Hello and happy Monday,

A quick announcement before we dive in. Our friends at Oliva.House are preparing a soft launch this week (team includes TravelPerk co-founder and ex-VP Marketing at Typeform & Hotjar) to make mental healthcare a natural part of modern daily life, just like physical healthcare is today.

They're inviting a few early customers to test the platform in exchange for honest and brutal feedback. If you're interested in becoming a "founding member" with Oliva.House, get in touch here.

Ok, we've got loads of news to cover this week, so let's get right to it.

Have a great week and take care of yourselves!

Startup & Investment News

Barcelona investment news

• Health care startup Impress receives €5M

• Tropicfeel raises €800K via Kickstarter for its latest product, the backpack Shell

• EDIT.org closes a €250K investment round

Barcelona Startup news

• E-mobility startup Iomob triples its customer base

• Barcelona startups had a good time at South Summit 2020: Submer won the competition and SingularCover was crowned best fintech & insurtech proejct and most scalable project

• Blockchain startup Vottun wins award for the best innovation at BNEW 2020

• Glovo expands to Moldova, Uganda and Kyrgyzstan

• Wisar has been selected by the Inter-American Development Bank as a tech partner to implement the e-lancers project to boost youth employment in El Salvador 

• Biotech firm Chemotargets hires Scott Boyer as new CEO to consolidate its transition to an AI-driven biotech

• Fintech startup Unnax unveils new brand design

Spanish investment news

• Madrid-based health tech startup Savana closes a €12.75M series B funding round

• Madrid biotech startup aptaTargets raises €5M

• Madrid firm Veritas Intercontinental closes a €5M series B funding

• Spanish marketplace WOW, a new firm launched by El Corte Ingles Ex-president Dimas Gimeno, gets €2.8M

• Valencian startup Rosita lands €430K investment round

• Murcia-based startup Symborg gets funding

• Bankinter report shows startup investment in Spain increased in Q3

VC, investment & crowdfunding news:

• 4Founders Capital launches new €40M fund to invest in tech firms

• Institut Català de Finances invests €30M in 9 VC funds

• Esade BAN invested €3M in 22 new projects in 2019-20 

Open calls, accelerator news & incubator stories:

• Fundación Repsol anounces 6 startups selected for their acceleration program

• Greenpeace launches first hackathon to alleviate energy poverty in Spain

• Tourism Innovation Awards 2020 is looking for innovative tourism startus; apply until 23 Oct 2020

• Innomakers4Health opens call; health startup can apply until 22 Nov 2020

• VI Bankia Fintech by INNSOMNIA is looking bank projects; apply until 30 Nov 2020

Barcelona startup & entrepreneur profiles & interviews:

• Submer: the tech startup who won the South Summit 2020

• Biel glasses: smart glasses that improve low vision

Tech News

• Barcelona Science Park teams up with GENESIS Biomed to further boost its Catalan MedTech company hub

• Nestlé invests 17M€ to use coffee grounds to produce energy in Catalonia

• Barcelona researches develop 3D-printend RFID tags with upgraded antenna efficiency

• Metro Barcelona upgrades its training system with new devices

• Catalan companies that have gone international through Catalonia Trade & Investment’s offices abroad grow by 13%

• Barcelona has been selected as the 'European Forest City 2022" and will host the anual European Forest Institute Conference in the same year 

• Just Eat launches commission discounts and exception for its delivery services to Catalan bars and restaurants amidst government forced shutdown of gastronomy establishments

Tech news in Spain:

• La Liga adds AR enhancements for live match broadcasts

• BBVA launches a new credit card without numeration and expiration date

• Telefónica Tech will create cybersecurity subsidiaries in all its countries

• Telefonica’s 5G network reaches 450 Spanish cities: Report

• Amazon hires Spanish manager Ruth Díaz, ex-CEO of BuyVip, to run its fashion businesses in Europe

• Seat sells 43K cars in September and is back on the path of growth after several months of declines due to the coronavirus

• Spanish firm Vertex was sold by Trilantic to Deutsche Bank for €400M

• 66% of Spanish managers believe that their work thanks to the digitization

• French insurtech startup Alan expands to Spain

Politics, Legal & Economics

• The Government plans to raise €6B next year via new taxes, including increased VAT on sugary drinks and the introduction of a plastic tax, Google Tax and Tobin Tax

Good Reads

• Back to Reality. Use cases of Blockchain (DLT) in Catalonia

• Spain is not an "entrepreneurial nation": less copying and more attracting of digital nomads

• VC investment in Europe down 12% in 2020

Good Videos & Podcasts

• Pau Ramón, assuming leadership as CTO of Factorial

• Keeping the fire alive after 10 years, with Pieter Omvlee (CEO @ Sketch)

Great Events

Upcoming:

• Tue, 20 Oct @13:00: IQS Tech Factory Talk Series with Amnon Levav, Co-Founder, CIO & Innovation Facilitator at SIT

• Thu, 22 Oct @17:00: B-Talks: Casos de Éxito Emprendedor · Erik Brieva

• Wed, 28 Oct @18:00: StartupGrind BCN: Reshaping the Real Estate Industry, with Carlos Pierre (CEO & Founder @ Badi)

• Wed, 28 Oct @18:30: Online Barcelona Recruitment Pitch Day

• Thu, 29 Oct @13:00:

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

Jobs

• Finch & Beak is hiring a Community Manager

• itnig is looking for a Digital Marketing Manager LATAM

• Factorial is recruiting a Head of Marketing

• Wallbox is hiring a Head of Digital Marketing B2B

• Wallbox is looking for a Business Intelligence Manager