Hello & welcome back post-Easter,

Today's headlines:

• Glovo raises €450M, a new record in Spain

• Decathlon evaluates set-up of a BCN innovation hub

• Spanish startups already raised more money in 2020 than in 2021

No bull this week, so let's get right into it! Have a great week!

Startup & Investment News

Barcelona investment news

• Glovo raises €450M Series F round,.the largest investment round raised by a Spanish startup to date

• Healthcare management app MediQuo closes a €2.3M funding round

• Biotech Aortyx closes €1.6M financing round to initiate clinical trials

• Big data startup Qbeast closes a €520K investment round

• Financial education platform Balio gets €276K

• Furniture marketplace Livelia raises €115K

• Catalan biotech startups raised a total of €200M in 2020

Barcelona Startup news

• Projected VR firm Broomx enters nursing home and public health space to help people undergoing therapies and treatments

• Bicycle subscription services arrive in Barcelona, led by local startup Kleta and dutch firm Swapfiets

• Barcelona ranked as 3rd most attractive hub for startups in Europe for 4th year in a row according to Startup Heatmaps 2021 report

Spanish investment news

• Spanish startups have already raised more money in Q1 2021 than in the whole of last year, thanks in large to Glovo’s massive round

• Madrid-based CaaS startup Ritmo raises a €3M funding round

• Seville-based after-sales digitization firm CyG Sustainable Tech closes a €2M funding round

• Madrid-based EaaS startup Full & Fast raises €375K funding round through the Fellow Funders

• Las Canarias-based blockchain gaming startup Triple O Games lands a €200K funding round

• Madrid-based VR pain management startup WakeUp & Smile raises €200K through the La Bolsa Social

• Madrid-based asset manager Grupo BC acquires legal tech firm Lexer

VC, investment & crowdfunding news:

• The CDTI approves €76M in funding for 161 Spanish R&D projects

• Axon Partners sets up a €45M PE investment vehicle for EPM’s cleantech and renewables investments

• The CDTI approves €20.7M in joint venture funding for 15 Spanish companies

• Barcelona-based VC firm Encomenda Smart Capital participates in cryptocurrency exchange software Atani’s €6.25M funding round

• Axon Partners will manage the Colombian utilities company Empresas Públicas de Medellín’s innovation investment arm

• EPM forms strategic partnership with Axon Partners

• Crowdfunding platform Fellow Funders launches a house flipping business line  

Open calls, accelerator news & incubator stories:

• Lanzadera and Amadeus team up to promote startups in the travel sector

Barcelona startup & entrepreneur profiles & interviews:

• Clevernet: making the internet better by providing a faster, more reliable and secure way to transfer data

• David Riudor: interview with the co-founder & CEO of fintech startup Goin

• Enzo Ventures: a new microfund by Gen Z founders, for Gen Z founders

Tech News

Tech news in Barcelona:

• Decathlon is looking at setting up an innovation hub in Barcelona

• Volta Trucks investigates potential manufacturing in Barcelona

• Barcelona Supercomputing Center launches spin-off to analyze data "like the human brain"

• UAE announces plans to build country’s first quantum computer with Barcelona-based Qilimanjaro Quantum Tech researchers

• Catalan government fines Cabify €431K due to employment status of some of its drivers

• The future of concerts? Thousands attend Barcelona show after same-day COVID-19 screening

• Spain exempts MWC attendees from travel restrictions

Tech news in Spain:

• MasMovil makes €2B takeover bid for Basque rival Euskaltel

• Cloud hosting firm Gigas buys Valoradata’s cloud backup unit for €2.3M

• Indra cuts 800 jobs among its defense and technology subsidiary due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic

• Bizum gains in popularity in Spain and apparently just surpassed 15M users

• Telefonica partners quantum companies to validate new tech

• Iberdrola and Mapfre form a strategic alliance to co-invest in Spain’s renewable energy sector

• Amazon Spain records €5.4B in sales, pays €140M in taxes and contracts over 12K full time employees in 2020

Politics, Legal & Economics

• Spain expects to kickstart tourism in June with EU vaccine certificates

• Spain's 2020 budget deficit rises to nearly 11% of GDP

• Spain seeks to increase diplomatic and economic ties in Africa

• Spain prepares vaccine rollout surge as supplies gather pace

Good Reads

• Case Study: How does Barcelona maintain rank as 3rd most attractive hub for startups in Europe for 4 years?

• Mobility firms Cooltra, Youin and Kleta discuss how regulations affect their businesses and how cities promote urban mobility

• 2021 Startup Heatmap Europe

• Thoughts on the podcast industry in 2021

• Y Combinator - Top 50 Software Startups

• What happened to Barcelona low-cost airline Clickair?

Good Videos & Podcasts

• Interview with Mike Counihan, Managing Director at Transcend Partners

• Interview with Kintxo Cortes, country manager at Shopify Spain [ES]

• Interview with Julio Ribes, co-founder of Swipcar [ES]

• Video: how do business angels manage their portfolio [ES]

Great Events

This week:

• Mon-Fri, 12-16 Apr: 5th European Blockchain Convention

Upcoming:

• 21 Apr: Go Big or Go Home! Secrets to Silicon Valley Success

• 22 Apr: Startup Grind Mataró: Jonàs Sala (Co-founder & Partner @ Verkami)

• 6-7 May: Automobile Barcelona

• 28 Jun - 1 Jul: MWC

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

Jobs

• Almirall is hiring a Marketing Director Spain

• Factorial is looking for a Customer Engagement Executive

• Wallbox is recruiting a

• - Strategy & Operations Associate

• - Magento Frontend Specialist

• - Product Owner OCPP products

• Whisbi is hiring a Digital Marketer B2B

• TripAdvisor is looking for a Global Operations Strategy Director

• Glovo is recruiting a Brand Marketing Services Director

• Kantox is hiring a Head of Marketing

• TechBuddy is looking for a Swedish-Speaking Customer Success Specialist

• FlexiDAO is recruiting an Energy & Sustainability Services Manager