Hi community,

This week’s main headlines:

• BCN fintech Novicap get €200M 💰

• Wallapop negotiate €100M megaround 🤑

• Barça partners with Ukrainian crypto firm Whitebit 🇺🇦

Farewell 2022 (and this newsletter as you know it) 🎊📤

🤯 Can you believe this is the final newsletter of the year – and with it, the end of 2022? After this special jam-packed edition, we'll be taking our usual 2-week winter break, resuming on January 9th refreshed and ready to report 🫡

Also, we'll be using a new platform upon return, as our current provider is owned by Twitter and will shortly be closing down (thanks Elon). You don't have to do anything, by the way. We'll migrate you all over. But if you have any recommendations or preferences for an 🗞️ alternative newsletter tool, please let us know by replying to this email or commenting here. And since it's a new year, new start anyway, feel free to feedback and let us know what you want to see more or less of in future editions.

Happy holidays and a Happy New Year to all! 🎄🍾

European Blockchain Convention: Upcoming Web3 event in an important era 🎪⛓

European Blockchain Convention, aka Europe's most influential blockchain and crypto event, is back in Barcelona and takes place in just a couple of months on February 15-17, 2023. 

Whether you’re already in the industry or looking to get into it, register now to join 3,000+ attendees in networking with the startups, investors, corporates, and developers shaping the future of Web 3.0. Tickets are selling fast!

✨ The code BARCINNO25 is still valid and grants you a hearty 25% discount on all ticket types ✨

Buy yours (or a 🎁?) here.

Take care & see you in 2023! 🍾

Startup & Investment News

Barcelona investment news

• Fintech Novicap raise €200M for its credit platform

• Wallapop negotiate €100M mega round with Korean internet giant Naver, who is already a significant shareholder

• Women’s health biotech Oxolife receive €2.4M to develop PCOS infertility treatment

• Invivo-owned biotech Pulmobiotics get €1.9M to develop a living pill for lung cancer 

• Local bookstore Alibri was saved from closure thanks to its acquisition by US-based digital subscription platform Bookish

Barcelona startup news

• Urban Service Point to transform 100 kiosks in Barcelona in 2023 offering banking, urban mobility & parcel services

• Paack strikes deal with MediaMarkt to carry out sustainable deliveries

• University startup VRI wins Santander X Award for developing the ‘most advanced X-rays of the 21st century’

• Fintech Bankflip wins the 3rd edition of the El Referente Awards

• Foodtech startup Bio2Coatedible also won an award for its sustainable packaging that extends product shelf life 

• Parisian fund Ardian sells 15.6% stake (the 2nd largest) in eDreams Odigeo to institutional investors

Spanish investment news

• Spanish-French sustainable traveltech Evaneos land €20M

• Seville-based restaurant tech startup CoverManager bag €17M

• Madrid AI provider Dive secures €3M

• Valencian contech Woodea close €1.4M pre-seed round

• Seville biotech G2G Algae Solutions get €1M

• Guipuzcoan smart mailbox solution Normo raise €1M

VC, investment & crowdfunding news

• Highly active Austrian VC Speedinvest announces €500M in new funds to back European tech startups

• Wayra invests €350K into Munich-based internet accessibility startup enna

• BeWater launches its second venture capital fund, BeWater II FCRE, a vehicle of up to €40M

• Italian insurtech Prima lands in Spain with €50M+ investment to develop activity in the country

Open calls, accelerator news & incubator stories

• Registration is open for The Startup CFO Academy, a specialized school for finance training in startups; sign up now for Jan 26

• European Innovation Council’s 2023 work program has been adopted, with over €1.5B for breakthrough technologies plus an accelerator, support for women innovators & more

Barcelona startup & entrepreneur profiles & interviews:

• Barcelona Science Park: A strategic hub for excellent public R&D&i

• Jordi Romero, Factorial: How three Catalan engineers developed software valued at €100M

Tech News

Tech news in Barcelona:

• FC Barcelona makes 3-year deal with Ukrainian crypto exchange Whitebit 

• Danish video games company IO Interactive to expand its BCN studio, aiming to create 150 new jobs in the next 4 years

• GENESIS Biomed, a consultancy firm specializing in early-stage biomedical R&D projects, to close the year with a record turnover of €1.6M, up 28% from the previous year

• Tech Barcelona partners with airline Level to promote the Catalan tech ecosystem in the US; members will also get discounts on flights to innovation hubs like NYC, Boston & San Francisco

• Harvard University will study the Catalan cluster policy as a global success case

• Dyson chooses Barcelona to open new hairdressing lab to learn about its advanced tech

• Barcelona ranked top 12 European tech hub 

• Catalan semiconductor firm Ideaded invests €12M to build the largest private microchip cleanroom in southern Europe

Tech & big company news in Spain:

• Uber's Spanish food delivery platform agrees to pay severance to 4,400 riders

• Santander opens tech hubs in Malaga and Warsaw with 750 jobs now & a plan to reach 1400 total 

• Alibaba launches new Spanish marketplace Miravia that connects brands & content creators with consumers

Politics, legal & economics

• Spain to test cut in work hours to boost companies' productivity

• Alleged Spain boss in billion-euro crypto scam arrested in Barcelona airport

• Antitrust watchdog opens investigation into oil companies in Spain

• EU regulators must update telecom rules, Spain’s Calvino says

• Catalonia jockeys for mobility leadership

Good Reads

• KFund: Solar in Spain: An Opportunity for Startups

• Javi Santana, Co-Founder of Tinybird: Could ChatGPT work at Tinybird?

• New report by Wayra, Endeavor, & Fundación Innovación Bankinter: Spanish scaleups to grow their turnover by more than 50% in 2022

Good Videos & Podcasts

• A look inside Glovo’s new international HQ in Barcelona

• Itnig & Roger Dobaño López, Founder of recently acquired BCN startup Quipu (ES video+EN subs)

• Juan Carlos Tous, Co-Founder & CEO of Filmin: Filmin and the madness of bringing cinema to the internet (Hablando con líderes podcast, ES)

Great Events

This week:

• Mon, 19 Dec @18:00: Round Table: Investment in Digital Native Brands

• Mon, 19 Dec @19:00: #2 Barnatech Salon: Fireside chat with Laura-June Clarke, CEO at Moonai

Upcoming:

• Mon, 23 Jan @18:30: Tech Dating BCN - Tech conferences & Networking with Engineering Teams

• Wed, 25 Jan @18:30: #005 BCN FinTech (TBC - save your date)

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

Startup Jobs:

• Bloobirds is recruiting a Marketing Content Manager

• Opticks is looking for a Frontend Developer, Sales Development Representative & Head of Customer Success

• SolarMente want a Founders Associate - Tech Start-up Internship

• Red Points need a Channel Account Manager

• Voicemod is looking for a Communications Manager 

• Colvin is recruiting a CRM Specialist

• Bourbon Creative is hiring:

• - Freelance Content Writers and/or Project Managers (German, 100% remote)

• - Freelance Content Writers (English, 100% remote)

• Cognizant Netcentric has various open Tech roles