Hello and happy Monday!

Today's main headlines:

• TopDoctors lands €11M+

• Heura expands to Mexico

• Government plans freelance fee hike

Last week included a bank holiday in Spain, so naturally it's been a slow news week. The big story is perhaps the plan by the Government to increase the autonomo fee in Spain next year. It's curious - and frustrating - to see that every new ruling parties first promises to make life easier for freelancers, before ending up to doing the exact opposite (disclaimer: I'm not a freelancer). In an age where digital nomads are on the rise and in a county where unemployment, especially amongst the young, is incredibly high, this seems a strange move. Speaking of digital nomads, the latest digital nomad visa announced by Spain also seems to have missed its point...

Have a great week!

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Startup & Investment News

Barcelona investment news

• Healthtech firm Top Doctors gets €11.2M

• Secure file exchange tool Tranxfer raises €1M

• Barcelona-born and now Norwegian-based real-time shipment visibility firm Shellock raises €200K

Barcelona startup news

• Travel gear startup Tropicfeel continues to strengthen its international strategic markets with a sales increase of 146% in 2021

• Food tech startup Heura enters Mexican market via 220 retailers, including Walmart

• Tech-service Veriff opens a new center in Barcelona seeking engineering staff

• Glovo rents 17K square meter space in building in Barcelona's tech district

• Live streaming monitoring solution Touchstream named a finalist in the best QoS platform category of the 2021 Streaming Media Readers' Choice Awards

• Proptech firm The Predictive Company wins best innovation award at BNEW in the real estate category

• Sharify launches guerrilla marketing campaign during Festes de La Mercè with just a 10€ budget

• Music startup Acqustic launches a new artists acceleration program unique in the music industry

• Bravo Studio launches the 3.0 version of its product, which allows designers and users to easily transform prototypes into working mobile apps

• Local startups BIA, IZI Record, Match Trial, NB-RIC & OMNIOS selected for 6th edition of Cuatrecasas Acelera

• Locker & parcel delivery firm Mayordomo selected to participate in GP20 Innovation League

Spanish investment news

• Madrid organic growers marketplace CrowdFarming closes an investment round which is rumoured to total around €15M

• Madrid-based Solar firm RatedPower achieves €5M in a financing round

• Madrid freelance marketplace Shakers closes its first round of investment of €800K

• Asturias-based electric bicycles vendor Capri Bikes closes a financing round of €250K

VC, investment & crowdfunding news

• Lunar Ventures, a brand new Berlin-based VC, launches €40M fund to invest in and support the best early-stage DeepTech startups in Europe

• Crowdfunding platform Capital Cell reaches €14M in total raised investment this year; which is already higher than their figures for all of last year

Open calls, accelerator news & incubator stories

• Fintech incubator & accelerator F10 reinforces commitment to Spain's entrepreneurial ecosystem

• Premis E-TECH awards people and organizations from Girona that develop tech projects; apply until 21 Oct

• La Fundació Caixa d'Enginyers is looking for the most innovative startup which will be crowned at IX Premi Emprenedoria; winner gets economic endowment of €15K; apply until 31 Oct

• Dones en Xarxa opens call for Women Startup Challenge & is looking for female startup leaders; apply until 5 Nov

Barcelona startup & entrepreneur profiles & interviews:

• Apiumhub: tech hub based in Barcelona focused on being a safe space for the growth of software developers

• European Tech School: online blockchain school allowing people to join 5/10-week intensive programs to become a blockchain expert

• Social Diabetes: integral management app for diabetes control

• Edgar Vicente: from Glovo's 'rider' to selling a startup and setting up an investment fund - all before even turning 25

Tech News

Tech news in Barcelona:

• Alliance Healthcare invests €35M in a new logistics centre in Catalonia

• eDreams ODIGEO to expand its tech force with 100+ new hires as it continues to outperform the market

• Catalan bank Banco Sabadell reduces the proposed job cuts from 1.900 to 1,440 to avert a strike by worker's union

• Report: Catalonia, where state of the art engineering thrives

Tech news in Spain:

• EQT sells Spanish telecoms firm Adamo to France's Ardian for €1B+

• Telefónica Tech and Atrebo will digitise 200,000 telecommunications infrastructures with blockchain.

• Spain starts producing renewable hydrogen through photoeletrocatalysis

Politics, Legal & Economics

• Spanish Governments plans to increase autonomo fees, meaning freelancers in Spain would end up having to pay between 96€-225€ per year more starting in 2022

• Government backtracks on plans to tax energy companies; now offers exemption from new windfall tax to utilities if they sell power at “reasonable” prices

• Economy finalizes the startups law that it will send to Congress before Christmas

Good Reads

• A look into the dynamic Catalan automotive industry

• Report: Spain’s Reputation in the World

• It’s not deeptech. The new asset class VCs need to look at is science equity

• Interesting Twitter thread by Amir from Todoist about async

• Banking sector under review: CaixaBank, Santander, BBVA, Sabadell and Bankinter under the microscope

Good Videos & Podcasts

• Interview with Oscar Pierre, CEO & founder at Glovo - Itnig Podcast: Part I [ES]

• Interview with Jaime Rodríguez, General Manager Spain at Free Now, ex-Blablacar & host of the Kaizen Podcast [ES]

• Interview with Sergio Gago on the Life on Mars podcast [ES]

Great Events

This wek:

• Mon, 18 Oct @10:30: BICD - Return with opportunities

• Mon, 18 Oct @18:00: Mobility Institute Talks: Mobility Leaders

• Tue, 19 Oct @10:30: BICD - Leadership, interculturality and working from home

• Wed, 20 Oct @18:30: BICD - Long distance working from Barcelona: The digital Nomad

• Wed, 20 Oct @18:30: Startup Grind BCN hosts Netta Gilon (ex-COO @ Playtika)

• Thu, 21 Oct @09:30: The Race is On: Scaling the Token Economy Globally

• Thu, 21 Oct @10:30: BICD - Entrepreneurs welcome: How to create a company and tips to start a new business in Barcelona

• Thu, 21 Oct @10:30: TDD4FUTURE

• Fri, 22 Oct @10:30: BICD - How to survive Barcelona after arrival; The fundamentals of energy management

• Sat, 23 Oct @: Barcelona International Community Day 2021

Upcoming:

• 25 Oct: Afterwork CASA SEAT: present and future of the electric car

• 16-18 Nov: Smart City Expo World Congress

• 24-26 Nov: VIII S2B Impact Forum

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

Jobs

• Unnax is recruiting several tech positions

• GetWith is hiring a Head of Design

• CodeOp is recruiting several instructor & IT roles

• Opticks is looking for a Customer Success Manager

• GELLIFY is hiring an Innovation Consultant

• Netcentric is looking for several IT positions