Hello and happy Monday!

I hope you had a great week and are getting ready for the big Mobile World Congress week at the end of this month. If you haven't done so yet, then take a look at our MWC2020 Parties & Events Guide and let us know if we missed any important event.

On the other hand, if you want to find out more about the 8 leading e-mobility startups driving innovation in Barcelona, make sure to read out latest article here.

Ok, that's it from me. Have a great week and see you out there!

Startup & Investment News

Barcelona investment news

• Catalan energy startup Enertika closes a €12M investment

• Barcelona health tech startup mediQuo lands €2M

• Barcelona-based equity crowdfunding platform The Crowd Angel receives €1.3M

• Catalan startup Tropicfeel raises over €1M on Crowdcube; round is still open

• Barcelona startup Printsome raises over €100K on Crowdcube; round is still open

Spanish investment news

• Madrid startup eCoGames closes a €3M funding round

Startups news

• Catalan electric motorcycle brand Silence is rumored to be the subject of a takeover bid by Acciona

• Barcelona fintech startup Bevo launches their Open Banking services in Latin America

• Steering Machines & MiWendo Solutions take home awards at IQS Tech Fest

• 3 Spanish startups selected for UNICEF Lab's acceleration program

VC, investment & crowdfunding news:

• Spanish VC firm Seaya Ventures launch its third fund

• Valencian VC firm Bbooster becomes the first Draper fund in the euro zone

Open calls, accelerator news & incubator stories:

• CaixaBank & Plug and Play join forces to launch a new program aimed Spanish fintech startups

• Conector opens call for its Barcelona acceleration program aimed at seed startups; apply until the 23rd of February

• Cleantech Camp opens call for clean energy startups and projects; apply until the 1st of March

• StartMeApp by HUAWEI opens call for Android apps; submit your project until the 1st of March

• Fundación Repsol opens call for energy & mobility startups to join its accelerator program; apply until 4th of March

• Novartis Cancer Startup Program extends open call; apply until 4th of March

Barcelona startup & entrepreneur profiles & interviews:

• Kibus Petcare: the 'nespresso’ for pets

• Sharify: the app to know what happens in your city and where

• Babyboo: making travelling with children easier

Tech News

• Barcelona is now home to 1,500 startups, a record figure

• The number of Blockchain companies in Barcelona has doubled over the last year

• Barcelona climbs 21 positions in the ranking of the most talented cities in the world

• Singapore company TDCX creates 50 jobs in Barcelona with the opening of its first office in Europe

• Mobile World Congress 2020 will have an economic impact of €497M in Barcelona

• Barcelona’s Airport set a new traffic record with 52.6M passengers in 2019, 5% more than the previous year

• TBS Business School moves to tech district @22

Tech news in Spain:

• Bizum, the payment app developed by Spanish banks, records 60M transactions, €2.7B in total payments & 6.25M users in 2019

• Telefonica is gather a lot of interest from investment funds looking to take advantage of its low share price

• Telefonica is in advanced talks to integrate the video streaming service Disney+

• Pablo Rodríguez, director of Telefonica's innovation lab Alpha leaves the company

• LinkedIn Spain records €5.5M in sales in 2019, but only pays €52K in taxes

• More university certificates in Spain to be verified using blockchain technology

• This is how the new AVLO, Renfe's low-cost high-speed rail service looks like 

Politics & Economics

• Spain's unemployment rate falls in fourth quarter to lowest level in 11 years

• Spain's economy grew by 2% in 2019 & outperforms Europe with surprise acceleration

• Spain recently declared a national climate emergency

• Bank of Spain warns pension spending will grow by 5% points of GDP by 2050 if 2013 reform is suspended

Good Reads

• Leading The Charge: 8 Of The Best E-Mobility Startups In Barcelona

• Overview of the science landscape in Barcelona (ESP)

• What's Driving Spain's Rise as a Fintech Hub

• Do Spanish startups have a macho problem?

• 3 startup verticals in Spain likely to receive more venture capital

• Brexit should be the catalyst to create the United Tech of Europe

Good Videos & Podcasts

• Interview with Helena Torras, CEO of B-Wom & Managing Partner at PaoCapital (by Soluble Studio)

• Interview with Carlos Martinez Lizan CEO at the Closing (Money Markers)

• Interview with Pablo Ventura, Partner at K Fund

• The power of PR for Startups - Interview with several local CEOs and founders (by Bambu PR)

Great Events

This Week

• Tue, 4 Feb @18:30: Food, Drinks & Crypto

• Wed, 5 Feb @18:30: Hardware Hack Lab BCN

• Wed, 5 Feb @19:00: A Risk Guide for Start Ups and Tech Companies

• Thu, 6 Feb @08:00: 5th Annual IESE Women in Business Conference

• Thu, 6 Feb @18:45: 17th Barcelona Recruitment Meetup

• Thu, 6 Feb @19:00: Women of Security Barcelona

• Thu, 6 Feb @19:00: Social Impact in Spain (ESP)

Next Week

• Tue, 11 Feb @19:00: Workshop - Introduction to Product Management (ESP)

• Wed, 12 Feb @10:00: Trends and projection of the real estate sector in 2020 (ESP)

• Thu, 13 Feb @18:00: Become a Digital Nomad: How to work remotely and make a living of it

• Thu, 13 Feb @18:30: The Strength of Agile Methodologies in Intercultural Teams

• Thu, 13 Feb @18:30: Inspirational Talks : How I started my career as a Product Manager

• Fri, 14 Feb: Valentine's Day (spend time with the people you love!)

2020 Q1 Key Events:

• Mon-Thu, 24-27 Feb: Mobile World Congress

• Mon-Wed, 24-26 Feb: 4YFN

See the full event calendar here.

See the full MWC2020 Parties & Events Guide here.

Startup Jobs In Barcelona

• Unnax is looking for a VP Sales - B2B SaaS

• Agile Content is hiring a Senior Java Software Engineer

See the full job board here.