Hello & happy Monday!

Today's main headlines:

• Holded sold for €120M

• Catalonia ranked as Spain’s best startup ecosystem

• Spain’s first industrial consortium for AI

Have a great week and see you out there!

Startup & Investment News

Barcelona investment news

• ERP & accounting platform Holded was acquired by Norwegian firm Visma for €120M

• HR tech Payflow closes a €1M investment round

• Virtual community-building platform Copernic raises €350K

Barcelona startup news

• Pangea Aerospace & Aenium have signed a partnership to develop and industrialize advanced 3D printed combustion devices made from innovative materials

• Bioo launches biological battery that uses soil to generate electricity

• Biotech startup Endolipid Therapeutics launches; it’s a spin-off of Vall d'Hebron hospital & GENESIS Ventures that develops a new strategy to reduce visceral and subcutaneous fat

Spanish startup news

• Madrid-based digital startup Lingokids closes series C round of €33M

• Madrid renewable energy startup Perfecta Energía lands €3.5M

• Madrid insurtech company Insurama lands €5M 

• Spanish fintech Fuell receives €1M

• Madrid & London-based VR & AR tech startup Jump Into Reality gets €1M

• Murcia-based vegan ecommerce Vegaffinity captures €200K

VC, investment & crowdfunding news:

• Inveready participates in €20M series B round by Berlin proptech startup Habyt 

• Spanish venture company EASO and CDTI invest together in Oreka training

• Telefónica tech ventures invest in Israeli private network company Monogoto

Open calls, accelerator news & incubator stories:

• Third edition of Innofood launches, looks for projects that help to improve any part of the value chain of the food sector; apply until 30 June

• Barcelona Activa opens call for the 8th edition of its pre-acceleration program; tech startups can apply until 5 July

• Tech against Disinformation is looking for tech projects that help optimize, streamline and automate content verification processes; apply until 9 July

Barcelona startup & entrepreneur profiles & interviews:

• Red Points: the Superman who protects brands

Tech News

Tech news in Barcelona:

• Latest Global Entrepreneurship Monitor report ranks Catalonia as the best entrepreneurship ecosystem in Spain

• Nissan bolsters Barcelona factory with BCN3D 3D printing technology

• Acuity Trading's new R&D Centre in Barcelona has officially opened

Tech news in Spain:

• 6 major corporations have set up Spain's first industrial consortium for AI & ML

• Spain's BBVA opens bitcoin trading service to clients in Switzerland

• Indra upgrades principal air traffic control centres in Spain

• Spain beats record of participation in the world's most important university entrepreneurship research project

• Vodafone to launch OpenRAN labs in Spain and Germany

• Telefonica Spain snubs Huawei in favour of Nokia, Ericsson for standalone 5G

Politics, Legal & Economics

• Spain hopes to jumpstart electric car industry with EU funds

Good Reads

• Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Report: Spain 2020-21 

• Creative recount of Spanish unicorns: 5 (Cabify, Glovo, Idealista, Flywire, Wallbox)

• Insights into Renfe's TrenLab program for startups [ES]

• Beating the virus: lessons from our seventh year running MarsBased

Good Videos & Podcasts

• Interview with Carlos Otermin, COO at Lazada [ES]

• Itnig Talks discuss indirect sales at Sage, Factorial & Signaturit [ES]

• Interview with Susana Prado, Director of Catalunya at Inetum [ES]

Great Events

This week:

• Tue, 22 Jun @17:00: Conector Talk: New Space & Defence

• Wed, 23 Jun @12:00: Excellence, digitization & sustainability: catalysts for a change in the tourism paradigm in Spain [ES]

• Thu, 24 Jun @12:00: Storytelling, the power of narratives for the company and society [ES]

Upcoming:

• 28 Jun - 1 Jul: MWC 2021

• 30 Jun: Blockchain beyond the hype – BlockStart startups 2nd Demo Day

• 1 Jul: Female Founders Startup Accelerator – Grow F Demo Day #5

• 7 Jul: Startup Grind: Adjusting your business to the post-pandemic world

• 7-8 Jul: Affiliate World Europe

• 8-18 Jul: Automobile Barcelona

• 16-18 Nov: Smart City Expo World Congress

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

Jobs

• PayRetailers are hiring a COO

• BMAT Music Innovators are looking for a CTO

• Netcentric is recruiting a UX Strategist

• Samaipata is hiring an Associate

• Hotjar is looking for a Social Media Marketing & Community Manager

• Domestika is recruiting a Director of SEO

• Doctoralia is hiring an Operations Analyst

• Gorillas is recruiting a Partnerships Manager

• Outbound People is looking for a Senior Account Executive- German Market