Hello & happy Monday! There are several big news this week so let's get right to it.

Today's main headlines:

• Elon Musk wants to bring satellite internet to rural Spain

• Spain adopts landmark law to protect 'gig' delivery workers

• El Corte Inglés joins crypto hype; to allow in-store crypto-trading & payments

• Barcelona healthcare startup Impress gets €41M

Have a great week and see you out there!

Startup & Investment News

Barcelona investment news

• Direct-to-consumer orthodontic startup Impress raises €41M to scale across Europe

• Homecare startup QIDA raises a €1.3M funding round from Sepides

• Dentalcare startup Dental Residency raises an €850K funding round

• AI-enabled document review startup Flaps raises a €400K funding round

• Sales and inventory management software StockAgile raises a €400K funding round

• Interactive visual communication firm Genially is set to close a €15M investment according to its co-founder

Barcelona Startup news

• Fintech SeQura begins operations in Latin America; this follows expansion to France, Italy and Portugal earlier this year

• Verse more than doubles amount of clients in last year, close to eclipsing 2M registered users

• Flanks secures backing from Bank of Spain, gets registered as account information service provider

• Rentals United recognized as Top Vacation Rental Connectivity Provider

• Notebloc selected as the best European education startup by the Impact EdTech accelerator

• Meeting Lawyers develops 24-hour legal guidance app with chat & video call feature

• Acqustic targets strengthening of collaboration strategies following the closure of a €425K funding round earlier this year

Spanish investment news

• Navarrese biotech firm Leadartis raises a €1.6M funding round

• Navarra-based motion picture startups Dr. Platypus & Ms. Wombat and The ThinkLab receive a €1.2M investment

• Madrid-based shipping and logistics SaaS startup eCustoms bags €846K

• Madrid E-Health startup Optyfy lands €515K

• Madrid-based biomedical startup Telera Pharma nets €100K

• Paris-based PE firm Demeter partners acquires a 44% stake in Madrid-based circular economy construction company Construcía

• La Rioja-based Norpoo Electronics receives investment from Ricari

VC, investment & crowdfunding news:

• Spanish asset management company Beka collaborates with Bolschare to launch a €300M private equity fund investing in sustainable agriculture

• Spanish PE firm ProA Capital acquires a majority stake in the international Spanish renewables firm Grupo Amara

• Wayra and Startupxplore agree to invest more in tech startups

• FIDBAN to call its 12th investment round in person for the first time since the start of the pandemic

• Clean Ventures acquires a stake in Valencia-based daily service app Jeff to aid its US expansion

Open calls, accelerator news & incubator stories:

• La Nave's call for its incubation program is open until 20 May; apply here

• Programa InnoEmprèn is looking for innovative ideas based on tech or circular and sustainable economy; apply until 25 May

• BlockStart last call for blockchain startups to join its acceleration program; apply until 26 May

• XPatient Barcelona Congress opens call for innovators working on solutions to improve the experience of patients and caregivers; apply until 28 May

• The Collider 2021 announces the 15 projects that will participate in its innovation program

• Ivace and CEEI Valencia select 10 companies for the new edition of the ‘Scale Up’ program

Barcelona startup & entrepreneur profiles & interviews:

• Made of genes: leveraging new molecular tech to help you care for & maintain your health

• MediQuo: leading chat platform for communication between patients & healthcare professionals in Spain and Latin America

• UKIO: furnished & serviced apartments for stays of one month or more in Europe's most desirable cities

Tech News

Tech news in Barcelona:

• Demola Global, Catalonian Government & TechnoCampus jointly launch Demola Catalonia, a program that aims to develop a co-creation process for talented and motivated university students to solve current and future challenges that companies are facing & helping Catalan businesses and organizations build future-proof strategies

• Lenovo and Samsung pull out of in-person MWC Barcelona conference

• TelcoDR takes over prime space at MWC Barcelona, partners with theCUBE to deliver a virtual experience

Tech news in Spain:

• Elon Musk wants to bring satellite internet to rural Spain

• El Corte Ingles jumps on the crypto bandwagon, launches Bitcor: an initiative that will let you buy/sell crypto in their stores & use it to make purchases

• Microsoft & Telefónica Tech team up to combine 5G and computing capabilities to accelerate digital transformation

• Telefonica & Siemens join forces to deliver solutions for smart buildings

• MasMovil, Indra, Abertis and Opus collaborate to launch Proyecto Ditra, a new project that aims to measure CO2 car emissions in real-time

• Spanish travel tech firm Amadeus still exploring acquisitions despite the pandemic

• Spain’s national soccer team to launch fan token on Turkish platform

Politics, Legal & Economics

• Spain adopts landmark law to protect 'gig' delivery workers

• The 'riders' law draws a new normal for Glovo, Deliveroo or Uber Eats: what’s next according to distributors, unions & employers?

• An estimated €1.1B in private capital was invested in 236 Spanish companies in Q1

Good Reads

• These 3 Barcelona Stars Are Driving Cryptocurrency’s Surge On Online Platforms

• Spain’s four-day workweek is a game-changer

• Scale-up modes: Profiling activity configurations in scaling strategies

• Glovo data scientist shares how the firm uses Bayesian modeling for cross-city learning

Good Videos & Podcasts

• Interview with Hana Mohan, co-founder at MagicBell (by TechCrunch)

• Interview with Chloé Sucrée, founder of Being Biotiful, author, nutritional coach & influencer [ES]

• Interview with Alex Puig, CTO at Caelum Labs (by Itnig) [ES]

Great Events

This week:

• Mon, 17-21 May: European Health Tech Innovation Week 2021

• Tue, 18 May @15:00: From “hands-on” to leading leaders: How to scale your tech team as CTO

• Wed, 19 May @18:00: Choosing the right kind of VC fund for your company, with Mercè Tell (Nekko Capital)

• Thu, 20 May @18:00: Startup Grind Mataró hosts Rebeca Pérez (CEO & Founder @ Inviertis)

Upcoming:

• 25 May: WOMENTECH21 Technology and Health Congress

• 1 Jun: Community building around a VC, with Samuel Gil (Partner @ JME Ventures)

• 28 Jun - 1 Jul: MWC 2021

• 7-8 Jul: Affiliate World Europe

• 8-18 Jul: Automobile Barcelona

• 16-18 Nov: Smart City Expo World Congress

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

Jobs

• Almirall is looking for a Global Early Market Access Lead - HQ

• Grifols is recruiting a Manager Innovation

• Reby is hiring a Junior Operations Data Analyst

• ProtoPixel is recruiting a Head of Marketing

• Algofy is looking for a Paid Ads Specialist

• Riverbed Technology is hiring a Senior Inside Sales Representative - META

• Tappxis looking for a Performance Business Dev.

• Agencia Jaimito is recruiting an Account Executive

• Kantox is looking a Head of Marketing

• Opticks is hiring a Product Designer

• Netcentric is recruiting a Marketing and Communications Manager

• Outbound People is looking for a Senior Account Executive- German Market