Hello and hope everyone had a fruitful Sant Jordi 📚 🌹 🐲 ,

Today's main headlines:

•  Wallbox inaugurates new 2nd factory in BCN 🔋

• BCN startups raise €13M across 4 rounds 💰

• Barcelona to have a uni in the Metaverse 🎓

Last week’s newsletter highlighted the many great events in Barcelona, but this time, we wanted to shout out one particularly awesome contribution: Startup Grind Barcelona. They’ve since expanded to include a new local chapter too, Startup Grind Mataró, so don’t miss that if you live a little outside of the city. 

Founded in 2014 by Àlex Rodríguez Bacardit and therefore celebrating 8 amazing years 🎉, they’re an invaluable addition to the Barcelona ecosystem. SG offers – in their own words and ours – an open and welcoming community including events, networking meetups, workshops and more. They also run a 2000+ member strong Slack community of entrepreneurs and founders. 

The next event (which is in English, as always) is today, April 25th: Startup Grind BCN ft. Fuckup Nights BCN. There’s open mic, fireside chats, networking and more with Avi Meir (CEO & Founder @TravelPerk), Laura Fernández (CEO & Founder @AllWomen), and Ivan Garcia (Founder @Reboot).

So thanks 🙏 to Àlex, the brains behind SG BCN, and Jordi Bolet Castellà, the founder of SG Mataró.

Have a great week! 🌻

Startup & Investment News

Barcelona investment news

• Fintech unicorn Qonto completes the fastest-ever €5M Crowdcube fundraise

• AI-powered search innovators Nuclia secure €4.9M seed funding

• Catalan ‘Youtube for gamers’ Gamestry receive €3M

• Medtech Time is Brain get €100K from Banco Sabadell's startup program

• Retail & brand drive-to-store solution Tiendeo acquired by Italian firm ShopFully

Barcelona startup news

• Wallbox inaugurates new 2nd factory in Barcelona which they hope will produce 750K EV chargers per year

• How the Glovo sale set the tone for startup investments in 2022

• Budgeting app Corgee unveils 2.0 version to help freelancers with invoices

• GoodNews expect to close the year with a €5M turnover & break even before December

• Red Points 2020 figures revealed; the firm records a 25% increase in revenues to reach €15M, but also a loss of €5.6M

• Proptech firm Brickbro portfolios 590 properties, value of €143M & will launch in France 

• Two ex-Mox directors launch a new Barcelona based startup called Metrickal - designed to help Spanish startups and PYMES cut costs and boost their valuations.

• InnoLarva, the startup that transforms organic waste using insect larvae, wins the InnoFood Award

Spanish investment news

• Spanish-Italian business travel platform BizAway raises €10M

• Madrid-based crypto-custody & CaaS startup Onyze land €1.2M

• Madrid fintech Aura Pay receives €530K 

• Madrid-based refund app Reveni got €800K

• Spanish investment bank Alantra acquires stake in French boutique Avolta Partners 

VC, investment & crowdfunding news

• BBVA to join & invest €15M in K Fund’s Leadwind, a VC fund aimed at Spanish tech companies 

• Spain & Switzerland-based fintech incubator and accelerator F10 secures funding & management buy-in to fuel global growth

• Seaya Ventures creates new fund to pump more investment into its many startups

Open calls, accelerator news & incubator stories

• Open call for entrepreneurs developing solutions to tackle water scarcity in Southern Europe; apply until April 26th 

• ISE Open Innovation Challenge, a B2B international meetings event, is looking for 8 corporations providing new technologies/solutions; apply until April 29th 

• Innovative Ideas Awars open call for engineering, sustainability, & environment-focused startups; apply until April 29th  

• SHOP4CF (Smart Human Oriented Platform for Connected Factories) is offering €100K to manufacturers in their 2nd open call; apply until April 30th

• Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation & Ship2B open call for projects promoting social transformation through sustainable food & art; apply until May 1st

• The New Energy Challenge is open for startups & scale-ups focused on the transition to a sustainable energy future & how Shell connects to it; apply util May 1st 

• AECOC’s Pia challenge call for projects focusing on innovation in sustainability and circular economy; apply until May 27th 

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

• Catalunya Rural Hub 2nd call to promote the relocation of digital nomads to rural and less populated environments in Catalonia

• Decathlon’s new Supported by Decathlon program is still open for sportstech, retailtech & datatech startups; apply now 

