surfaced in mid-2000 when the five original founders decided to get together to create a company, consisting of themselves and a modest staff of six.
The IT start-up, headquartered on the FCT – New Lisbon University campus, was originally spread out over several campus buildings, but would be united under one roof in March 2008 at the brand new YBuilding also located on the FCT university campus.
Inspired by projects most had helped craft at GASA, a university research group founded and headed by António Câmara, the five founders set out to transform ideas in areas ranging from geographic information systems and interactive video to remote sensing and mobile computing, into tangible products that they could bring to market.
The company’s first “big break” was a brilliant Lisbon and Porto Map Channel for the Web, PDAs and Mobile Phones developed for Telecel, a major player in Portugal’s telecom industry all through the 90’s, which would become Vodafone Portugal.
The mid 00’s also brought about the launch of pioneering location-based games Undercover, Undercover 2: Merc Wars and Spooks. The company would eventually leave the mobile gaming market to focus on the development of interactive products and projects.
2004 kicked off the company's international expansion with co-founder José Miguel Remédio relocating to Barcelona to open YDreams Med, YDreams’ first affiliate in Spain. The company's first transatlantic affiliate was set up in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 2005, followed by Austin, Texas and São Paulo, Brazil in 2007.