Hello, happy 2021 and welcome back to our weekly newsletter! We hope you had a great holiday season and a ready for the new year.

Here a brief recap of what you'll find in today's edition:

• 10 Barcelona startups raised a total of €11M+

• Spanish startup investment increased (slightly) in 2020, despite the pandemic

• Catalan Government to launch €80M deep tech discovery fund

Ok onto the news. Have a great week and care of yourselves!

Startup & Investment News

Barcelona investment news

• Energy startup X1 Wind receives €2.5M from EU Commission

• Biotech startup AbilityPharma gets €2.45M as Chinese firm SciClone Pharmaceuticals secures stake in the Catalan company

• Health tech startup Devicare raises €2.4M

• - Read this Barcinno article to learn more about the major health tech startups from Catalonia

• Medtech startup NEOS Surgery lands €1.9M from the EU Commission to improve the treatment of herniated disc

• Biotech startup Cornea Project nets €875K via Capital Cell

• Biotech firm Cebiotex raises €750K via Capital Cell

• Ecofriendly fashion startup Laagam gets €300K

• Biotech startup Gate2Brain receives an investment from BStartup

• Loyal Guru and Taclia receive an undisclosed investment from the THCap, which just raised €4M for its fund

Barcelona Startup news

• HR startup Factorial triples revenues in 2020

• Insurtech startup Wataday closes down

Spanish investment news

• Spanish startups raised €1.1B last year, a slight increase compared to the previous year

• Madrid HR firm Jobandtalent closes a €88M funding round

• Madrid blockchain-based logistics tech startup ChainGO Tech gets €950K

• Valladolid startup Reforestum nets €750K in angel investment

• Sevilla-based Ciclogreen lands €300K

VC, investment & crowdfunding news:

• Barcelona-based Capital Cell helped digital health and biotech startups to raise €10M in 2020

• Spanish VC Ysios Capital takes part in €35M series C funding round of French medtech CorWave 

Open calls, accelerator news & incubator stories:

• The Digital Gastronomy & Hospitality Startup Forum by LABe-Digital Gastronomy Lab looks for revolutionary gastronomic startups; apply until 17 Jan

Barcelona startup & entrepreneur profiles & interviews:

• Hannun: the ecommerce furniture startup making €3M in sales

• Optimus Price: the story behind the AI firm's recent merger with Athena

• Miguel Vicente: the Chairman & Co-founder at Antai Venture Builder talks about the startup investment opportunities for 2021

Tech News

Tech news in Barcelona:

• The Generalitat, through the ICF, prepares the launch of an €80M deep tech discovery fund

• Barcelona ranked 8th best city in the world to work, live, invest and visit, ahead of NY, London & Paris, according to World’s Best Cities 2021 Report

• Barcelona-based company Reig Jofre will produce large scale manufacturing of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine for Covid-19

Tech news in Spain:

• Spain's R&D spending per GDP dropped to 1,14% in 2019, the lowest figure in 10 years and well behind Switzerland (3.4%), Austria (3.2%), Germany (3.2%) & the EU average (2.2%)

• MasMovil and Yoigo launch new energy service thanks to a partnership with Lucera

• Cloud hosting company Gigas continues expansion and acquires 3,000 enterprise clients from MasMovil

• Tech giants are pressuring the Spanish Government to postpone its Q1 2021 launch of the 'Google Tax'

• El Corte Ingles launches logistics service and distribution centers offering to third parties to compete with Amazon FBA

Politics, Legal & Economics

• Government and social agents continue negotiation on a possible extension of the ERTE scheme

Good Reads

• Why Barcelona is becoming a hub for travel startups

• The 10 biggest funding rounds in Spain 2020

• A look at the Spanish aerospace industry

• Catalonia’s space ambitions

• European Commission makes its first equity investments into 42 startups

Good Videos & Podcasts

• Interview with Cristina Vila, CEO of Cledara

• Interview with Xavier Marcet, CEO of Lead To Change

• Interview with Elizabeth Trallero, CEO of Congost Plastic SA

• Interview with Alberto Garzon, Spanish Minister of Consumer Affairs

• Interview with Ignacio Fonts, Managing Partner at Inveready

Great Events

Upcoming:

• Wed, 21 Jan @15:00: Female Founders Demo Day – Grow F #4

• Wed - Thu, 20-21 Jan: IQS Tech Fest

• Fri-Sun, 22-24 Jan: Online Hackathon

• Mon-Fri, 12-16 Apr: 5th European Blockchain Convention

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

Jobs

• Dynatrace is looking for a Content Creator and Editor

• PicsArt is hiring a Global Content Lead

• Revolut is recruiting a Branch Manager

• Veepee is looking for a Business Analyst

• Tripadvisor is hiring a Global Operations Strategy Director

• Heura is recruiting a Head of Trade Marketing