Hello and happy Monday! Hope you had a nice weekend and 2020 off to a great start! Let's dive right in:

IQS Tech Fest: Join The New Industrial Revolution

Get ready to join the new Industrial Revolution at IQS Tech Fest, Europe’s First Festival of Industrial Startups, on Thursday, January 23 in the Antiga Fàbrica Estrella Damm in Barcelona.

The alliance between innovation, science and technology can transform the world. This is why IQS Tech Factory, the first industrial accelerator in Spain, will celebrate how technology has shaped our lives and imagine what will come next, emphasizing how technology is a way to address the challenges of our society.

At IQS Tech Fest, the most innovative entrepreneurs and innovation experts of our era will gather in Barcelona, making our city the cradle of industrial entrepreneurship once again. The event will feature startups that can change our future, keynotes, round tables, an investment forum, and the IQS Next Tech Demo Day where The Most Promising Industrial Startup of the Year will be selected. Secure your ticket now at a 30% discount with our exclusive code: BARCINNO30IQSTF2020

Mobile World Congress 2020 Parties & Events Guide

Our ever-popular Mobile World Congress Parties & Events Guide is back! While the MWC2020 is still about a month away (24-27 Feb), we're already tracking all the official (& unofficial) events as they are announced. The list is being updated daily, so just let us know if you're event is missing. Check out the full list & secure your spot for your favorite events here.

Special thanks to Adriana Freitas of Muster.vc for helping organize this guide!

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

Startup & Investment News

Barcelona investment news

• Barcelona on-demand storage startup Boxmotions lands €2.4M

• Catalan aerospace startup PANGEA raises €1M via The Crowd Angel

Spanish investment news

• Madrid travel startup Bob.io closes a €3M investment round

• Salamanca-based travel tech startup Beonprice gets €2.5M

• Valencia-based biotech startup Arthrex closes a €1.5M seed round

• Madrid travel tech startup Triporate lands €1.3M investment

• Madrid-based startup EthicHub closes a €1M seed round

• Spain & NY-based insurtech startup CoverWallet has been acquired by AON

• Barcelona AI startup Qmenta opens a €1.35M funding round to expand to the USA

Startups news

• Barcelona startup Wallbox wins four major awards at CES in Las Vegas

• Catalan startup Flykube sold more than 2.000 surprise trips in Portugal last year after launching operations there in March

• Catalan sports e-commerce startup Tradeinn reaches €188M in revenues in 2019

• Catalan sports e-commerce firm Deporvillage increases revenues by 33% to reach €60M in 2019

• Glovo and N26 join forces to offer free deliveries for payments with N26 credit cards

VC, investment & crowdfunding news:

• Spanish VC BeAble Capital reviews performance of their €35M deep science fund 

Open calls, accelerator news & incubator stories:

• B-Value, an innovation program for social entities, is closing its call on Jan 15; click here to apply

Barcelona startup & entrepreneur profiles & interviews:

• Abzu: an AI company where there are no bosses & everyone chooses their own salary

• Nostrum Biodiscovery: creating new drugs through AI & supercomputing power

• Tree Nation: the worldwide platform to plant trees

Tech News

• Google looking to double Barcelona workforce 'in near future'

• US firm XPO Logistics to expand services in Catalonia with new distribution site

• Catalan company ASPY Prevención gets a €40M investment from French VC Capza

• City Council of Barcelona wants airports to stop offering flight connections between cities that can be reached by train

• Low-emissions zone in Barcelona: Barcelona debuts low-emissions area, but will public transport be able to cope?

• Barcelona-based universities IESE and ESADE ranked as 6th and 13th best business school in EU by the Financial Times

• Data collection project mapping 28,000 miles of Barcelona’s roads daily presents findings to improve road safety

• Bicing is looking to net €1M from sponsorship deals this year

• European Blockchain sector gathers in Barcelona this month

Tech news in Spain:

• Spain recorded fewer emissions and installed the most renewables last year; 2020 looks to continue this trend

• EIB to provide Spain with €28M to finance electric & CNG buses in Spain

• Big blow for the Spanish industry as EU Commission doesn't include Spain amongst 7 countries selected to benefit from €8B+ investment in the development of electric batteries production plants

• - Here's why Spain would have been the perfect place though

• Telefonica developing blockchain-based network for Spain's tech parks

• Spanish banks eye charging higher commissions to boost profitability

Politics & Economics

• Spain's Sánchez narrowly wins vote to govern in coalition (BBC)

• - At last, a new government for Spain (The Economist)

• Salary gap between managers and employees in Spain continues to grow

Good Reads

• 12 reasons to invest in Catalonia

• Barcelona: Fab & Maker City

• How accelerators & incubators support entrepreneurship in Spain

• Why made-in-Spain smartphones never really took off

Good Videos & Podcasts

• Round table about sustainable development goals with Carlos Barrabés, president of Barrabés Next, Tessa Wernink, co-founder at Fairphone & José Bayón, CEO of Enisa (by Ship2B)

Great Events

This Week

• Tue, 14 Jan @18:00: Digital Health Trends 2019-2020

• Wed, 15 Jan @18:30: DigitalXChange Product Series Barcelona

• Wed, 15 Jan @18:30: 5 prioritization practices to help your agile planning

• Thu, 16 Jan @19:00: Power BI User Group Barcelona

• Fri, 17 Jan @19:00: allWomen Talks #14: "UX Writing 101"

Next Week

• *Mon-Tue, 20-21 Jan: European Blockchain Convention*

• Tue, 21 Jan @18:30: Digital Sapiens- Hyperloop & Blockchain

• Wed, 22 Jan @19:00: Cross Connections – Machine Learning

• Wed, 22 Jan @19:00: Startup Founders Workshop – Create Your Perfect Pitch

• *Thu, 23 Jan @18:30: Startup Grind Barcelona with Iñaki Arrola (Managing Partner @ K Fund)*

2020 Q1 Key Events:

• Tue, 28 Jan @15:30: XII S2B Demo Day

• 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

• Agile Content is hiring a Senior Java Software Engineer

See the full job board here.