Hello and happy Monday!

We hope you had a great week and, literally, weathered the storm that hit Barcelona. Fortunately, this week we're back to the usual sunshine in the city so let's get right into the news.

Startup Grind Barcelona: 2019 review & 2020 preview

As you might have noticed, we are big fans of Startup Grind Barcelona. With an amazing array of rockstar guest speakers, 2019 has been an incredible year for Startup Grind Barcelona. We take a look at the year in focus and what's to come in 2020. Read the full article here.

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

Startup & Investment News

Barcelona investment news

• Barcelona & San Francisco-based startup Beezy secures a €14.42M credit facility

• Catalan microstays booking startup ByHours raises €8M

• Barcelona freelancer app Nomo receives a €1.8M investment

• Catalan startup Heura, 'the future of meat’, receives funding from the Spanish Government via the NEOTEC Program

Spanish investment news

• Madrid-based urban hostels firm Room007 closes a €3M investment round

• Madrid startup Hangry secures a €1M investment

• Basque medtech startup Polimerbio raises €300K

• Gijon-based firm Hi Mobility lands a €125K participation loan 

• Madrid-based startup coches.com was acquired by Banco Santander for an undisclosed fee

Startups news

• Barcelona-based insurance comparison platform iSalud grows premiums by 30% to reach €82M in 2019

• Catalan proptech startup Badi records 450% YoY growth

• Barcelona fintech startup Nemuru teams up with Ironhack to facilitate the financing of study programs

• Glovo exits the Middle East and drops two Latin American markets in latest food delivery crunch

• Glovo introduces Glovo Lunch to target offices with 'tupper' deliveries

• Barcelona startup niikiis named European HR Tech Startup of the year 2019

• Catalan startup Steering Machines crowned most promising industrial startup at IQS Tech Fest

• Barcelona-based FlexiDAO selected as one of the top 5 blockchain startups in the energy industry

• Catalan fintech Verse appoints Dave Garcia as new CTO

• The 12 semi-finalists for next month's 4YFN startup awards

VC, investment & crowdfunding news:

• Wayra disinvests from Teravoz after its acquisition by Twilio

• Madrid-based Asterion Industrial Partners, an independent investment management firm focused on infrastructure projects, closes a €1.1B fund

• FullVenture acquires a majority stake in Catalan firm PrintMakers 

Open calls, accelerator news & incubator stories:

• Spain has 170 active accelerators and incubators focused

• Merck opens call for projects that can help improve the life of people with multiple sclerosis; apply until 7th of February

• Retail Tech Awards opens call for its 2020 edition; apply until 20 of February

• CEL opens call to crown the logistics and transport projects with the biggest impact; apply until 28 of February

• Lanzadera signs agreement with Sony to renew and expand their corporate program

Barcelona startup & entrepreneur profiles & interviews:

• Bound4blue: wingsail technology for increased fuel efficiency in the shipping industry

• The Predictive Company: helping companies save money by eliminating their energy inefficiencies

• Ulabox: the online supermarket with 350K+ users

Tech News

• Barcelona jumps from 49th to 28th place in the latest Global Talent Competitiveness Index

• Catalan baking firm Pastisart secures a €4.3M capital increase to buy new production plant

• Ada Colau wants to close Calle Aragó, one of the busiest roads, once per month & add more 30km/h speed limits in Barcelona

• Barcelona presents new strategy to reduce air pollution, environmental noise and reduce accidents around schools

• Catalan trade industry is evaluating strategies of how to attract young buyers to physical stores as more people buy online

• Barcelona sets new public transport passenger record after increase in metro (1.1%) and bus (4%) usage

Mobile World Congress

• Mobile World Congress to stay in Barcelona at least until 2023 as GSMA CEO John Hoffman reiterates they are happy here and states "Why change something that's working?"

• Taxi drivers to call off MWC strike threats after meeting with the Generalitat and AMB

Tech news in Spain:

• After stepping down as Seat CEO, Luca De Meo is rumored to become the new Renault CEO

• - Meanwhile, Seat's interim chief states that recent financial & commercial results are strong, though CO2 emission rules and investment in electrification could make 2020 a complex year

• Spain is the fourth biggest ecommerce market in Europe

• Santander bank bullish on blockchain but sets realistic timeframe

• Spain's new high-speed, low-cost rail service Avlo to launch with €5 fares for Barcelona-Madrid route

Politics & Economics

• Spain's new government raises minimum wage by 5.5% to set it at €1.108 gross a month; this comes after a 22% hike last year

• Spanish Government postpones digital tax plans until OECD members reach an agreement

• Spain declares a national climate emergency

• Bank of Spain warns of negative, counterproductive mid & long-term effects of Government's plan to limit rent prices

Good Reads

• Startup Grind Barcelona 2019: The Year in Focus (& What’s Ahead in 2020)

• Top Spanish startups to follow in 2020

• The Spanish Start-Up Ecosystem — an Investor’s Perspective

Good Videos & Podcasts

• Interview with Jordi Romero, CEO of Factorial (by Itnig)

• Interview with Carlos Iglesias, CEO of Runroom (by En.digital)

Great Events

This Week

• Mon, 27 Jan @19:00: How to craft a brand Statement

• Tue, 28 Jan @15:30: XII S2B Demo Day

• Tue, 28 Jan @18:00: Innovation in Digital Medicine

• Tue, 28 Jan @18:30: Rebuild your SEO in 1 Hour Workshop

• Wed, 29 Jan @14:00: Money Makers - Pitch your startup to investors

• Wed, 29 Jan @19:00: START(it)UP - How to find an investor?

Next Week

• Tue, 4 Feb @18:30: Food, Drinks & Crypto

• Wed, 5 Feb @18:30: Hardware Hack Lab BCN

• Thu, 6 Feb @18:45: 17th Barcelona Recruitment Meetup

• Thu, 6 Feb @19:00: Women of Security Barcelona

• Thu, 6 Feb @08:00: 5th Annual IESE Women in Business Conference

2020 Q1 Key Events:

• Mon-Thu, 24-27 Feb: Mobile World Congress

• Mon-Wed, 24-26 Feb: 4YFN

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.