Hello and happy Monday!

Barcelona Tech Spirit - A Week Full Of Startup Events

MWC & 4YFN are off this year, but thanks to an inspiring effort of last-minute, all-hands collaboration we're still going to have a week full of amazing events and parties in Barcelona:

• Barcelona Tech Spirit: a spontaneous joint action by the entrepreneurial community that brings together a set of activities that share our forward-thinking spirit

• Barcinno's MWC2020 Parties & Events Guide: a list of all previously scheduled off-MWC events this week with an update of whether they're cancelled or not.

Ok, that's it from me. Have a great week and see you out there!

Startup & Investment News

Barcelona investment news

• Barcelona startup Red Helmet receives €300K

Spanish investment news

• Madrid fintech Sego Finance closes a €1.5M financing round

• Madrid glasses ecommerce firm Miller & Marc gets €750K

• Madrid-based healthtech startup Melio raises €600K

Startup news

• Catalan startup Bluengin amongst three winners of II edition of Future Cities

• Barcelona fintech startup Verse launches instant payment within the whole eurozone

• Catalan startup Nannyfy now offers its services to hotels, tourist platforms and other companies

• Catalan firm Pursang announces its first electric motorcycle model

• Barcelona-based startup Glovo announces new wine, beer and spirits delivery thanks to partnership with Pernod Ricard

• Barcelona startups Airning, Aervio, Bitphy, Joyners and Reloadly join TheVentureCity accelerator

• The three Barcelona startups Infra, Daysk and Vottun complete the FI Boost's acceleration program

• Madrid food delivery startup ApetEat expands to Barcelona after acquiring Catalan firm FELIX

• Barcelona startup 21Buttons seems in trouble as they fight with losses and layoffs

VC, investment & crowdfunding news:

• Private equity firm Nexxus Iberia closes a €170M fund

• Catalan VC firm Nina Capital raises €15M; invests in digital health startups

• Tandem Bank’s chief product officer has joined Santander InnoVentures

• Grupo KAIRÓS launches KAIRÓS Ventures, a corporate venturing organisation focused on Spanish tech startups 

Open calls, accelerator news & incubator stories:

• Ship2B and the Institut de Recerca Hospital Sant Pau close an agreement to enable piloting startups from S2B Tech4Health

• Conector opens call for Startup Competition LegalTech; apply until 22nd March

• Innoemprèn 2020 opens call, entrepreneurs and startups can apply until the 23rd of March

• Premio everis España 2020 opens call; apply until the 5th of April

Barcelona startup & entrepreneur profiles & interviews:

• Arspect: the new platform that allows you to rent works of art

• Akiles: the app that opens doors without keys

• StockCrowd: software that turns your website into a tool to raise money

Tech News

• CEO of GSMA hopes to “find a way” for the MWC to remain in Barcelona beyond 2023

• Barcelona City Council announces the 21 companies that are poised to receive a total of 7,000 motorcycle rental licenses

• More than 3K people registered for Tech Spirit Barcelona in one day

• - What you need to know about Tech Spirit Barcelona - MWC’s replacement event

• Valencia, Basque Country, Galicia and Andalusia join forces to launch "The Others BCN20", an event to highlight their ecosystems in Barcelona this week

• How is Barcelona coping with the loss of the MWC?

• Amsterdam and Barcelona breaking new ground on data

Tech news in Spain:

• Spain pushes ahead with regulatory sandbox approval to boost the banking sector’s digital transformation

• Telefónica has reduced its debt by €15B within 4 years

• Shares in Spain's Telefonica dive after 2019 net profit disappoints

• Spain's Renfe wins deal to build high speed rail service in USA

• Amazon Business launches Business Prime in Spain

• Digital advertising spending in Spain broke the €3B barrier for the first time ever

• Investment in Influencer Marketing in Spain grew by 185% in 2019

Politics & Economics

• The Ministry of Labor aims to introduce a change in legal regulations to put an end to "false self-employment"

• Spain's jobs miracle is under threat (Bloomberg)

• Thousands of workers protest at eight Spanish Airbus plants against the announcement of 600 layoffs

• Interesting study that shows how hotel prices in Barcelona have fallen after the cancellation of the MWC

• The number of long-term unemployed people in Spain falls below one million for the first time since 2010

Good Reads

• 29 deeptech VCs in Europe you need to know

• What startups should focus on when choosing an accelerator (ES)

• Soaring rents and noisy parties: how Airbnb is forcing out Barcelona locals (Guardian)

• Are data more like oil or sunlight? (The Economist)

• Will the shows go on? Coronavirus, MWC cancellation hang over tech conferences

Good Videos & Podcasts

• Interview with Carmen Alfonso Rico and Aurore Falque-Pierrotin from VC Samaipata (by K Fund)

• Interview with Sergi Villaubí, VP of Product & Founder at Apartum (by Itnig)

• Interview with Pablo Szefner, CEO at JustFab (by SeedRocket)

• Interview with Gerard Compte, CEO at FindThatLead (by Lunes Inspiradores)

Great Events

This Week

• Mon, 24 Feb @18:30: Startup Grind Corporate Innovation Summit

• Mon, 24 Feb @19:00: Transparent – Clandestine party, uncovered!

• Tue, 25 Feb @19:00: Startup Grind VC Night

• Tue, 25 Feb @19:00: Women in Mobile

• Wed, 26 Feb @19:00: VR/AR Association Executive Dinner

Next Week

• Mon, 2 Mar @17:00: 17th Doing Good Doing Well Conference

• Tue, 3 Mar @18:00: Culture by Strategy

• Tue, 3 Mar @19:00: Startup Founders Masterclass – Build A Powerful Pitch

• Thu, 5 Mar @9:30: Think about the future: key ability to make better decisions

• Fri, 6 Mar @18:00: How to scale a company by getting and retaining talent

See the full event calendar here.

See the full MWC2020 Parties & Events Guide here.

Startup Jobs In Barcelona

• Bourbon Creative is recruiting a Freelance Writer for Tech Industry Content (Native English)

• Unnax is looking for a VP Sales - B2B SaaS

• Agile Content is hiring a Senior Java Software Engineer

See the full job board here.