Hello and happy 2022!

Today's main headlines:

• TravelPerk becomes a 🦄, bags €100M

• Catalonia launches its own metaverse

• DE, FR & NL firms open office/hub in BCN

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You will learn directly from world-class practitioners working at Consensys, IBM, Bosch, and ING during the 5- and 10-week blockchain courses.

Next program starts on January 18th! 

Save 15% with the code BARCINNO – Valid until January 18th. 

For more info click here.

Have a great a week :)

Startup & Investment News

Barcelona investment news

• Travel tech startup TravelPerk raises €100M Series D at a valuation of €1.14B & becomes Barcelona latest startup unicorn

• - Read CEO Avi Muir’s tweetstorm on how Travelperk became Catalunya’s latest unicorn

• SaaS restaurant management platform Last.app gains €2.2M 

• Ad platform Kubik Data receives €1.5M

• Service Club Delivery, a platform for recruiting and upskilling delivery drivers, closes €500K Seed Round (source: Service Club Delivery communication to Barcinno)

• AI virtual recruitment platform Opground gets €500K

• Flower e-commerce Colvin acquires French firm Monsieur Marguerite to boost France expansion

Barcelona startup news

• Product analytics startup Trackingplan accepted into Y Combinator’s W22 batch 

• More successes following the great Glovo-Delivery Hero acquisition: 

• - Glovo explores expansion in Southern, Central and Eastern Europe as well as Africa

• - Glovo’s management and key personnel to secure €700M bonus while initial investors could see returns up to 100% 

• CEO and co-founder of proptech startup Ukio reports 2021 revenue of €4,359M with margins growing tenfold 

• Jobandtalent added €420M to 2021 turnover after buying out French and UK rivals

• Girona eCommerce site Tradeinn announces €378M turnover in 2021 – only 20% of which were from Spain

• Sports eCommerce company Deporvillage’s 2021 sales reach €160M

• Sustainable urban farmers Groots will build a new construction plant after €800K investment 

• Local blockchain startup Rand partners with keyko for security and smart contract audits

• Proptech startup Badi is going through a difficult time according to ARA

• German booking platform Holidu opens an office in Barcelona

• French neobank unicorn Qonto to open call centre in Barcelona

Spanish investment news

• Madrid-based neobank MyInvestor secures €20M from El Corte Ingles, Axa and more

• Madrid mentorship marketplace GuruCall adds €500K to previous €1.2M rounds

• Madrid influencer marketplace FuelYourBrands also closes a €500K round

• Andalucia-based (and Barcelona Health Hub member) Nubentos closes its second round of €500K

• Madrid-based satellite telecommunications leaders Satlink acquired by Ergon

VC, investment & crowdfunding news

• Seaya’s bet on Glovo & Wallbox pays off as VC firm set to rake in high ROI

• Two thirds of the 96 impact startups that participated in Ship2B’s accelerator raised funding

Open calls, accelerator news & incubator stories

• Incubator Decelera to launch a €30M fund following partnership with Sancus Capital

• Y Combinator announces new standard deal of $500K 

• YC is also accepting applications for its summer 2022 program

• AticcoLab selects 7 new startups in its third acceleration program

• Two new calls from PcComponentes: pre-seed Venture Builders, and accelerator Startup Booster for innovative eCommerce projects

• F10 partners with Klaytn Foundation to launch incubation program in Singapore

• Collider raised €4.9M and created 30 new jobs in 2021

Barcelona startup & entrepreneur profiles & interviews:

• BCN3D: Catalan 3D printer startup 

• Gretel: company management app 

• Kubbo Fulfilment: the BCN logistics startup giving Amazon a run for its money 

• Anna Carreras: the digital artist making millions with NFTs

• Ferran Adrià: world famous chef talks about the legacy of elBulli, the work of elBullifoundation, and innovation & impact

Tech News

Tech news in Barcelona:

• Catalonia has launched its own metaverse called CatVers

• The show must go on: MWC announces they will stick to an in-person version of the event, unless requested otherwise by the local authorities

• Barcelona’s 22@ district office space investment exceeds that of the entire city of Madrid 

• Demand for offices in Barcelona up 86% in 2021 thanks to growth of companies like Glovo and Webhelp

• Dutch paint company AkzoNobel opens European planning hub in Barcelona

• Tech Barcelona incorporates digital health solutions company Dedalus as a Corporate Partner

• Catalan firm eDreams launches a capital increase to raise €75M in order to reduce debt

• Alicante startup MimoTo extends its network of secure motorcycle parks to Barcelona

Tech news in Spain:

• BBVA, Repsol and 11 other entities create a consortium in Spain to investigate quantum computing

• Cabify could lose a third of its fleet in Madrid as of January 20

• SpaceX’s Starlink internet service is now available in Spain for €99 a month

• Meta plans to build its metaverse by hiring 10,000 remote workers across Europe, including Spain 

• Telefónica sells 60% of its fibre optic subsidiary in Colombia to US private equity firm KKR for €174.M

Politics, Legal & Economics

• Spain cracks down on short-term contracts with labour reform

• Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism allocates €25M via an EU fund to digitalize companies in the tourism sector

Good Reads

• Barcelona tech community “leading the greatest economic change in decades”

• Emprendedores’s ranking of the 100 most relevant entrepreneurs in the Spanish ecosystem

• El Referente’s top 15 Spanish music startups 

• - Oldie but goldie: Barcelona’s Thriving MusicTech Scene

• K-Fund’s Miguel Arias’s 2022 tech predictions 

• Moz’s top Google SEO tips for 2022

• PitchBook share data on where the most European VC funding went in 2021

Good Videos & Podcasts

• Interview with Vanessa Stock, co-founder of Pitch (Women Authors of Achievement Podcast)

• Interview with Juan Urdiales from Jobandtalent

• Interview with Elena Peyró of JoinUp

• Interview with Eduardo Manchón of BCN’s Mailtrack

• Interview with Lídia Infante, Senior International SEO at BigCommerce, about SEO myths from a technical point of view (Life on Mars podcast)

Great Events

This wek:

• Tue, 18 Jan @18:30: [FREE Workshop] Machine Learning for beginners

• Wed, 19 Jan @17:00: How to increase the productivity of a 100% remote team [ES]

• Wed, 19 Jan @18:30: [Online workshop] Code your first Landing Page 

• Sat, 22 Jan @09:00: Barcelona Expat Fair

• Sat, 22 Jan @10:00: Women’s Coding Day – Learn to code for free in January!

Upcoming:

• Wed, 26 Jan: StartupGrind BCN with Carlos Cruz (Iyi Events, FuckUp Nights BCN)

• Thu, 27 Jan: Afterwork Pier01

• Mon-Thu, 28 Feb - 3 Mar: Mobile World Congress 2022

• Mon-Thu, 28 Feb - 3 Mar: 4YFN

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

Jobs

• SocialPoint is looking for a Growth & Innovation Marketing Manager

• McLaren Barcelona is hiring a Senior Marketing Executive

• Groots is recruiting a Brand Manager

• Signaturit is looking for a Growth Marketing Manager

• DocPlanner is hiring a Product Research Team Leader

• Wallbox is recruiting a Brand Marketing Manager

• Kleta is looking for a Head of Marketing & Growth

• Mutter Vetures is hiring a CMO

• Bloobirds ir recruiting a:

• - Sales Operations - Salesforce

• - Sales Development Representative

• Oliva is hiring a:

• - Senior Full-Stack Engineer

• - Senior DevOps Engineer

• Netcentric is looking for several IT positions