Hello & happy Monday!

Today's edition features:

• Language learning startup Preply lands €29.4M

• Ransomware attack hits Spain’s employment agency

• Spain agrees on labor reform to recognize riders as employees

Barcinno Special: Opticks - Fighting Ad Fraud

Opticks is a Barcelona-based company that offers anti-fraud SaaS solutions for digital businesses. We've sat down with our friend & Optick's CEO Eduardo Aznar to get the inside scoop on the business. Discover the full story, the firm's mission, and future objectives in our latest article.

That's it! Let's get right into it! Have a great week!

Startup & Investment News

Barcelona investment news

• Barcelona & Kyiv-based edtech startup Preply raises €29.4M

Barcelona Startup news

• Glovo teams up with Marco Aldany to offer an express hairdressing service

• Rentals United announces two new product developments

• The Hotels Network unveils BenchDirect, a benchmarking product for a hotel's direct booking channel

• Mailtrack apparently has 80K customers and achieved that thanks to automated sales & without paying for ads

• Calbet Electrodomèstics teams up with startup TechBuddy to offer on-site tech support to its clients

• LegalTech startup Bulldoc appoints Ignasi Sansa as new CEO 

• ESADE graduates launch Splitsub, a fintech startup that lets you watch what you want with subscription-sharing

Spanish investment news

• The fintech map in Spain: 15% growth in the number of companies as the lending sector booms

• Madrid-based temp staffing business JobandTalent lands a €100M funding round; this comes on top of the €88M they raised in January this year

• Valencian IT firm Sothis receives €5M cash injection from Angels Capital after a loss-making year

• A Coruña-based EdTech company Netex receives €800K JV loan from COFIDES to accelerate US expansion

• Valencia-based lithium battery manufacturing startup Endurance Motive closes €200K funding round

• Madrid fintech startup SeeDCash lands a €110K investment round

• Valencia-based renewable energy provider Gana Energía was acquired by Repsol

VC, investment & crowdfunding news:

• Banco Sabadell and the European Investment Fund join forces to support tech SMEs and the renewable energy sector with €148M in funding

• - Banco Sabadell also launches InnoCells, a digital finance platform for tech entrepreneurs

• Spanish VC Qualitas Funds closes its third private equity fund with €130M

• EIT’s Innoenergy launches Enion a €25M fund for energy startups

• Inveready launches the €20M ALMA fund to invest in European companies listed in alternative markets

• Barcelona City Council selects 6 VC funds for the Barcelona Acelera program that will receive €10M to fund economic recovery  

Open calls, accelerator news & incubator stories:

• Aena selects participants for airport technology accelerator

• Ufounders launches a training program for startup founders and mentors

• ESADE business angels, Tom Horsey and HBAN are the winners of the 2021 AEBAN awards

• The Orbit Program presents its 4th edition and opens call offering equity-free €100K+ cash prizes to innovative startups

Barcelona startup & entrepreneur profiles & interviews:

• Opticks: anti-fraud SaaS solutions for digital businesses

• Clothify: fashion renting platform for a more sustainable approach to clothing

• Flomics Biotech: developing diagnostic tools based on fluid analysis to detect complex ailments early

• Jesús Monleó (SeedRocket): discusses the accelerator’s performance during the pandemic & the keys to success in entrepreneurship

Tech News

Tech news in Barcelona:

• The University of Barcelona leads the construction of the smallest ever, cheapest high-resolution microscope

• Telefonica testing 5G-based safety system in port of Barcelona

• ACCIÓ-Catalonia Trade & Investment to lead European project to innovate in cluster policy

• Beko global domestic appliance brand becomes Corporate Partner of Barcelona Tech City

• MWC organizers unveil safety plan for the return of MWC

• - Yet, Ericsson and Sony pull out of Mobile World Congress … again

• Barcelona-based video technology provider Agile Content hires Cisco executive Nuno Ferraz de Carvalho as chief commercial officer

• Catalan biotech firm Grifols snags the rest of GigaGen in €67M acquisition

Tech news in Spain:

• VW announces its own Tesla-like battery day, will produce cells in Spain

• Could Spain become the e-mobility center of Europe?

• Ransomware attack strikes Spain’s employment agency

• Google flags higher ad rates in Spain and France after digital tax

• UAE, Spain to enhance advanced technology adoption

• Telefonica selects Idemia’s contactless biometrics for access control, solutions portfolio

• Deloitte & Vodafone Giants team up to promote eSports in Spain

• Vodafone Spain has been hit with nearly 40 GDPR fines, ranging from €3K-€120K, since the regulation came into force

Politics, Legal & Economics

• Spain agrees on labor reform that will recognize delivery platform riders as employees 

Good Reads

• Why Spain doesn't have its own space agency

• “Spain is a good place to launch a startup”, Raimon Recoder, co-founder at Barcelona Startup Congress

• 10 Spanish entrepreneurs under 35 years of age who attract international attention

• “I failed to enter bitcoin on time", Carlos Blanco, Serial entrepreneur & VC investor

Good Videos & Podcasts

• Interview with

• Video-interview with Carlos Martínez, CEO & Founder @ Epinium & President at PIMECjoves Maresme (by Startup Grind Mataró)

• Interview with Pere Vallés, CEO at Exoticca

Great Events

This week:

• Tue, 16 Mar @17:00: What makes a blockchain startup successful?

• Tue, 16 Mar @18:30: Pitch Competition – Women Edition Barcelona

• Wed, 17 Mar @18:00: Software-defined control of optical networks

• Wed, 17 Mar @18:30: Shots The Valley | Leaders Meetup: personal branding [ES]

• Thu, 18 Mar @12:00: The Future of Mobility: Reimagining the Role of the City [ES]

• Thu, 18 Mar @18:00: Startup Grind Mataró hosts Jaume Betrian (Co-founder @ Ofertia! & Managing Director @ Flax & Kale Goods) [ES; in-person event]

Upcoming:

• 23 Mar: StartupGrind BCN: Lift as you climb: community-oriented entrepreneurship, with Eloi Gómez (CEO & Co-Founder @ Jeff)

• 23-24 Mar: Barcelona Startup Congress

• 12-16 Apr: 5th European Blockchain Convention

• 6-7 May: Automobile Barcelona

• 28 Jun - 1 Jul: MWC

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

Jobs

• Touchstream is hiring a Junior OTT Technical Support

• TechBuddy is recruiting a:

• - Finance Assistant

• - Sales Development Representative

• OneCoWork is hiring a Community Associate

• Bourbon Creative is looking for freelance German, French & English B2B tech content writers; apply per email here

• Adobe is hiring a 2021 Research Intern – Multimedia Systems