Hello and happy Monday!

Today's main headlines:

• Near Spaces nets €11M

• TravelPerk hits 108% CAGR

• Glovo doubles revenues

Barcinno Special: 8 Sportstech Startups To Watch

Sportstech is a rapidly growing industry and Barcelona is at its forefront. Boosted by the success of FC Barcelona & 1992 Summer Olympics in the Catalan capital, the city has long enjoyed a reputation as a breeding ground for sports startups.

With such a vast range of different startups fighting to become the talk of the town, it might be difficult to know what’s significant. That's why we identified 8 of the most notable sportstech startups in the city that are changing the face of the game, and we’re not just talking about football! Find out more here.

Have a great week!

Startup & Investment News

Barcelona investment news

• Barcelona- & Brooklyn-based Near Space secures €11M Series A to launch more mapping balloons into space

• Nuclio Digital School gets €1M from Sabadell Venture Capital

• Medtech startup FrontWave Imaging raises €750K

• Saas platform TradEAsy raises €280K of investment with help from Startupxplore

• Anti ad fraud SaaS Opticks awarded national R&D grant by CDTI

• Mobile platform Tappx acquires video platform PlayOn Content

• Infinitec Activos gets acquired by German firm Evonik

Barcelona startup news

• TravelPerk records a 108% CAGR over last two years

• Glovo doubles its revenues to 360 million in 2020 and cuts its losses by almost 80%

• Glovo is also trying to re-claims €11M from Social Security while fighting with the Treasury

• After acquiring Barcelona startup BLOK in summer, Getir arrives in Spain to compete with Glovo

• Service marketplace Biboss expands to Madrid & Valencia

• Smart lock company Akiles signs agreement with Fundacion Asprima

• The Blue Box amongst the 20 projects fighting it out to win the TechCrunch competition Startup Battlefield

Spanish investment news

• Valencian crypto firm Bit2Me completes €20M ICO

• Madrid-based Frenetic closes a €4.5M investment round

• Valencian legal tech startup Tugesto lands €350K

• Valencia-based object rental platform Yakk gets €249K

• Mallorca-based online beauty school Bersity nets €240K

• Basque-country based startup RoninPixels is acquired by Appfire

VC, investment & crowdfunding news

• Telefónica and K will boost innovation with Leadwind, a fund of up to €250M focused on deep tech scaleups

• Investment firm Talenta Gestión launches third VC fund called Mastertech III with up to €10M

• Wayra presents its startups to 60 European funds

• Mutua Madrileña acquires 16% of the capital of the health and elderly care company Ubikare

• Blackpearl capital partners completes the closure of its €70M fund

Open calls, accelerator news & incubator stories

• VRTECH Startup Competition, sponsored by Rentals United and Howzat Partners, announces winners of this year’s edition

• Banco Sabadell launches the fourth edition of BStartup Health; apply until 30 Sep

• GoHub opens call for its 3rd editions which will invest up to €250K per each selected deeptech startups & offer a 6 month program

• Madrid will create the largest innovation Sandbox in Europe; focusing on sustainability, mobility and urban tech

• Fi Impact Investing Forum celebrates its fourth edition

Barcelona startup & entrepreneur profiles & interviews:

• MediQuo: chat connecting patients and doctors

• Kidalos: toy subscription service

• Sharify: the app to know what to do in Barcelona

• Woffu: time management platform making life at work easier and more productive

Tech News

Tech news in Barcelona:

• Catalan company Grifols to acquire 90% of Biotest for €1,1B

• Danone invested €12M into Barcelona plant this year to start up a new production line for plant-based references

• German sleeper train plans to connect London and Barcelona

• PortAventura World becomes first theme resort to accept bitcoin as payment in all its hotels

• The Automobile Barcelona will bring together 23 brands and will emphasize electrification

• Barcelona ranks 3rd amongst European cities for Coronavirus innovation efforts

• First rat model recapitulates all disabling alterations experienced by patients with Morquio A disease

Tech news in Spain:

• Spain pilots 5G metering infrastructure

• Bizum now has 17M users and 20,6K ecommerce firms using the payment app

• CaixaBank presents the 14 regional winners of its 2021 Women in Business Awards

• Pinterest launches new shopping features in Spain

• Spanish police bust Mafia-linked phishing gang

• CaixaBank & fraud prevention startup Revelock are developing an AI solution to reinforce digital security

• Huboo opens first 4,200-square-meter logistics centre in Spain

Politics, Legal & Economics

• Women hugely under-represented in Spanish investment roles

• Spain messes up in the first zero emissions test

• Spain has second-highest percentage of young people who neither work nor study in EU

Good Reads

• Barcinno Special: 8 Gold-Medal-worthy Barcelona Sportstech Startups

• Report: Catalonia, a catalyst for the chemical industry

• FinTech companies from Spain to watch out for in 2021

• Is it a good time to launch startups in Spain?

• Are you ready for FinTech? Top countries that are providing new solutions

Good Videos & Podcasts

• Discover why Barcelona is a pioneering city in new mobility

• Interview with Oriol Vila, CEO at Holaluz, and Pere Valles, CEO at Exoticca

Great Events

This week:

• Mon-Thu, 27-30 Sep: #TECHLEADweek

• Wed, 29 Sep @18:30: StartupGrind with Rebeca Pérez (CEO & Founder @ Inviertis)

• Wed, 29 Sep @19:00: OPEN DAY: The Valley Digital Business School

• Thu, 30 Sep @16:00: Product Analytics μConf

Upcoming:

• 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

• Ship2B Ventures is recruiting a Healthcare Investment Associate

• Opticks is looking for a Customer Success Manager

• Bourbon Creative is hiring a Freelance Writer (Native English, tech topics, 100% remote)

• OneCoWork is recruiting a Community Associate

• TAPP Water is hiring a Head Of Ecommerce

• TravelPerk is looking for a Senior Marketing Operations Manager

• DocPlanner is recruiting a Head of Marketing (Enterprise)

• Honest Greens is hiring a Lifecycle Marketing Manager

• QMENTA is recruiting a Front-end Developer

• Netcentric is looking for several IT positions