Hello and happy Monday!

Today's main headlines:

• Blockchain giant Bitpanda to open €10M hub in BCN

• fonYou secures €7M to boost growth

• BCN blockchain venture builder gets €500K

Barcinno Special: Are incubators worth it? #8 edition: The Round-Up

In our eighth and last instalment of the incubator series, Elliot Locke finally answers the big question of whether incubators are worth it or not. He reflects on his real-life experience of going through an incubator and how it has impacted his startups and life. Read more here. 

To explore the other parts of his journey, use the links below.

• Part I: Great Expectations

• Part II: Back to School

• Part III: Design Thinking

• Part IV: Legal & Fundraising

• Part V: Marketing & Networking

• Part VI: Pitching, Decks & Financials

• Part VII (Demo Day & Last Days)

Finally, I also firmly believe that Elliott has more than earned a massive thank you. Running a startup, going through an incubator and dedicating time to his family already sounds like a mission impossible. So huge kudos for somehow carving out time to write 8 articles for us during that period. Thanks! And as a little reward, we want to take the opportunity to put the spotlight on his fintech company abroaden below.

Aboraden - Wealth-building for people living abroad

Abroaden is the first wealth-building platform made for people living abroad. If you’re an expat, remote worker or digital nomad, you know investing while living abroad is … complicated. Abroaden makes it effortless instead and removes any nasty surprises. It helps you to manage your finances globally with ease and make better decisions, no matter what your investment goals are.

So what are you waiting for? Join 3,500+ other people living abroad like you ready to build their wealth & take control of their (financial) futures. How? Simply secure your Barcinno-special early-access sign up now here.

Take care & have fun out there.

Startup & Investment News

Barcelona investment news

• Blockchain venture builder The Data Venture raises €500K to launch its first startups

• English-learning platform for kids Nominis closes its first seed round of €180K

Barcelona startup news

• Glovo turns its parent company into a public limited company; this might be yet another sign they're eying to go public

• Wallapop quadrupled its losses last year despite increasing sales

• Sports ecommerce company Deporvillage saw sales of €10.4M during Black Friday, a 15% increase compared to last year

• Wallbox launched an app for electric vehicle charger installers in seven countries

• Hontext developed a construction board material that is derived from a combination of enzymes and cellulose sourced from waste streams of paper production

• Dattium develops an AI-based system that helps the steel industry save 10% of energy 

Spanish investment news

• Madrid fintech company Clarity AI raises €44M

• Madrid home renting service Rentall bags €1M

• Madrid based Cuidkers lands €470K

VC, investment & crowdfunding news

• Madrid investment firm Navis Capital launches Gemba Private Equity with €25M to acquire industrial SMEs

Open calls, accelerator news & incubator stories

• G-Accelerator’s Impact Call looks for social impact projects; apply until 15 Dec

• EIT Food opens call looking for projects in the agrifood sector; apply until 14 Jan

Barcelona startup & entrepreneur profiles & interviews:

• Readmefy: the first e-commerce dedicated to gifting books

• MyRealFood: the app to eat healthy

• Waital: the app that lets you find and buy what you see in a TV series or film

Tech News

Tech news in Barcelona:

• Austrian blockchain firm Bitpanda to open a €10M technology and product hub in Barcelona & plans to hire 100 engineers there until the end of 2022

• Barcelona-based cloud fintech innovator fonYou secures €7M growth funding from Banco Santander’s Smart Fund

• Banco Sabadell opens 950 square meter Welcome Hub for expats on Avenida Diagonal in Barcelona

• Barcelona has the 3rd highest scale-up success rate of women founders in Europe according to a report by Startup Genome

• Barcelona’s public transport operator TMB purchases 25 electric buses

Tech news in Spain:

• Wind energy surpasses nuclear energy and leads electricity generation in Spain

• Telefonica Tech and Ecoembes unveil 5G-enabled smart bins in Spain

• Spain leads the technological race in Southern Europe with 12 unicorns, according to a report by Atomico

• Airbus launches two hydrogen innovation sites in Spain

Politics, Legal & Economics

• The Government approves the Startups Law, with important changes compared to the previous draft

• - Spain to ease conditions for startups to attract entrepreneurs, investment

• Spain's government approves €1,47B investment plan for health technology

Good Reads

• Barcinno Special: The Startup Classroom: Abroaden’s Incubator Journey VIII (The Round-Up)

• “It would be good for Barcelona if the port had cultural uses", Damià Calvet, president of the Port of Barcelona

• Spain needs immigrants. But does it still want them? (by The Economist)

• The story and innovators behind Malaga’s rise as a tech ecosystem

• Why is Málaga the up-and-coming startup city in Spain?

• “There are many opportunities for innovation and technology in tackling climate change”, Shaun Fitzgerald, Centre for Climate Repair

• A paper envelope to use the mobile less, an application to speak with the eyes and other Google experiments

• Article-interview with Carina Szpilka, co-founder & director at K Fund

Good Videos & Podcasts

• Interview with Marcos Alves, co-founder at ElTenedor aka TheFork

• Interview with Jimena Catalina, founder of Slides Carnival

• Interview with Ramon Barbero, co-founder of fashion brand and ecommerce business Brava Fabrics

• Interview with Yaiza Canosa, one of the leading bulk logistics operators in Spain

Great Events

This wek:

• Wed, 15 Dec @18:30: Startup Grind BCN hosts Benjamin Viguier (Co-founder & CEO @ YEGO)

• Wed, 15 Dec @18:30: Startup Grind Mataró hosts Christian Rodríguez (Founder @ ByHours & Chairman @ Mutter Ventures)

• Thu, 16 Dec @19:00: Pitch to Investors by Itnig (in-person + online)

Upcoming:

• 23 Dec: Pitch to Investors by Itnig (in-person + online)

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

Jobs

• Amenitiz is recruiting a VP of Demand Generation

• Mr. Wonderful is looking for a Digital Project Manager

• eDreams is hiring a Senior SEM Manager

• CodeOp is recruiting a Manager Strategic Partnerships

• ManoMano is looking for a:

• - Frontend Engineer (React)

• - Senior Software Engineer

• Exoticca is hiring for a Director Of Operations

• Unnax is recruiting a marketing operations manager

• Netcentric is looking for several IT positions