Barcelona's Weekly Tech Update

Hello folks,

This week’s main headlines:

• 🥉 BCN defends #3 place in EU Startup Heatmap

• 😔 Verse to shut down in Sep

• ✅ BNP completes Kantox acquisition

Barcelona’s startup ecosystem remains in #3 place in EU

Startup Heatmap Europe 2023 Report has just been published and here are the biggest takeaways:

• BCN remains in 3rd place, just after London (#1) and Berlin (#2)

• Other ranked Spanish cities: Madrid (#11), Malaga (#19), Valencia (#33), Las Palmas (#40) & Bilbao (#44)

• Compared to last year, Barcelona’s score fell by 2.88%

• The city excels in the scores for popularity (#3), global connectivity (#4), entrepreneurial universities (#4), job creation (#5) and developer availability (#7)

• Lags behind in scores for investment growth (#46), ease of doing business (#42), industry connections (#39) and value for money (#29) and female founder (#26)

• Biggest buzzword in Barcelona on Twitter (in that order): fintech, mobile, health & biotech, AI & Data, and Gaming

Results will be shared in the next edition.

Have a great week & enjoy the heat!

Startup & Investment News

Barcelona investment news

• E-bike manufacturer Stark Future bags €20M loan from Banco Santander

• Travelperk gets €17M from Swedish VC Kinnevik

• Software startup SAALG Geomechanics raises €3.65M in a round led by Acciona and the EU Commission to scale the deployment of its technology and democratize the use of big data and AI in the construction sector

• IIT management platform Techaway nets €500K and moves to HQ to Lugo

• Eholo, a SaaS for psychologists and clinics, closes a €200K funding round led by SeedRocket business angels

• Wide Eyes Technologies gets acquired by Stylitics for an undisclosed amount

• Kantox has been fully acquired by BNP Paribas, having been granted all necessary regulatory approvals after news about this M&A was first announced in Oct last year

Barcelona startup news

• Fintech Verse will shut down its app on 13 Sep this year citing they “have not been able to identify a sustainable path forward”; tell customers to withdraw funds and close accounts until then

• Unicorn Factorial lays off more than twenty workers

• The 3 Barcelona foodtech startups Väcka, Pack2Earth and Color Sensing selected for 2nd edition of KM Zero accelerator

• 120+ Barcelona startups recognized in HackerNoon’s “Startups of the Year 2023”

• Surprise travel destination startup Flappin looks for a €800K funding round to expand beyond ES, PT & IT; aims to double sales this year

• Glovo riders in Barcelona will go on strike this July

Spanish investment news

• Madrid martech startup Algori secures a €3.3M funding round led by Shilling Capital and Change Ventures, with participation from Flashpoint VC and business angels

• Galician-led Trebellar secures a €3.12M funding round with participation from K Fund, Haystack, Jetstream, Altcapital, Bynd VC, and business angels

• Sustainable energy startup EAVE gets €3M

• Madrid fintech Crescenta closes a €1.5M funding round led by KFund, with participation from FJ Labs

• Madrid startup Hoop Carpool completes a €1.2M funding round with Ship2B Ventures and 4Founders to lead shared mobility

• Madrid neobank Rebellion Pay acquired by Turkish fintech giant Papara

• Smaller rounds: Buz Drinks (€300K), Enfasys (€100K), Drivenyou Formación (€80K)

• Madrid rental company Alquiler Seguro sees Aurica acquire a 49% share

VC, investment & crowdfunding news

• Qualitas Funds closes its fifth fund of funds at its maximum size of €200 million and announces the launch of Qualitas Funds VI

• XesGalicia invested €16M in 10 new projects in 2022

• The Bolsa Social fund invested €7.2M in impact-driven companies in 2022, twice as much as in 2021

• COFIDES presents co-investment Fund (FOCO) to the main Spanish investment managers

• British PE firm Stirling Square Capital Partners acquires Alicante-based Grupo Gtt from AnaCap

• Miura Partners acquires Sabseg, the largest Portuguese brokerage

  • Brokers & Partners partners with Sabseg Seguros to create Sabseg Group, a leading independent brokerage in the Iberian market supported by Miura

Open calls, accelerator news & incubator stories

• LEADERS award submissions for innovative women in manufacturing are open, with prizes of up to €10K; until July 18

• UAB Research Park’s AI4ALL acceleration program aims to boost the creation of AI projects; apply now

Barcelona startup & entrepreneur profiles & interviews

• eSea: aquatic propeller for paddle surfing and kayaking

• OK Clinker: marketplace for auxiliary construction tools and materials

Tech News

Tech news in Barcelona

• Catalan outsourcing firm CTC has been sold by its owners Portobello to Randstad for €80M

• Foment del Treball Nacional promotes a space for technological collaboration in southern Europe

• Desigual launches its first made-to-order collection leveraging AI

Tech & big company news in Spain

• Employee benefit platform Cobee increases clientbase by 70% & confirms its commitment to large corporations

Politics, legal & economics

• Spanish presidency pitches new approach to tackle EU fiscal reform

Good Reads

• Startup Heatmap Europe 2023 Report

• Startup Heatmap: Barcelona profile

• Kibo Ventures’ Sonia Fernandez on why they led the recent €18M round in BCN-based senior care platform Qida

• Scaling cleantech in Iberia - the potential and the challenges

Good Videos & Podcasts

• Bird Box Barcelona movie launches on Netflix; it’s exactly what it says (have checked if it’s really “good” yet)

• The biggest insurtech round in Spain: Guillermo Alén, Life5 (Itnig, ES)

Great Events

This week:

• Mon, 17 Jul @19:00: New CodeWomen: AI: a story about algorithms, applications and risks

• Wed, 19 Jul @18:30: Startup Grind BCN w/ Ross McNairn, CPTO @TravelPerk → This link gets you a 40% Barcinno community discount :)

• Thu, 27 Jul @19:00: No Bullshit Talk #11: Elisabeth Martinez, COO & Partner @Nuclio

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

Startup Jobs:

• Amenitiz is looking for a Head of Performance Marketing

• Aflorithmic is hiring a Product Owner 

• Clarity AI is recruiting a ESG Data Operations Senior Manager

• European Blockchain Convention wants a COO

• Immfly needs a CFO