Hello and happy Monday!

With MWC Week, or rather Barcelona Tech Spirit week, behind us, we're all busy following up with new contacts and catching up with the workload that piled up last week. Hence, I'll keep it short this time.

11th of March - Future in Fintech

On Wednesday, the 11th of March, Finimize is organizing a free event at Itnig's venue to discuss the Future of Fintech. Maria Martinez from Dow Jones will moderate a panel featuring Santi Perez Olano, Head of Southern Europe at Remitly, Benjamin Cotte, Head of Product at Unnax, and our very own Clemens from Barcinno. We look forward to seeing you there. To find out more and secure your spot, click here.

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

Startup & Investment News

Barcelona investment news

• Barcelona startup Tropicfeel raises €1.2M via crowdfunding

• Catalan startup WeFish opens a €150K financing round on Startupexplore

• Catalan startup DiHola has been acquired by international software firm Social Labs

• Cabify is looking to sell it's 5-6% stake in Glovo for €50M

Spanish investment news

• Madrid-based fintech startup Cobee secures a €2.1M investment

• Madrid fintech startup Woonivers raises €1.6M

• Navarrese biotech startup Abanza Tecnomed gets €180K

Startup news

• Barcelona startup Badi launches in NYC

• Catalan startup Foods For Tomorrow launches its vegan meat products in France

• Barcelona startup Datumize partners with Informatica to address streaming analytics on dark data

• Catalan startup AllRead Machine Learning Technologies amongst 7 startups selected for Global Omnium's accelerator program GoHub

• Barcelona startup Qbeast crowned best project with high technology impact by Barcelona Activa

• Barcelona firm eDreams grows revenues by 16% to reach €131,7M in latest quarter figures

• Catalan startup Wallapop recorded €20M in gross sales in 2019

• Korean startup BluePrintLAB selected for ‘Road to Barcelona’ program

• French startup Cityscoot to bring yet another electric scooter service to Barcelona

VC, investment & crowdfunding news:

• FOND-ICO Global awards up to €202M to several funds, including Spanish organizations Seaya, Ysios Capital Partners, K Fund, Ged Capital Development, Demium and Business Booster

• Spanish firm Draper B1 launches a €30M fund to invest in startups

• Spanish VC firm Nauta leads €4.5M investment round into UK startup techspert.io

Open calls, accelerator news & incubator stories:

• Ship2B's Rezinkers4Impact opens call for projects aimed at social inclusion of vulnerable groups; apply until 15th of March

• Making More Health is looking for young entrepreneurs that are transforming human and animal health; apply until 16th of March

• EIT Climate-KIC Accelerator opens call in Spain; apply until 25th of March

Barcelona startup & entrepreneur profiles & interviews:

• Belvo: a YC-backed startup building a financial API for Latin America

• EagleCheck: identifying the big little lies on job applications thanks to blockchain technology

• Typeform: the Barcelona-based startup turning customer interactions into meaningful conversations (By Startup Guide)

Tech News

• ABB opens its first European robotics innovation center in Catalonia

• Catalan exports grow by 3.1% in 2019 and reach a new record for the ninth year in a row

• Catalan researchers lead search for sustainable electric vehicle batteries

• Barcelona City Council to recover the office of 22@ in order to speed up procedures and licenses of projects in the tech district

• The average salary in Catalonia grows for the ninth consecutive quarter

• Barcelona City Council calls for EU report on environmental impact of building a third track at El Prat Airport before making a decision

• Catalan government warns the rise of electric cars will put 38.000 automobile suppliers jobs at risk if they don't adapt 

Tech news in Spain:

• Microsoft to open Azure regions in Spain, expands Telefonica relationship

• Repsol plans new wind farms that could help replace coal in Spain

• Spanish competition authority CNMC is investigating several real estate portals like idealista amidst claims that their algorithms are driving housing prices up

• - idealista denies this claims and shared their point of view with El Mundo

• IAG warns of coronavirus bookings hit

• Spain's banks brace for usury ruling on 'snowball' credit cards

• BBVA launches Spain’s first card made of recycled plastic

Politics & Economics

• Spain looks to adopt digital tax that has angered the US

• Spain is considering introducing a new tax on flights and plastic

• VAT will not increase in Spain for the foreseeable future

• Spain changes deficit law in first legislative win for left-wing coalition (NYT)

• Why Spain can’t shake one of world’s highest unemployment rates (Bloomberg)

Good Reads

• A handful of engineering principles at Factorial

• Accelerators in Spain share their tips on how to move from idea to business (ESP)

Good Videos & Podcasts

• Interview with Alex Barredo of Mixxio about his podcast business (by Tribucasters)

• Interview with Carlos Hernandez of Quaderno (by Club Wordpress)

• Interview with Felix Campano of Bob (by K Fund)

• Interview with Tomas Diago of Softonic (by Itnig)

Great Events

This Week

• Mon-Tue, 2-3 Mar: 17th Doing Good Doing Well Conference

• Tue, 3 Mar @18:00: Culture by Strategy

• Tue, 3 Mar @19:00: Startup Founders Masterclass – Build A Powerful Pitch

• Thu, 5 Mar @9:30: Think about the future: key ability to make better decisions

Next Week

• Tue, 10 Mar @18:00: Service Design, Product Design, and Experience Design for Faster Growth

• Tue, 10 Mar @19:00: First 90 days of a Product Manager - Co-creating Session

• Tue, 11 Mar @19:00: Future of Fintech

• Thu, 12 Mar @19:00: Inspirational Talks : How I started my career as a Product Manager

• Fri, 13 Mar @13:30: Artificial Intelligence: Success stories and solutions

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

Startup Jobs In Barcelona

• Bourbon Creative is recruiting a Freelance Writer for Tech Industry Content (Native English)

• Unnax is looking for a VP Sales - B2B SaaS

• Agile Content is hiring a Senior Java Software Engineer

See the full job board here & add your job post here.