Hello and happy Monday,

Today's main headlines:

• MWC confirmed to stay in BCN until 2030 🥳

• Amelia Virtual Care get €7M 💰

• The Cataverse is officially under development 🌌

MWC stays in BCN until 2030 - Why it’s a huge deal 🙌

This week, we received the fantastic news that the Mobile World Congress (MWC) will remain in Barcelona until 2030. This finally puts an end to rumors - which probably always pop up when the city and the event organizers negotiate an extension - about the event going elsewhere. Sorry Paris! 🙃

While MWC and BCN go together like Elon Musk and moonshot ideas, the event did take place in many different places in the past before settling in our beloved city in 2006. And it never looked back. The current agreement was about to expire in a few years, so this is very welcome news for Catalonia’s tech ecosystem.

Why? MWC unites leading tech companies, entrepreneurs, innovators, investors, and media from all over the world in Barcelona. This brings not only 100K people to the Catalan capital, which boosts the local hospitality industry, but it also puts us on the map 🗺️.

Plus, it creates a kind of multiplier effect. As GSMA CEO John Hoffman states: “We’ve not just grown the event since our move to Barcelona but evolved it to include an entire ecosystem.” So besides the big show, simultaneously we get the awesome 4YFN event focused on startups and an infinite number of unofficial events which further provide 🌐 networking opportunities. The latter ranges from Swedish Beer meetups to IoT Stars and much much more. In fact, Barcinno publishes an exclusive events guide every year which often reaches close to 40+ different types of events.

So how valuable is the MWC to the city? According to Fira de Barcelona, it generates 13K temporary jobs and has an economic impact of €460M on the metropolitan area 📈. The true value might be even higher. Just going by our own experience the impact is massive! Every year around Feb-Mar, when the event usually takes place - when there is no pandemic going around - Barcinno online traffic peaks – often reaching five times our “usual”. This shows how the interest in our ecosystem heats up, which creates fantastic opportunities for all kinds of businesses.

In that sense, thank you MWC for trusting Barcelona for 8 additional years 🥂

Have a fabulous week!

Startup & Investment News

Barcelona investment news

• VR mental health platform Amelia Virtual Care collect €7M and appoint new CEO

• Virtual economy training platform Metacampus get €1.5M from Dutch investors

• Premiumguest close €1M round from major investors; Glovo founders, TheFork

• & HolaLuz 

• Fintech firm Nomo acquired by Finnish company Talenom for an undisclosed fee

Barcelona startup news

• Wallbox join forces with Cooltra to launch corporate motosharing for its employees

• Digital consultants Merickal launch last-mile support center for logistics & delivery companies 

• VR-projector company Broomx designs new techniques for sensory, physical & cognitive stimulation showing promising results

• Motorcycle sales platform Mundimoto multiplies growth tenfold in 2022 so far, selling 5K bikes to 2021’s 500

• eDreams ODIGEO sets up new innovation teams in Palma de Mallorca & Alicante

• Citibeats wins first Tech4democracy challenge with its AI monitoring tool

Spanish investment news

• Basque renewable energy startup H2SITE secure €12.5M

• Madrid-based smart helmet producer LIVALL raise €4.2M

• Zaragoza-based handbag brand Paris/64 get €2.5M

• Valencian venue management software company Fourvenues close €1M round

• Valencia-based Freepik Coimpany acquire British company Videvo

• Bilbao cybersecurity consultants BeClever acquired by French firm Devoteam

• Zaragoza-based Libelium acquire Murcian greentech IoT firm HOPU

VC, investment & crowdfunding news

• Additio Capital and Riva y García launch €60M fund to support the deeptech ecosystem 

• Co-founder of Nauta Capital Javier Rubio launches new €20M startup fund 

• Europe gets its first creator-founded, creator-backed VC; it’s raised €19M to invest globally alongside rappers and footballers

• Samaipata invest €3M in French startup Sqawd

• Suma Capital sells share in Implika to US fund KKR

Open calls, accelerator news & incubator stories

• Tech-Senior: L'Hospitalet Council & Mobile World Capital are looking for innovative services to improve the quality of life of over 75s; apply until July 6

• Activa is offering aid to Catalan SMEs to drive digital transformation & innovation through collaboration with startups; apply until July 7

