Hello and welcome back!

Today's main headlines:

• HR tech Factorial gets €67.5M

• Wallapop & Glovo continue expansion

• Amazon to open new logistics center in Catalonia

Barcinno is back after a brief summer break 🏖️

After recharging batteries, we're back and ready for the second half of the year. Following our 2-week break, there is plenty to catch up on, so better grab two coffees ☕☕ this time to read through all.

Just a quick note first: there are plenty of exciting job opportunities in Barcelona at the moment. So if you're looking for a new challenge, head to our job section at the bottom of this newsletter. In particular, you might want to explore the vacancies at our friends Bourbon Creative, OneCoWork, Honest Greens, Netcentric, QMENTA & more.

Have a great week!

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Startup & Investment News

Barcelona investment news

• HR tech startup Factorial raises €67.5M ($80M) on the back of strong traction

• Data orchestration and workflow platform Seqera Labs grabs €4.65M to help sequence COVID-19 variants and other complex data problems

• Online gaming firm Gamestry closes a €4.2M round led by Goodwater, Target Global and Kibo Ventures

• Gaming veteran group Breach Studios receives €3.5M investment from My.Games Venture Capital

• Loan marketplace Prestalo closes an investment round of €1M

• Barcelona-based sustainable watersport apparel firm Turtl raises €111K

Barcelona startup news

• Mobile marketplace Wallapop announces its latest international expansion

• Food tech startup Glovo expands its operations in Africa

• EV charger firm Wallbox launches Sirius renewable energy management system for commercial buildings

• Chatbot SaaS startup Landbot expects to reach €300K MRR by the end of 2021

• Fintech firm Payflow enters the Y Combinator acceleration program

• Energy startup BiaPower-Grid among 5 other projects to reach final of the MUBIL Mobility Awards

• AI startup Gestoos among 5 innovations from European startups that will surprise you

• Apiumhub achieves highest growth in 7 years

Spanish investment news

• Spanish startups raised a total of €25.5M in August according to ElReferente; the lowest monthly volume this year but Spain already broke its record for most annual investment this year

• Valladolid startup 53Biologics gets €7M

• Madrid-based neobank Divilo captures €5.2M

• Valencia-based Bit2Me raises €5M in 60 seconds, becomes the most successful token issue in Spain

• Valencia AI teaching startup GoKoan lands €1.2M

• Madrid agrotech startup Ixoriguel gets €1M

• Madrid cloud platform Jotelulu receives €1M

• Spanish startup TheBeemineLab gets €900K

• Madrid last-mile delivery startup EcoScooting nets €500K

• Basque web platform Beseif nets €300K

• Valencia-based second-hand marketplace Cash The Closet gets €216K

• Valencia hygiene labs Forenqui acquired by Sherpa Capital

VC, investment & crowdfunding news

• Spanish VCs Seaya Venture and JME Ventures take part in €12.7M investment in US firm Biome Makers

• Spanish VC Nauta Capital leads €2.7M investment of UK firm Trustshare

• Barcelona VC Nina Capital takes part in €2.7M investment round of Polish firm Cardiomatics

• AfiI launches new VC frm to invest €1M in up to 15 Spanish startups

• Telefónica Ventures nets 5X return within 2 years on its investment in Altiostar Networks

• Madrid investment firm Nazca Capital acquires a majority stake in Spanish firm Nutris

• Basque investment firm Ysios capital achieves certification under the diversity VC standard.

• Enisa and Enagás join forces to promote Spanish competitiveness and sustainable entrepreneurship

Open calls, accelerator news & incubator stories

• Scaleup Spain Network selects 13 startups for its 2nd edition

• Valencian Lanzadera selects 100 startups that stand out for their commitment to digitization

• BStartup Health opens call; apply until 30 Sep

• La Nave launches the 4th edition of its startup acceleration program; apply until 7 Nov

• Ford MakeItDriveable Challenge is looking for innovative projects to apply

• Decathlon launches “Supported by Decathlon” to collaborate with early stage sports tech startups in Spain

• Gudwud, Helados Premium con Topping Social, Nahiarte, Paz.ai and RobinGood selected for the 2nd edition of Scale4Impact

Barcelona startup & entrepreneur profiles & interviews:

• Cafler: digital automotive platform

• Enzo Ventures: under-30 Entrepreneurs empowering Seed-Stage companies

• TalentFY: The marketplace connecting companies and IT freelance recruiters

Tech News

Tech news in Barcelona:

• Amazon to open a new logistics center in Girona in 2022

• Aena and startup Meep launch a mobility platform in Barcelona

• Barcelona named as Europe’s 4th safest city according to The Economist’s Safe Cities Index 2021 

• Uber will integrate the 663 Cityscoot electric scooters in Barcelona into its application

• Upcoming SBC Summit Barcelona confirms speaker lineup for the live event

Tech news in Spain:

• LaLiga launches NFTs with Antoine Griezmann as investor and Gerard Pique as adviser

• Just Eat acquires an electric fleet of motorcycles and bicycles for its service in Spain

• Enisa launches the Agroinnpulso line to promote the agri-food sector

• Desigual employees will vote if they want to work only four days and earn 6.5% less

• HBO Max to launch in Spain on 26 Oct

Politics, Legal & Economics

• Spain sticks to raising minimum wage to reduce wealth gap

Good Reads

• 15 Spanish startups to watch, according to top Spanish founders

• Digital nomads are here to save Spain’s ghost towns

• Innovative Spanish small businesses that don’t stop opening stores

• Why early-stage founders should be wary of big VC checks

• Amazon aggregator startups raised over $1bn in Europe in a single day

Good Videos & Podcasts

• Panel discussion about mental health tech with leading Barcelona startups

• Interview with Lisa Hehenberger, Director at ESADE’s center for Social Impact

• Interview with Jordi Romero, cofounder & CEO at Factorial

• Interview with Marc Torres, CPO at Finteca (by Life on Mars)

• Fireside chat with Typeform about lack of diversity in tech and venture capital

Great Events

This week:

• Wed, 15 Sep @16:00: Women with entrepreneurial DNA [ES]

• Wed, 15 Sep @18:30: JavaScript for Beginners

• Thu, 16 Sep @18:30: Startup Grind Mataró hosts Alex Huertas (Co-founder @ Northweek) [ES]

Upcoming:

• 27-30 Sep: #TECHLEADweek

• 29 Sep: OPEN DAY: The Valley Digital Business School

• 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

• OneCoWork is recruiting a Community Associate

• Bourbon Creative is hiring a Digital Marketing Intern/Trainee - Paid (Native English)

• Honest Greens is looking for a Lifecycle Marketing Manager

• QMENTA is hiring a Front-end Developer

• Domestika is looking for a CMO

• Planthia is recruiting a Growth Marketing Manager

• Weekendesk is hiring a CMO

• Volotea is looking for a Strategy Consultant for CEO's Office

• MENU Technologies is recruiting a Head Of Marketing

• Red Points is hiring a Product Marketing Manager

• Netcentric is looking for several IT positions