Hello and happy Monday,

Today's main headlines:

• BCN startups raise €18M across 4 deals 💰

• 4 Catalan startups get acquired 💸

• 3 multinationals boost FDI in BCN, create 600+ jobs 💼

EU-Startups Summit on May 12-13

Following our newsletter as a current or aspiring founder, VC or general startup success enthusiast? With this year’s EU-Startups Summit fast approaching (next week on May 12-13th, right here in BCN), now’s as good a time as any to get a potential or early-stage project off the ground – or at least get the ball rolling. 

There’s the opportunity to network and attend talks with 1,500 founders, fellow startup enthusiasts, angel investors, VCs and more from across Europe. Inspiring stuff indeed. 

Secure your ticket at a 20% discount with the code BARCINNO20 now here.

BCN FinTech Afterwork on May 25: the can't-miss event for FinTech managers

If you’re in (or interested in) FinTech, there’s a new event in town - BCN FinTech Afterwork. The first event will take place on Wed 25 May at OneCoWork Plaça Catalunya. Join the inaugural event to:

• Meet the local Barcelona FinTech community

• Learn from some of its movers, shakers, leaders, and visionaries – in this welcome event, our confirmed speaker is Kristoffer Hanson, CEO & Co-founder of Prestalo

• Build your network

• Have a great time while seeing how our startup hub is shaping the future of finance

Register for free here & we’ll see you there!

Have a great week! 🌻

Startup & Investment News

Barcelona investment news

• UK-Spanish startup Arbolus lands €14M to digitize offline human knowledge

• Global digital art & Web3 platform Agora Awards closes €2.2M 

• Biotech startup Onalabs Inno-Hub get €1.2M & pilot its medical devices in Andorra

• Student housing search engine Buscoresi receive €340K

• Real Deal Milk open €2M funding round for their lab-grown dairy products; they aim to have them in supermarkets in 5 years

• Time management platform Woffu gets bought by Norwegian firm Visma; their 3rd Spanish acquisition

• SaaS solution Netrivals acquired by French e-commerce automation platform Lengow

• Ulabox gets bought by Czech unicorn Sezamo

• Xave World Metaverse acquired by French group Crypto Blockchain Industry

Barcelona startup news

• Glovo grows sales from €360M in 2020 to €590M last year, but also sees losses increase from €83M to €474M

• Wallbox wins the 2022 iFDesign award for its Supernova public EV charger

• Bumble lands in Spain with new BCN office space

• Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield joins Tech Barcelona as a corporate partner

Spanish investment news

• Madrid-based health/foodtech startup Baïa Food raise €1.8M

• Madrid fintech by former JPMorgan execs Embat receive €1.5M

• Madrid-based big data & IoT startup Chargy obtain €1M

• Valencian eyewear retailers GreyHounders get €500K

• Spanish renewable energy crowdfunding platform Flobers land €500K

• Valencian startup Internxt valued at €40M after recent funding & plans to become the Spanish Web3 Google Drive 

VC, investment & crowdfunding news

• Mundi Ventures opens €250M fund with €120M to back insurtech firms

• Cardumen Capital participated in Israeli data security startup DoControl’s €28M Series B

• Nauta Capital lead German WaaS (wallet as a service) Tangany’s €7M Seed round 

• Genesis Biomed & FI Group create GENESIS Tech Transfer Boost, a new €1M fund for early-stage healthtech projects

Open calls, accelerator news & incubator stories

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

• 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

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

• Mango & IESE Business School have launched the Mango StartUp Studio fashion accelerator; apply now 

Barcelona startup & entrepreneur profiles & interviews:

• Clara Navarro Colomer: co-founder & CEO of Ship2B Foundation, promoting the impact economy from Barcelona

• Eduard Gil, president of the Catalan Audiovisual Cluster: “Catalonia’s talent is one of our audiovisual sector’s main assets”

• Pixel Research Lab: the secret weapon of Wallbox, Áltima, Elrow and Port Aventura

Tech News

Tech news in Barcelona:

• BCN Council and Vueling to create sustainability-themed aeronautical innovation center

• CatalanGate: Extensive mercenary spyware operation identified against Catalans using Pegasus & Candiru

• BCN chosen by World Ocean Council to establish worldwide HQ to hold global & sustainable blue economy events

• What really moved the needle at MWC 2022? 

• TMB puts Spain’s 1st zero-emission hydrogen bus into public service on BCN’s X1 line

• German software firm T-Systems to create 300 jobs in new Catalonia office 

• Schneider Electric to open international Digital Hub in BCN & hire 200+ tech workers

• Japanese co. AGC Pharma Chemicals to invest €90M & create 100 jobs in new manufacturing plant in Malgrat de Mar 

• HR consultancy firm Prosperity chooses Barcelona for its corporate HQ

Tech & big company news in Spain:

• Catalan firm Grifols acquires German healthcare company Biotest AG

• Másmóvil reserves €31M to acquire 100% stake in energy startup Lucera

• BBVA invest €18.7M in Lowercarbon, a private equity fund specializing in climate change

• Amazon ups the ante by injecting €600M into Spanish logistics in 2021

• Sabadell triples profit to €213M thanks to improved margins & stock market rises

Politics, Legal & Economics

• Why Spain is heading towards the largest salary devaluation in almost 40 years

Good Reads

• DLT social impact equity crowdfunding: a new, better funding model for social entrepreneurs?

• What’s it like being a startup founder over 40?

• Scaling your startup internationally: how could it ever go wrong?

• More banks join HSBC in buying plots of virtual land in The Sandbox metaverse

Good Videos & Podcasts

• Interview with Guillermo Llibre, founder of Groupalia, Andjoy & Housell (ES)

• Interview with Ander Michelena, co-founder of Ticketbis & All Iron Ventures fund (ES)

• Interview with BCN-based Jordi Ordoñez, e-commerce & Amazon consultant (ES)

• Chat with Quino Fernández, CEO of BCN’s AticcoLab, about corporate innovation (ES)

• Foc a Terra discuss the dangers of building products on large platforms (CT)

Great Events

This week:

• 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

Upcoming:

• Thu, 12 May & Fri, 13 May: EU-Startups Summit

• Wed, 25 May @19:00: BCN FinTech Afterwork: feat. Kristoffer Hanson, CEO & Co-founder of Prestalo

• 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)

• OneCoWork is recruiting a Community Associate

• Honest Greens is looking for a Data Backend Engineer

• Opticks is recruiting a:  

• - Sales Development Representative - French Market

• - Sales Development Representative - Spanish Market

• - Customer Engineer

• INARI is looking for a Backend Engineer

• Typeform is hiring a:

• - Senior IT Procurement Specialist

• - Motion Designer

• Netcentric is looking for several IT positions