Hello and happy Monday,

Today's main headlines:

• BCN startups raise €17M across 4 rounds 💸

• Local biotech Molomics acquired by US firm 🔬

• Korean firm puts €600M into BCN battery plant 🏙️

There are loads of great events this week, from Startup Grind over SaaStock to BCN FinTech Afterwork. Hence, I'm just writing a minimalistic intro so you can use your time to check them out. Hope to see you out there.

Have a fun & take care! 🌻

Startup & Investment News

Barcelona investment news

• Eldercare app Durcal raises €8M

• BCN & UK-based app development governance platform Quality Clouds gets €6.5M

• Robo advisor inbestMe secures €2M

• Edtech firm Profe.com closes a €450K pre-seed round

• Adtech firm Tappx acquires mobile gaming firm From The Bench for an undisclosed amount

• Biotech firm Molomics gets acquired by Californian company VeriSIM Life

Barcelona startup news

• Embedded finance provider Unnax set to double revenues from €3.5M in 2021 to €6M this year; will open a €25M round in September to boost it's expansion plans abroad

• Luxury label PdPaola boosts global expansion through retail & reaches €30M in sales in 2021

• Typeform launches Relayed, an async team conversation solution for the remote age and which also helps get the most out of (less) meetings

• Heura opens its first pop up store in Madrid

• Wallbox give tour of new multimillion-dollar BCN factory

• Spanish video platform Gamestry hires talent from Wallapop, Waynabox and 2btube to compete with Twitch

Spanish investment news

• Madrid-based digital car retailer Clicars gets acquired by Stellantis (via Aramis Group) for apparantly €100M

• Madrid startup Cabify gets €40M loan from the EIB to add 1.4K electric cars

• Madrid & US-based customer service automation startup Lang lands €10M

• Sevilla-based WiFi techn firm GALGUS lands €4M

• Madrid tech firm Barbara IoT receives €2.5M

• Valladolid-based furniture subscription startup Bechester raises close to €1.5M

VC, investment & crowdfunding news

• Arcano launches Balbo Ventures II, aims to raise €150M and invest in early-stage startups

• Inveready securitizes its Convertible Finance I fund

Open calls, accelerator news & incubator stories

• ONCE’s Innova Entrepreneurs Challenge is open for startups improving the quality of life of blind and low-vision citizens, especially via a digital workplace; apply until May 31

• Adinberri, Rural Kutxa & BerriUp launch the Silver Economy Call, aimed at projects aiming to improve quality of life for the elderly; apply until June 5 

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

• Le Wagon Spain is offering €1K scholarships for its data science & web dev courses; they’re offered from May 1 to June 30 & the sessions start July 11

Barcelona startup & entrepreneur profiles & interviews:

• Rayvolt: beautifully designed electric bikes & cruisers

• Kompyte: an exemplary case of the maturity of the digital ecosystem

• Nomo: the all-in-one fintech for SMEs and the self-employed

Tech News

Tech news in Barcelona:

• South Korean firm Iljin invests €600M to manufacture a key component of batteries in Catalonia; creates 500 jobs

• - Catalonia bids tech investment from South Korea

• Port of Barcelona set to develop an innovation hub to focus on projected linked to the blue economy

• Tech Barcelona announces HP as new Global Partner

• An NFT that reinterprets Casa Batlló sells for €1.38M at Christie's

• ETHBarcelona is Spain's first Ethereum Conference, focuses on education, innovation, art & creating positive social impact, and will take place on 6-8 June in Barcelona

• Spanish coworking sector grew by 39% to reach €131M in revenues in 2021; led by a boost in remote work and startups

Tech & big company news in Spain:

• Tech talent shortage triggers salary rises of 20%; local firms and startups struggle to compete for talent with multinationals opening hubs in Spain

• US VC fund TA Associates finalizes the acquisition of Spanish tech firm esPublico for €500M+

• Spanish podcast consumption ranks first amongst large European countries; read the full overview of the podcast industry in this article

Politics, Legal & Economics

• Bank of Spain calls for the lower rates of IVA to be increased and pensions to be delinked from the consumer price index to curb ‘second-round effects’ of inflation

Good Reads

• Catalan start-ups drive economic optimism (gated content)

• 2022 State of Crypto Report - a16z crypto

• Meet the women leading Europe's top fintechs 

Good Videos & Podcasts

• Trusting Alexa: A one on one with Amazon's Anne Toth (EN)

• Interview with Regina Ferré, talent acquisition manager at Freshly Cosmetics (ES)

• Interview with Albert Bosch, CEO & founder at Housfy (ES)

Great Events

This week:

• Mon, 23 May @18:00: SaaStock Barcelona: Meet & connect with SaaS founders and influencers

• Tue, 24 May @18:30: Startup Grind BCN hosts Sara Werner (CEO & Co-Founder @ Cocunat)

• Wed, 25 May @18:30: BCN FinTech Afterwork #001 - Feat. Kristoffer Hanson, CEO & Co-founder at Prestalo

• Thu, 26 May @14:00: Le Wagon Coding School Open Day

• Thu, 26 May @18:00: The food that promises to change the world with Christophe Pais and Cristina Querol

Upcoming:

• Wed, 1 Jun @19:00: Masterclass: Create and launch an artificial intelligence product without programming

• 26-28 Jun: European Blockchain Convention in Barcelona

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

Jobs

• OneCoWork is recruiting a Community Associate

• Opticks is recruiting a:  

• - Sales Development Representative - Spanish Market

• - Customer Engineer

• Frizbit is looking for multiple Sales positions

• FirstDerm is recruiting roles for sales, marketing, product & tech

• EU-Startups is hiring a Startup Analyst

• Netcentric is looking for several IT positions