Barcelona startup & entrepreneur profiles & interviews:

• Isa Fernández Farrés: lead R&D scientist at@ Heura on gender bias in the sector

• Ivack: cloud solution for autonomos & SMEs to digitize & recover invoices 

• Plannam: intelligent HR management for large hotel, retail & industrial chains

• Platanomelón: much more than just an erotic shop 

• Ricard Guillem: the 17-year-old founder of Cafler 

• Narek Verdian: interview with Glovo’s at CTO Sessions

Tech News

Tech news in Barcelona:

• Photonics-sector companies in Catalonia grew by 51% in the last 3 years

• Barcelona to have a university in the Metaverse this September 

• Black mirror in Barcelona? Government signs deal with drone company to monitor & control public

• Tech Barcelona closes its entrepreneur club 

• BCN’s entrepreneurs think the city should do more to promote itself as a serious place to do business 

• Barcelona Science Park sees all-time record in new companies and occupancy

• American startup Hotelera replaces Hotusa and plans to reopen the 5* Hotel Passeig de Gràcia 

• New center to be created in collab with Port de Barcelona offering specialized training in the sphere of logistics, sales, and admin

Tech & big company news in Spain:

• CaixaBank is “entering the metaverse” through imaginLAND

• Crowdcube obtains its CNMV license to operate throughout Europe

• Damm Group beats the pandemic and bills €1.48M in 2021, up 21.5%

• Spanish court ends protection for Super League clubs 

• Netflix and Cartagena sign historic deal in Spain to promote the audiovisual sector   

Politics, Legal & Economics

• Plan for compulsory e-bike insurance in Spain faces fierce opposition

• Lawyers say Spanish crypto investors are fleeing to Portugal to escape high taxes

Good Reads

• Investing in Spain: key questions answered

• 13 European VC investors looking to invest in Web3 startups and projects

• Q&A with Tinybird’s Jorge Gomez Sancha on their GTM strategy

• N26 says crypto is the preferred asset for Spanish women in 2022  

Good Videos & Podcasts

• The Ezra Klein Show on “The most thorough case against crypto I’ve ever heard” (EN)

• Expanding the search for skilled workers with Ariel Camus, CEO & founder of BCN’s Microverse (EN)

• Consolidation in the developer bootcamps market with Boris Paillard, CEO of LeWagon (EN)

• Constructing a digital ecosystem with ​​CEO of Tech Barcelona Miquel Martí & Xavier Nuñez, director of Epitech (ES)

• Interview with Aleix Puig, masterchef & founder of BCN’s VICIO (ES)

• Interview with Ricard Jornet (Entrepreneur & President @ Som Mobilitat) at Startup Grind Mataró

Great Events

This week:

• Mon, 25 Apr @18:30: Startup Grind BCN ft. Fuckup Nights BCN

• Wed, 27 Apr @18:30: Startup Grind Mataró hosts Victor Horcasitas (Investor & President @ The American Society of Barcelona)

• Wed, 27 Apr & Thu, 28 Apr: EdTech Congress Barcelona

• Wed, 27 Apr @19:00: Masterclass | Let’s Pitch to WIN: how to succeed with a pitch

• Thu, 28 Apr @19:00: Masterclass | Marketing Automation: automate your Customer Journey

Upcoming:

• Thu, 5 May @18:00: Transhumanism: in the footsteps of the cyborg  with philosopher Belén Quejigo 

• Thu, 5 May @18:00: Spring 2022 Barcelona Tech Job Fair

• Thu, 5 May @20:00: The Valley Masterclass | Leadership tools

• Tue, 10 May - Thu, 12 May: Barcelona Cybersecurity Congress 

• Tue, 10 May @09:00: IoT Solutions World Congress Startup Competition 2022 

• 12-13 May: EU-Startups Summit

• 26-28 Jun: European Blockchain Convention in Barcelona

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

Jobs

• Bourbon Creative is hiring a Freelance German Content Writer (100% remote)

• Honest Greens is looking for a Data Engineer

• Opticks is recruiting a:

• - Sales Development Representative - French Market

• - Customer Engineer

• Minerva Project is hiring a Partner Success Manager/Senior Manager

• BCN3D Technologies is looking for a Growth Specialist

• Bumble is recruiting a Global Commercial Strategy Manager, Badoo

• Netcentric is looking for several IT positions