The company was established in 1998, from the University of Coimbra's business incubator and technology transfer centre, Instituto Pedro Nunes (IPN).

[2] Critical Software develops systems and software services for safety, mission and business-critical applications in several markets, including aerospace, defense, automotive, railway, telecoms, finance, and energy and utilities.

[citation needed] Critical Software's delivery unit was the first in Portugal to be rated at CMMI Maturity Level 5.

[3] The company is one of a few dozen organizations in the world which have both waterfall and agile software development units rated at Maturity Level 5.

[citation needed] The Critical Group comprises a series of technology companies, many of which were formed from concepts originally developed within Critical Software.