Hello and happy Monday!

Today's main headlines:

• Multiple investments in 22@ 🏙️

• New electric battery factory in BCN ⚡

• Next-in-line Catalan 🦄🦄?

Viva la France - French Tech in Catalonia

Each week we try to shine the light on things that we observe in our ecosystem. What jumped out this time was the high amount of French tech organizations in our city.

Just this week Payfit announced a new HQ in Barcelona & plans to hire 150 people. A few weeks ago we got word that Paris-based investment firm Cathay Capital, who invested in Wallbox & Glovo, is considering a Barcelona HQ as well. And besides this we also already have a whole bunch of great FR firms with big presence here such as ManoMano, Allcolibri or Spitche. Plus a whole lot more local startups like Amenitiz & Carts Guru have ties with France. There is actually even something called French Tech Barcelona here - an association that helps French tech firms settle, grow and connect with the Barcelona ecosystem. 

So what makes France fall in love with us? We don’t know for sure. It might just be the overall attractiveness of Barcelona as a startup hub, place to work and live, as well as some geographical, cultural and linguistic proximity. But who cares really? Barcelona is an open-minded city and we welcome everyone. And getting more investment, know-how and talent from France can only be a great thing. So here’s to France 🍷

Have a great week & take care! 🌻

Startup & Investment News

Barcelona investment news

• Biotech firm TECNIC secure €2.5M

• DeEd online business school Founderz close €430K to grow their team

• Indoor plants e-commerce April Plants raises €320K

Barcelona startup news

• Gaming marketplace GameSquare has 2K users making transactions and aims to raise €500K within the next 6 months

• Founder of Red Points wants to repeat success with his new startup RepScan, a SaaS tool that detects and removes negative content affecting your online reputation

• ForceManager integrates its cloud CRM solution into Microsoft Teams

• Monthly bike rental startup Kleta expand into Seville

• Glovo partially resumes operations in 20 Ukrainian cities to provide essential services & give humanitarian support

• Wisar opens the doors of AYITI-Lance, an online training program that will empower 50 young Haitians with key skills to work as online freelancers on the international market.

• Wayra announces the 4 winning Catalan startups from its 5G ScaleUp program

• Factorial, Typeform & Red Points join the group of future Spanish unicorns according to list by GP Bullhound y Viva Technology 

Spanish investment news

• Madrid-based proptech Vivla bring in €26M in pre-seed funding

• Spanish fintech TaxDown take home €5.5M & will launch in Mexico

• Tenerife-based traveltech Civitfun Hospitality secures €2M 

• Andalucian IoT road safety solution LiveLink Motor raises €1.8M

• Valencia-based Wenalyze receives €1.7M

• Madrid racket sports app Playtomic acquires Finnish counterpart SL Systems Oy

• Madrid game studio Tequila Works acquired by Chinese tech giants Tencent 

VC, investment & crowdfunding news

• ACCIO, the Catalan Government’s agency for business competitiveness, has made investments in 86 Catalan tech firms and helped create 500 jobs since 2017

• Enzo Ventures open a second fund of €20M for seed-stage tech startups

• Nauta Capital & Orange Ventures co-lead a €11M Series A investment in French AI firm YZR

• Barcelona-based Nina Capital invest €1.3M in US firm MedaSystems

• Fellow Funders enters the eco cleaning sector with a new €1.2M round

• Fundación Daniel y Nina Carasso together with Fundación Ship2B launch €600K impact investment program Tiina

• Carlos Gomez from 7r Ventures launches new fractional ownership proptech Vivla

Open calls, accelerator news & incubator stories

• Now in its 3rd year, BCN’s 3D-printing Incubator has exceeded expectations

• CorreosLabs open 4th edition of its Lehnica Challenge accelerator for automation, cybersecurity, CX, fintech & data-driven startups; apply until April 1st

• US giant Sequoia Capital has launched a European accelerator program for seed-stage companies; apply until April 8th

Barcelona startup & entrepreneur profiles & interviews:

