Qype.pt has gone live, giving Portuguese consumers direct access to over 1.9 million reviews and recommendations of shops and services across 166,000 cities worldwide.

The launch of the Portuguese-language site comes just one week after the company’s dedicated Dutch site, Qype.nl, went live.

In the same week Qype also released its app for the new generation of Windows 7 smartphones, making it accessible across all mobile platforms. 

This recent expansion is a key part of the company’s ambitious plans to accelerate business growth and push European awareness of the brand in 2011.

Qype already has nine other dedicated sites across Europe, including the UK, and has launched one non-European site; Qype Brazil.

With traffic from mobile devices increasing by an impressive 17 per cent a month and a new review written every 34 seconds, Qype is one of the fastest growing mobile experiences on the web.

The site currently attracts over 22 million hits a month and new users are growing at a rate of 23 per cent every month.

Qype has more than doubled its workforce over the past nine months and now employs over 150 people across Germany, France and the UK.

With revenue being boosted by 20 per cent a month, the company continues to defy the downturn and has enjoyed sustained growth since its creation five years ago.

“We are delighted to announce the launch of our 12th market, the latest in a number of exciting initiatives that will see Qype’s growth accelerate in 2011.” says Ian Brotherston, chief executive officer of Qype.

“This is an exciting time for the company, especially with the rise of location-based services and the advent of the smartphone.

“Qype is in a great position to be able to take advantage of these rising technologies, and we intend to make the most of them.”