Hello and happy Monday,

Today's main headlines:

• Caixabank & Microsoft open AI & metaverse lab in BCN 🤖

• Revolut is coming to Barcelona 💸

• Photoslurp merges with Swedish firm Flowbox 🤳

Is it the early summer heatwave? 🥵

This week – at the time of writing – we also didn't find any new reports of recent Barcelona funding rounds. There was news of a local merger, though 💪

Get in touch if you know something we don't!

Have a great week & San Juan 💥

Startup & Investment News

Barcelona investment news

• Visual commerce platform Photoslurp merges with Stockholm-based Flowbox to become European leader in social media marketing

Barcelona startup news

• Travelperk to open 3rd UK hub in Edinburgh, adding hundreds of job ops

• Expanish to open new language school in Barcelona for learners over 30 

• Salary app PayFlow crowned global winner of South Summit 2022

• Tokenization specialist Brikken wins ĀticcoLab pitch competition at Spain legal expo

• Californian Web3 platform Vatom launch in Europe with new BCN HQ

• Local footwear brand Munich signs its best year with a turnover of €52.6M

• Insurtech startup Cleverea coined one of top 3 most promising in Spain

• eDreams hits 3 million member milestone with its paid subscription, Prime

Spanish investment news

• Alicante-based recycled fabric specialist Recover gets €95M minority stake from Goldman Sachs

• Asturian industrial 3D printing firm Triditive raise €5M

• Valencian self-build & sustainable proptech platform Designable nets €2M

• Madrid-based Dcycle, who help companies reduce their carbon footprint, close €1M

• Spanish hemp-based fashion startup Hemper get €520K & will expand internationally

• Madrid performance advertising platform Seedtag acquires French firm KMXT

VC, investment & crowdfunding news

• British firm Felix Capital aim to be more active in Spain with its new €560M fund

• Draper B1 open new €100M fund in collab with Renta 4 Banco

• Big Sur Ventures launch €40M fund for Spanish & European deeptech startups

• Nauta Capital lead €3.2M round of Swedish sustainable fintech Datia

Open calls, accelerator news & incubator stories

• Local initiative Startup Capital is offering grants of up to €100K for emerging tech startups; apply until June 22 

• Up-and-coming Web3 & blockchain accelerator Open Web Collective announced a new €596K fund; apply until June 30

• Le Wagon Spain is offering €1K scholarships for its data science & web dev courses; they’re offered from May 1 to June 30 & the sessions start July 11

• Cuatrecases opens 7th accelerator program for legaltech startups; apply until July 10

• 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

• Ecoembes Circular Packaging Challenge is open for startups Europe-wide creating innovative sustainable packaging solutions; apply now 

Barcelona startup & entrepreneur profiles & interviews:

• AdPone: Adtech startup named one of 2022’s fastest-growing companies

• Ítaca Organics: Eco cosmetics & CBD-based oral hygiene

• Pep Gómez: Founder of Reby discusses the recent acquisition & US expansion

Tech News

Tech news in Barcelona:

• Barça Innovation Hub sports innovation congress will form part of MWC 2023

• FC Barcelona to create personalised basketball highlights via automation tech

• Revolut reaches 1M customers in Spain and will open in Barcelona & Madrid

• New €151M pre-exascale AI supercomputer coming to Barcelona; said to be the fastest in the EU

• New report reveals 31.4% of Barcelona’s digital talent is from abroad

Tech & big company news in Spain:

• Caixabank & Microsoft to open AI & metaverse innovation laboratory in BCN

• 10 low carbon footprint helium planes to be sent to Valencian airline Air Nostrum; they’ll take 4 hours between BCN & Madrid 

• BBVA to launch new finance products for startups & scaleups

• EsTech lobbies for Spanish startup law to include older companies of 10-12 years

• Clikalia launches in Portugal

• El Corte Inglés’s 2021 earnings: pre-pandemic profits of €120M but online sales down

• Jobandtalent report sales of €980M in 2021

Politics, Legal & Economics

•  Non-EU uni students in Spain will be able to stay up to 2 years after finishing without needing a residence permit

• Spain aims to become world leader in sustainable mobility

Good Reads

• 13 under-the-radar Spanish startups – that aren’t from BCN & Madrid

• Should we be concerned about Google AI being sentient?

• Why Barcelona should be next on your list for science-themed attractions

• Microsoft Internet Explorer’s official retirement as of June 15

• Why Spanish scaleups should be better prepared for the upcoming change in the macroeconomic cycle

• CEO of Voicemod: For the metaverse to grow, mobile digital identities are necessary

Good Videos & Podcasts

• Sifted: Will Gorillas survive this week’s C-suite exodus? (EN)

• Wired: Why The Crypto World May be Crumbling (EN)

• The Talk Show live at Apple Worldwide Developers Conference 2022 (EN)

• Foc a Terra also dedicated a podcast episode to WWDC (CT)

• The practical uses of Blockchain with José Luis Cáceres of Bit2me (ES)

Great Events

This week:

• Tue, 21 Jun @19:00: Open Coffee Startup Networking

• Wed, 22 Jun @18:00: How AgriFoodTech can contribute to building a more efficient Food Supply Chain

• Wed, 22 Jun @21:30: Explore conference: The role of AI & big data in personalizing retail

• Wed 22 Jun @13:30: Behind the unicorn buzz: How to build a breakout B2B business

• Mon, 27 June @18:00: Tech Barcelona June Afterwork 

Upcoming:

• Tue, 28 Jun @19:00: Blockchain & Crypto Networking with BBQ, Drinks & Views

• Thu, 30 Jun @09:30: Rethink Retail X.O: Metashopping, shopping as a journey

• Thu, 30 Jun @15:00: Female Founders Grow F Accelerator Demo Day 

• Thu 30 Jun @19:00: DNI.Barcelona! Meet CTOs, chat with dev teams & advance your career

• 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, 13 Jul: BCN FinTech Afterwork #002

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

Jobs

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

• OneCoWork is looking for a Junior Accountant

• Caravelo need a:

• - Tech Lead

• - Senior Data Engineer

• - Senior Backend Engineer (Java)

• Factorial is recruiting a Video Content Creator and Editor 

• Kleta is hiring a Product Manager

• Ukio is recruiting a Sales Intern (German Speaker)

• Prestalo is looking for a:

• - Product Manager

• - Full Stack Developer

• - Social Media & Content Intern (FR market)

• Riverbed Technology is hiring a

• - Digital Sales Representative

• - Digital Solutions Engineer

• Qonto is recruiting a Content & Copywriter - Spain

• Frizbit is looking for multiple Sales positions

• FirstDerm have roles in sales, marketing, product & tech

• Netcentric is looking to fill several IT positions