• Deale: M&A startup connecting companies with investors 

• Oxolife: biotech striving to improve female fertility

• Xavier Padellorens: CEO & co-founder of Deporvillage 

Tech News

Tech news in Barcelona:

• French firm Payfit to open a 4.5K m2 HQ in 22@ and hire 150 people

• Dospuntos Asset Management to invest €91M into sustainable offices in 22@ 

• Adevinta to invest €3M/year in innovation & product and reinforce 22@ developer team

• Local firm Bold to open a high-performance electric battery factory in Montmeló (Barcelona)

• ISE, the largest audiovisual fair in the EU, arrives in Barcleona; predicts it's impact on the city to be around €450M

• Seven Korean startups choose Barcelona for their European expansion

• Companies dedicated to cybersecurity grew 20% in Catalonia in 2021

• French startup Fleet launches its ‘hardware-as-a-service’ in Spain & will open in BCN

• Catalan-created Hipra vaccine hopes to be on the market by June

• Crypto event Avalanche Summit 2022 event woos 3.5K people in Barcelona with late parties, late starts & long lines

• Netmentora Catalonia awards celebrate present and future leaders & unicorns

Tech & big company news in Spain:

• Volkswagen Group and SEAT reveal electrification plan for Spain; want to turn it into a European E-Mobility Hub

• Indra to develop SATCOM system for future defence drones

• Telefónica Tech buys UK firm Incremental for €209M, strengthens its position as a Microsoft supplier

• 24% of employees in Spain say they'd look for a new job if bosses asked them to return to the office full-time

• Spain and Argentina agree stronger innovation cooperation

• Uber Spain increases ride cost by €0.50 per journey due to skyrocketing fuel prices 

Politics, Legal & Economics

• Startups fear that the gov’s new Digital Kit will end up mostly going to big tech firms  

Good Reads

• Overview of the mobility startup sector in Spain, regulations & more

• The collapse of BQ (Spain’s former top gadget manufacturer) as told from the inside 

• VC in times of war: how Russia’s invasion of Ukraine affects the Spanish startup ecosystem

• Russian tech founders react to the war in Ukraine

• Healthtech trends to anticipate as we move into the Post-Pandemic era

• The 11 best places in Spain to be a digital nomad following the new visa

Good Videos & Podcasts

• Interview with Guillem Vila of BCN-based Ocado Technology (ES) 

• Interview with Xavier Rosales, co-founder at Paack (ES)

• Interview with Iker Marcaide of Flywire, one of the 1st Spanish companies to list on NASDAQ (ES)

• What kind of leaders do we need to be now? With Kevin Delaney of Charter (EN)

• Video: roundtable debate with local startup ecosystem leaders on the competitiveness of technology companies (ES)

Great Events

This week:

• Wed, 30 Mar @15:30: Leading the future of employment: initiatives & projects for reskilling & upskilling tech skills

• Thu, 31 Mar @10:00: F10 Spain Demo Day - Incubation Program Batch II

• Thu, 31 Mar @18:00: March Afterwork @ Pier01 by Tech Barcelona

Upcoming:

• Wed, 6 Apr @18:00: Explore Quantum Computing Conference

• Thu, 7 April @17:00: Bcombinator Bcapital Day - Pitch to Inverstors

• Thu, 7 Apr @19:00: Masterclass | Decisions in real-time: the path from Big Data to Smart Data

• Mon, 25 Apr @18:30: Startup Grind BCN ft. Fuckup Nights BCN

• 26-28 Jun: European Blockchain Convention in Barcelona

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

Jobs

• OneCoWork is on the lookout for a Community Associate

• Opticks is recruiting a Sales Development Representative - French Market

• Touchstream is hiring a Sales Development Representative

• Reloady is recruiting a Head of Marketing

• TravelPerk is looking for a Marketing Manager

• BitPanda is hiring a Head of Referral Marketing

• Heura is looking for a Content Development and Thought-Leadership Manager

• Netcentric is looking for several IT positions