Hello and happy Monday,

Today's main headlines:

• Paack bags €200M; destined to become next 🦄

• Barça home to become Spotify Camp Nou?

• Google opens offices in Barcelona

BCN startups on 🔥 & what we can learn from that

Catalan startups are off to a fantastic start this year. Glovo was sold for €2.3B, TravelPerk landed €100M and turned into the latest local 🦄, and now Paack captured €200M and it’s only a question of time until they become one too. At the same time, as this edition shows, other startups like Cooltra, Heura & Housfy are on the right track too, posting 8-digit revenue numbers for 2021. What does this all mean?

1. It’s great news for the Barcelona ecosystem. All the money raised & big exits achieved will create opportunities for the generation of entrepreneurs and strengthen our ecosystem.

2. Investment news is great, but promising revenue & profit reports are also very positive and often an even better indicator of success.

3. It’s not always all about the hype – SaaS and blockchain are great (we’re big fans too), but there is success elsewhere too. Just amongst the companies mentioned above we’ve got logistics, mobility, food tech, and proptech.

That's it, take care & have a great week :)

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Startup & Investment News

Barcelona investment news

• Ecommerce delivery startup Paack secures €200M in Series D funding round; valued at €800M they are on the verge of becoming the next 🦄

• Cooling tech creators Submer raise €30M to jumpstart their international expansion

• Biotech firm Peptomyc raises €8.6M, a prelude to a potential round of €25M

• Digital restaurant platform Cloudtown closes a €2.2M investment round 

• Restaurant management platform Haddock joins Y Combinator’s new batch and raises €1M

• Proptech org YourHoming Apartments has been acquired by Gesiuris Real Estate for an undisclosed amount 

Barcelona startup news

• Catalan health startups have broken a new investment record of €238M

• Glovo has acquired its Italian competitor Socialfood

• - Glovo has more than 300 open legal cases globally according to La Vanguardia

• Responsible BCN fashion brand Laagam has created its first NFT, a pink jacket

• Cooltra invoiced €31.7M in 2021 bringing it close to pre-pandemic levels

• Heura has had a record-breaking year after doubling its revenue to €17.7M

• Proptech startup Housfy reaches profitability and banks €15M in 2021

• Digital marketing startup Beabloo, Softbank's first venture in Spain, have begun bankruptcy proceedings

Spanish investment news

• Madrid & NY-based entertainment tech startup Fever get €200M

• Spain & US-based online course provider Domestika nets €98.6M

• Spanish-American fintech firm Capchase raises €48M

• Valencia blockchain-powered climate marketplaces ClimateTrade bags €7M

• Madrid-based cloud gaming platform Nware receives €1.1M 

• Madrid sustainable urban logistics startup Revoolt gets €850K

• Spanish startup hr bot factory secures €650K from DraperB1 & Dozen for its ‘Siri’ interviewer 

• Madrid-based logistics operator GOI acquires Lidertrans and Servimas

• Galician firm Disashop buys 20% stake in UK payments firm PayPoint, who have a €600M stock market value 

• Spanish startup Sngular integrates with Corunet after €10.2M purchase

VC, investment & crowdfunding news

• Kibo Ventures raises a combined €156M for two funds bringing its assets to €309M

• Global Social Impact launches a new investment fund focused on Spanish companies

• New Valencian firm Unitatea launched by various entrepreneurs with aim to invest €750K in 15-20 startups

Open calls, accelerator news & incubator stories

• S2B Tech4Climate & S2B Health&Care’s open call and look for startups focused on sustainability, the environment & improving the lives of vulnerable people; apply until 10 Feb

• B-Value opens call aimed at 3rd sector leaders of Spanish non-profits; apply until 20 Feb

Barcelona startup & entrepreneur profiles & interviews:

• Esther Cid (Tipscool): Edtech learning and development platform

• Eva Martín (Tiendeo): free app with geolocalozed catalogues, coupons and offers

• Helena Torras: Founder & Managing Partner at PaoCapital & SeastainableCapital

• Wallbox: ”We want to be the Spanish Apple”

Tech News

Tech news in Barcelona:

• FC Barcelona’s sponsorship deal with Spotify could lead to a re-naming of Camp Nou

• Google has ​​chosen Barcelona as the location for its new commercial offices to be built in March

• Austrian company BWT will invest €25M in Catalonia and create 150 new job positions

• Argentinian fintech Veritran will continue its European expansion from Barcelona 

• 10 British biotech companies have been selected for Catalonia Trade & Investment’s initiative, which helps UK firms expand to Spanish-speaking markets

• Catalan organisation Banco Sabadell exceeds Bloomberg forecasts by 35% with a net €530M in 2021 financial year

Tech news in Spain:

• BBVA will create 200 jobs with the launch of two new technology centres in Bilbao

• Santander will roll out new buy now, pay later platform Zinia across its markets

• Leading American IoT cybersecurity company Cylera to expand into Spain

• San-Francisco payment platform Block also announced a Spanish expansion

• Indra acquired Ecuador-based payments company Credimatic

Politics, Legal & Economics

• Spanish employers can now hire non-EU workers in their countries of origin

• New social security rates could see autónomos in Spain paying twice more than other EU countries and triple of UK

• Spain’s Supreme Court has ruled that hosts, rather than Airbnb, are responsible for information on a listing

Good Reads

• TechCrunch interview with Francisco Polo, high commissioner for Spain Entrepreneurial Nation, about the upcoming Spain Startup Law [EN]

• How Spanish startups are reversing the country’s brain drain [EN]

• How Spain’s Software Delsol and CIB Group moved to four-day weeks without cutting salaries [EN]

• 2021 was a record year for female-led exits in Europe [EN]

• The definitive list of books to get into Quantum Computing by The Pirate CTO [EN]

• The opportunities and the dangers of the Metaverse [EN]

Good Videos & Podcasts

• Interview with Laura Urquizu, CEO of Red Points (Hablando con líderes) [ES]

• Interview with Jordi Romero, founder and CEO of Factorial [EN]

• Interview with Jeroen Merchiers, co-founder of BCN proptech startup Zazume & former country manager of Airbnb Spain [ES]

• Interview with Daniel Seijo and Eduardo Ortiz, co-founders of fintech firm Fuell [ES]

• Interview with José Burgos from Fresh People [ES]

• Webinar of last week’s Horeca Challenge by Tech Barcelona. Registration period is open until February 6th [ES]

Great Events

This wek:

• Wed, 1 Feb @13:00: Keynote with Mariona Serra, cofounder & director at GoodGut [ES]

Upcoming:

• Mon-Thu, 28 Feb - 3 Mar: Mobile World Congress 2022

• Mon-Thu, 28 Feb - 3 Mar: 4YFN

See the full event calendar here & add your event here.

Jobs

• Mouters is hiring a Director of Operations

• Caravelo is looking for a Senior Product Manager

• Holded is recruiting a Growth Marketing Specialist

• Factorial is hiring a Head of Product Partnerships

• Bier Daten is looking for a Co-Founder & CMO

• UserActive is recruiting a Senior Product Designer (UI/UX)

• Unnax is hiring a Financial Controller

• Payfit is recruiting a Research Ops

• CodeOp is looking for a Manager Strategic Partnerships

• Oliva is hiring a:

• - Senior Full-Stack Engineer

• - Senior DevOps Engineer

• Netcentric is looking for several IT positions