• BFAero launch both incubator & accelerator programs for aerospace companies; opens on July 15

• Gasnam & Neutral Transport launch Neutral Transport Entrepreneurship and Innovation Awards for startups utilizing sustainable gas; apply until July 15

• Nortempo extends Impulso by Nortex initiative, a mentor project for HR, training and automation startups less than 3 years old; apply until July 25

Barcelona startup & entrepreneur profiles & interviews:

• Q&A with Karolina Wilk-Tryjanowska, Head of Incubation at Demium

• Alex Bacardit: Founder & CEO of MarsBased & Director of BCN Startup Grind on the advantages of investing in pre-seed startups in the Canary Islands

• Jordi Pulles: GM of Tripledot Studios “Barcelona is a European hub in the video game sector”

• Pol Valls: Co-founder at Submer, which revolutionizes immersion cooling

Tech News

Tech news in Barcelona:

• It’s confirmed: Mobile World Congress will stay in Barcelona until 2030

• - Red.es to select startups for the Spain Pavilion of Mobile World Congress 2023

• Minister of innovation reveals at Blockchain con that Catalonia’s official metaverse, the Cataverse, is under development

• French firm Qonto will expand its headquarters in Barcelona and invest €100M in Spain

• Welsh tech recruitment firm Conexus to open Barcelona office

• Dutch cycle membership startup Swapfiets lands in BCN; no NIE & no sharing bikes

• Catalonia concentrates 50% of the video game sector’s turnover and jobs in Spain

• Lleida Airport will serve as research centre for drone traffic management

Tech & big company news in Spain:

• BNPL fintech Klarna halt plans to open its 500-person development center in Madrid

• More on the Gorillas redundancies in Spain; asking workers to elect representatives

• Cabify joins Toyota to bring hydrogen powered ride-hailing vehicles to Spain

• Reddit moves into Spain with the purchase of MeaningCloud

• Decathlon Spain raises its sales 18.3% and nears €100M net income; €326M (16% of total revenue) comes from online sales

• American healthtech Dexcom lands in Spain with its product for diabetics

Politics, Legal & Economics

• Spain introduces new digital currency tax reporting model

Good Reads

• The top women investors in Spain’s startup ecosystem in 2022

• Europe’s top digital nomad villages

• Is Google dying? Or did the web grow up?

• Recruiters say the tech job market slowdown isn’t happening – it’s red hot

• What is asynchronous communication? & How to implement it in remote teams

• 6 Mistakes New Crypto Investors Are Making — And How To Avoid Them

Good Videos & Podcasts

• Can N26 be trusted? A rare interview with the founder (EN)

• The personal and professional journey of Alejandro Artacho, CEO of Spotahome (ES)

• Interview with Martí Manent, Founder and CEO Derecho.com & elAbogado (ES)

• Chat with BCN firm Submer, the startup that revolutionizes immersion cooling (ES/EN subs)

Great Events

This week:

• Mon, 4 Jul 4 - Tue, 5 Jul: Digital Transformation & Innovation 2022 conference 

• Tue, 5 Jul @18:00: ClickBid Barcelona pre-event networking & cocktails

• Wed, 6 Jul @09:00: ETHBarcelona: Spain’s first Ethereum Conference 

• Wed, 6 Jul @18:00: Tech Barcelona: Tech Up Nights Vol. 2 with Miquel Puig (Ocado Technology) & Pol Albacar (StageInHome)

• Thu, 7 Jul @15:00: Startup Investor Accelerator: Trans-Atlantic Angel Investor Demo Day

Upcoming:

• Wed, 13 Jul: BCN FinTech Afterwork #002 with Loïs Duhourcau of Novicap

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

Jobs

• Bourbon Creative is hiring Freelance Content Writers (Native English, 100% remote)

• OneCoWork is looking for a Junior Accountant

• RunToWear need a CTO/Co-Founder

• fonYou is recruiting a Jr Back-End Java Developer

• Novicap is looking for a Finance Manager

• FlexiDAO is hiring a Digital Marketing Manager - B2B SaaS

• Factorial is recruiting a Content Marketer - UK Market 

• Riverbed Technology is hiring a Digital Sales Representative

• Netcentric is looking for several IT positions