Hello and happy Monday!

MWC is off, but the party is not!

MWC & 4YFN have officially been cancelled, but that doesn't mean that the party is completely over. In fact, the whole ecosystem has come together and is currently working on setting up an alternative event schedule to boost the tech ecosystem in Barcelona. This is reaching advanced stages now, with all the initiatives to come together under the umbrella of Barcelona Tech Spirit. Of course, we're also updating our MWC2020 Parties & Events Guide each day to include information on which event will still go ahead or not.

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

Startup & Investment News

Barcelona investment news

• Barcelona fintech Kantox completes a €9.6M capital extension as they bring BNP Paribas as shareholders

• Barcelona startup Baula receives a €1.3M investment

• Catalan startup Consentio secures a €1.1M investment

• Barcelona startup Optimus Price closes a €600K investment

• Barcelona-based startup Catevering lands €500K

• Catalan startup Party Fiesta is now owned by Suma Capital, who have acquired a 51% stake in the company

Spanish investment news

• Galician startup Arengu raises €500K pre-seed to expand its secure sign-up form tool

Startup news

• Barcelona startup Tiendeo increased revenues by 5.26% to reach €10M in 2019

• Catalan food marketplace Smartfooding acquires French ecommerce firm Graine de Bonne Santé

• Barcelona startup Reloadly celebrates new partnerships with 25 leading mobile operators

• Cooltra must move 1,200 of its mopeds out of Barcelona due to a new regulation from the Barcelona City Hall which limits the max. amount of license per company to 331

• - Cooltra's CEO Timo Buetefisch shared his thoughts on Linkedin

• - A motosharing manifesto has also been launched and is gaining a strong backing from citizens

• Catalan startup Onalabs creates a device that monitors athletes' lactate levels by analyzing their sweat

• Barcelona startup Holded selected as Spanish finalist for Tech5 competition that crowns Europe's fastest growing firms

• Catalan e-voting startup Scytl is trying to renegotiate €30M in debt

• Barcelona startup Playfulbet has ceased its operations

VC, investment & crowdfunding news:

• Telefónica Innovation Ventures participates in €12M funding round by Israeli blockchain startup Clear

• Repsol Corporate Venturing invests €3M in Finnish startup TactoTek

• Rafael Nadal becomes partner at Mabel Capital investment firm 

Open calls, accelerator news & incubator stories:

• Ship2B's B-Value program announces the 40 social organisations it selected for its 4th edition

• EIT Food Accelerator Network opens call for its third edition; agriculture & food startups can apply until 10th of March

• CaixaImpulse Validate 2020 opens call for life science, medical and health tech projects; apply until 16th of March

• INDESCAT extends application deadline for Premis Empresa i Esport to 17th of April

• South Summit is looking for the 100 most disruptive startups in the world; apply until the 31st of May

Barcelona startup & entrepreneur profiles & interviews:

• AllRead MLT: deep learning-based information spotting technology

• Sonicat Systems: using ultrasound to keep honey liquid and stop wastage

• Scaled Robotics: revolutionising the construction industry with AI robotics

• Women and Tech: interview with Victoria Gago, co-founder of EBC, and Laia Subirats, researcher at EURECAT

Tech News

• FC Barcelona partners with a startup to launch its own token

• Barcelona Chamber of Commerce launches a new space and aeronautics commission to promote the industry

Mobile World Congress Special

• GSMA cancels Mobile World Congress due to coronavirus concerns

• MWC might be off — but there’s a guerrilla event in the works

• Barcelona's tech ecosystem has come together to organize Barcelona Tech Spirit, an entrepreneurship conference during the original MWC week

• Barcelona's City Council to launch Opportunity Week to compensate the effects of the MWC cancellation

• Counting the cost of no-show Mobile World Congress

• Hundreds of suppliers prepare lawsuits against the GSMA to compensate for losses that reach millions

• Chinese brands plan to still go ahead with new product launch announcements in Barcelona

Tech news in Spain:

• Spain’s 5G auction to award licenses to operators has been postponed until May

• The ecommerce market in Spain will grow by 12.5% ​​to reach €29.2B in 2020

• Spain’s mission-led research is a way to think bigger

• Telefónica launches new Movistar+ voice remote

Politics & Economics

• Spain cuts this year's economic growth forecast, ups deficit

• Spain will consult business on labour law, says economy chief (FT)

• Spain welcomes post-Brexit chance for Gibraltar talks with UK (FT)

• Spain set to decriminalise euthanasia

• Spain has nearly 900 music festivals and attendance and revenue keep rising

Good Reads

• Barcelona & Digital Startups (ESP)

• Overview of the GovTech ecosystem in Spain and Latin America (ESP)

• Gender equality in Spain might have come further than you think

Good Videos & Podcasts

• Video interview with Ben Nachoom, CEO at OneCoWork

• Interview with David Okuniev, Co-founder of Typeform (by SaaS Club)

• Interview with Timo Buetefisch, CEO of Cooltra (by Soluble Studio)

• Interview with Joel Balague, Co-founder of Volava (by Itnig)

Great Events

This Week

• Tue, 18 Feb @08:30: Finance Breakfast: International Series-A From The Perspective of A Lawyer (CAT)

• Tue, 18 Feb @18:30: How to use Push Notifications on your website as a Growth Channel

• Wed, 19 Feb @14:00: Money Makers - Pitch Your Startups To Investors

• Wed, 19 Feb @18:00: 22@EMPRÈN (ESP)

• Thu, 20 Feb @19:00: Financing Growth Without Losing Equity (ESP)

• Sat, 22 Feb @10:00: Pitch to WIN: Practical Tools to help you build the winning pitch

• Sun, 23 Feb @18:00: Tech.eu Mobile Sunday 2020 (TBC but it seems like it will still go ahead despite the MWC cancellation)

Next 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

See the full event calendar here.

See the full MWC2020 Parties & Events Guide here.

Startup Jobs In Barcelona

• Unnax is looking for a VP Sales - B2B SaaS

• Agile Content is hiring a Senior Java Software Engineer

See the full job board here.