Good morning & happy Monday!

Summer has fully arrived and Spanish startups continue to raise record amounts of VC funding. Let's jump right into the news.

Have a great week and take care of yourselves!

Startup & Investment News

Barcelona investment news

• Catalan startup Qida closes a €3.6M investment round

• - We featured Qida's early success on our list of "10 Inspiring Social Startups From Barcelona" last year

• Barcelona-based online video production platform Titbit.tv raises €150K

• Catalan healthcare startup Sherplay raises €65K

• Barcelona startup JobisJob was acquired by Adevinta for an undisclosed fee

• Investment in Catalan life science and health startups increased to €112M in 2019

Barcelona Startup news

• Mattress e-commerce firm La Marmota plans to reach €8M in sales this year

• Fintech startup Goin announces new feature that allows users to exchange savings for Amazon & Zalando gift cards instantly instead of waiting for money to be transferred to their current accounts

• Deporvillage closes an agreement with the Tour de France

• Tradeinn annoucnes the first international long distance triathlon in Girona for 2021

• Glovo partners with carbon credit marketplace Pachama to offset carbon emissions from cars and motorbikes

• PAL Robotics uses robots to fight COVID-19

Spanish investment news

• Valencia-based startup Voicemod receives €7,12M

• Navarra-based startup everSens raises €356K

• Madrid incubator & accelerator Ufounders gets €350K

• Andalusian B2B e-learning startup Twenix raises €335K

• Galician startup Emerita Legal secures a €260K investment

• Madrid bitcoin wallet HandCash closes a new funding round for an undisclosed amount

• Aon apparently had to pay €294M for the acquisition of Madrid & US startup Coverwallet earlier this year

• Spanish regulators approve merger of pet ecommerce firms Kiwoko (Madrid) & TiendAnimal (Malaga)

• Spanish startups raise €139M in June as VC investment picks up pace

VC, investment & crowdfunding news:

• Aldea Ventures is a new Barcelona-based VC firm that aims to raise €100M and invest in funds and startups

• Spaniard Adeyemi Ajao's firm Base10 Ventures raises €220M to invest in startups

• Fondo Bolsa Social is a new €10M+ fund aimed at social impact startups

Open calls, accelerator news & incubator stories:

• Over 50 startups have registered for blockchain & AI-focused accelerator program Cuatrecasas Acelera; you can still apply until 7th July

• DIGI-B-CUBE opens call for projects focused on integrating digital innovations & disruptive technologies across the Medical Diagnostics and related value chains; apply until 29th of July

• General Spain opens call for e-health startups; apply until 3rd of August

• Barcelona-based VrTech announces 3 finalists for the VrTech Startup Competition 2020, includes firms from Madrid & Andalucia

• Capitalismo Consciente teams up with B Lab Spain and Ship2B to promote collaboration and sustainable business practices amongst companies

Barcelona startup & entrepreneur profiles & interviews:

• Breaz: a new method of diagnosis for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

• Swipcar: get the car that you want as long as you need

Tech News

• Barcelona to host World Design Weeks headquarters

• Barcelona Metro pilots AI-powered ventilation system to curb COVID-19

• 6 Catalan clusters raise more than €500K from EU Commission for innovation projects

• T-Systems to use AI to analyze the flow of trucks in the Port of Barcelona for improved traffic management and flow of trucks

• New Amazon logistics centers in Barcelona and Madrid to create 600 new jobs

Tech news in Spain:

• Tech consultancy GTI was acquired for almost €34M by Italian group Esprinet

• Tech consulting firm Cuatrochenta to go public after summer

• German fintech N26 puts plans to offer credit to consumers and businesses in Spain on ice due to COVID-19 impact

• Indra to cut costs due to COVID-19 

Politics & Economics

• Spain to pass €50B corporate aid package, sets up fund to boost solvency

• Spain to introduce a new automobile subsidy that pays €300-4.000 for switching to a more sustainable car

• Foment del Treball, the Catalan employers association, reveals list of 100 basic infrastructure projects for the region; a tunnel between Barcelona & Vallès is once again featured

• Spain closes nearly half of its coal-fired power stations

Good Reads

• The leading women entrepreneurs in Spain in 2020

• How the current pandemic is affecting Spanish startups

• Spain aims for global leadership in CleanTech and Transportation

• Spain's tremendous opportunity to attract foreigners to work in remote from Spain

Good Videos & Podcasts

• Interview with Marc Rovira, CEO a Co-founder at Polaroo

• IQS Tech Factory Talk Series #5 Heriberto Saldivar Brinc

Great Events

This Week:

• Tue, 7 Jul @11:00: Deep Tech Talks: Soluciones tecnológicas para afrontar los retos posCovid

• Wed, 8 Jul @18:00: How to run successful social campaigns through Creative Innovation

• Thu, 9 Jul @9:30: Online session for international firms in Barcelona: From the lockout to the new normality

• Thu, 9 Jul @18:00: Online Workshop: Choosing The Right Architecture

• Fri-Sun, 10-12 Jul: Demium Barcelona AllStartup Weekend

Next Week:

• Tue, 14 Jul @13:00: IQS Tech Factory Talk Series: Nicolas Avril, VP Europe at Dragon Innovation (an Avnet company)

• Tue, 14 Jul @18:00: Startup Grind Barcelona: How to transition from senior developer to CTO, with Rob De Feo (AWS) 

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