Barcelona's Weekly Tech Update

Hello and happy Monday,

This week’s main headlines:

• Fira gets 2 new world-leading conferences 🎪

• €1B NATO startup fund 🛡️

• Wallbox losses up but profits in sight ⚖️

BCN Summer Startups 🌞

It’s August, which means that:

1. We’ve apparently lived through the hottest month on record 

2. It’s time for our yearly summer-themed BCN startup spotlight (many of which raised funding recently or this year):

⏰ BYHOURS: The first and only platform that lets you book hotels in 3, 6, or 12-hour slots and decide the check-in/out time. Pool day?

🕶️ Liq Eyewear: 3D-printed sunglasses & glasses

🧴 Kream: Next-generation sun lotion & tanning products

🏕️ Flappin’: Book or gift surprise trips/experiences without having to worry about planning the whole thing yourself

🍹 Solea Hard Seltzer: Low-calorie alcoholic seltzers inspired by the flavors of the Med

👪 Barcelona Wink: Kid-friendly travel, accommodation, activity, and experience booking platform around BCN and Catalonia

🚲 Rayvolt: Stylish, premium e-bikes (no pedaling required)

Have a great week!

Startup & Investment News

Barcelona investment news

• Elderly dental care firm Dental Residency gets €2.1M & targets €6M turnover by 2025

• Esports academy United Gamers raises €500K

• Spinoff Cebiotex gets €154K government funds to scale up its first cancer drug

• Web3 mail service Email 5 is crowdfunding

• Distance device startup Magnetika opens investment round to grow its revolutionary tech

Barcelona startup news

• Wallbox’s losses are up but has confidence it’ll be profitable by the end of the year; BBVA also finances Wallbox’s growth plans with €25M

• Surprise travel startup Waynabox bills €1M monthly sales & expects to hit €10M in 2023

• Time management platform Woffu increases turnover by over 24% in Q1

Spanish investment news

• Cybersecurity firm BeDisruptive gets €4.9M co-investment from COFIDES to grow in Italy

• IT support firm Supportwave closes €2M

• Madrid-based medtech Idoven secures €1.5M

• Zaragoza e-health startup Dive Medical raises €1.1M

• Basque logistics solution CLCircular receives €1M

• Smaller rounds: Clivi (gaming platform, €392K), IberianTax (tax for non-residents, €110K)

VC, investment & crowdfunding news

• After announcing plans 2 years ago, NATO closes €1B fund to back startups supporting ‘safety, freedom and human empowerment’

• EIF & Banco Santander sign agreement to support SMEs (digitization & sustainability sectors) with up to €280M in new financing

• Banca March launches €70M decarbonization fund with Tikehau Capital

• Telefónica Ventures invests in global eSim leader Airalo, in a $60M series B round

• Bon Preu owner Joan Font Fabregó enters VC with new company Colldebanyuls

Open calls, accelerator news & incubator stories

• Cruïlla & Damm have opened the 2nd call for their Sustainable Festival Challenge; until Sep 3

• Gobe ​​Ventures has opened its accelerator for startups, scaleups & digital SMEs to boost business in the public sector; until Sep 8

• Ferrer4Future’s call is open for healthtech startups with various solutions to help fight ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis); apply now

• Activa Industria 4.0 program: BeRepublic provides support & advice to Spanish industrial SMEs, financed with European funds; apply now

Barcelona startup & entrepreneur profiles & interviews

• Fabbric: All-in-one platform to design, produce & sell clothing

• Moonai: Music & sound app to tackle period pain

• No Bullshit Company: Local network revolutionizing the entrepreneurial ecosystem

• TravelPerk: On building a pipeline for gender diversity in travel

Tech News

Tech news in Barcelona

• Two world-leading international conferences move to Fira, gaming & logistics

• DIGITALENT teams up with EOI to offer free digital transformation master’s programs in Catalonia

Tech & big company news in Spain

• Asset tokenization firm Securitize issues first tokenized equities under EU pilot regime for digital assets

• Dia supermarket chain cancels sale of Clarel to Portuguese VC fund C2 Capital Partners for not meeting sale conditions

Politics, legal & economics

• Unemployment rate falls to 15-year low of 11.60% in Q2

• Spain’s curbs on Uber-style apps face probe over breach of EU law

Good Reads

• From robot waiters to DNA-based menus: How AI is changing the food industry

• Founders and investors say the price still isn't right for most European VC secondaries

• How to deliver new features successfully as a Software Engineer (Part 2): Maciej Gawłowski, sr. software engineer at Glovo

Good Videos & Podcasts

• Interview with Henriette Hettinga, project manager of CodeWomen (Apiumhub, EN)

• What you learn from an American accelerator, with ILLUMO Robotics founder Andrea Inglés (Itnig, ES)

Great Events

Upcoming:

• Thu, 31 Aug @18:30: Fuckup Nights BCN & Startup Grind BCN Summer Party

• Wed, 20 Sep–Fri, 22 Sep: The District Show: Real Estate Conference

• Wed, 27 Sep–Thu, 28 Sep: The AI & Big Data Congress

• Sat, 30 Sep–Sun, 1 Oct: SmartCon Hacker House: Building Web3

• Tue, 24–Thu, 26 Oct: European Blockchain Convention 9

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

Startup Jobs:

• Bourbon Creative is hiring Content Writers (FR)

• Lanai Ventures is recruiting a Venture Capital Intern

• EIT Urban Mobility wants a Startup Community Officer

• Antai Ventures is hiring a SaaS Specialist

• Flanks is recruiting Product Managers, Biz Dev & more

• Incapto Coffee is hiring an Ecommerce Manager