Barcelona's Weekly Tech Update

Hello all,

This week’s main headlines:

• Aily Labs gets €16M+ 💰

• BCN 2nd entrepreneur startup hub 🥈

• Meta cuts jobs in BCN ✂️

Big tech events to look forward to 🗓️

It seems that the fourth heat wave in Spain has slowed down what is typically a low-key startup news period already. The good news? It gives you more time to plan ahead 👌

With that in mind, get out your calendar and highlight these awesome upcoming big tech events in Barcelona:

• 8–11 Sep: IndieDevDay Gaming Event

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

• 9–11 Oct: Global Software Architecture Summit (GSAS) 

• 24–26 Oct: European Blockchain Convention 9

• 7–9 Nov: Smart City Expo World Congress

Find out more about EBC below.

Have a great week!

Startup & Investment News

Barcelona investment news

• Bootstrapped AI startup Aily Labs raises €16M (BCN & Munich-based)

Barcelona startup news

• Bigle Legal, Rever, Brickbro, and more BCN startups selected for Bankinter, Endeavor & Wayra’s Scaleup Spain Network support program

Spanish investment news

• Andalusian circular energy startup Verso gets undisclosed investment from Sherry Ventures; usual tickets are €600K

• Alicante auto parking startup Mimoto Parking is crowdfunding to expand further across Spain

VC, investment & crowdfunding news

• Cardumen Capital leads $2.7M pre-seed round in Israeli configuration-as-code platform Configu

• Antler announces the first 4 projects it will invest in from the Iberian market, totaling almost €500K

• Venture capital investments in clean energy startups multiply six-fold in 3 years

Open calls, accelerator news & incubator stories

• Last few days to apply for EBC’s Startup Battle, the largest early-stage blockchain startup competition in Europe; until Aug 31

• X2.0’s 3rd 5-month deeptech growth program for healthtech & biotech startups is open; until Sep 5

Barcelona startup & entrepreneur profiles & interviews

• Alexis Roig: "Barcelona is competitive and attracts talent, but it needs to retain those who earn the most"

• Urban Service Point: Pivoting the kiosk business model in Spain

Tech News

Tech news in Barcelona

• Barcelona consolidates its position as 2nd preferred location for startups in the European Union

• Cuts at Meta spill over to its anti-fake news center in Barcelona

• Mars Based targets 2.5M revenue with its tech consulting services, 60% in the United States

• New American Airlines routes include daily BCN-Dallas flights & year-round BCN-Philadelphia flights

• Barcelona will host the first Tech Tour Blue Economy at the Smart City Expo

• Procedures begin for South Korean Lotte energy materials plant in Mont-Roig del Camp

Tech & big company news in Spain

• Quantum 'Made in Spain' makes its way with European sovereignty as a guide: "Quantum Spain is just the first step".

• Maersk relies on Urb-it for last-mile deliveries in Madrid, Barcelona & Valencia

Politics, legal & economics

• Bank of Spain insists that there is room for the digital euro

• Catalan average salary (€1.954/month) is 15.1% below the EU average (€2.302/month)

Good Reads

• Climate tech and startups in Spain: All you need to know

• Up to £140k for a machine learning engineer: The European fintechs currently hiring for AI roles

• Europe will strengthen its position in these 3 industries within the next decade: Maki.vc’s Founding Partner Ilkka Kivimäki

• How AI and other emerging tech showed up during the FIFA Women’s World Cup

Good Videos & Podcasts

• Interview with Nacho Cougil, DevBcn organizer (Apiumhub, EN)

• Who rules at VICIO? With Founder Aleix Puig (Itnig, ES)

Great Events

This week:

• Thu, 31 Aug @18:30: Fuckup Nights BCN & Startup Grind BCN Summer Party → Use code SGBCN0823Com for a 40% community discount 🙌

Upcoming:

• Tue, 5 Sep–Fri, 8 Sep: Free 3-day Coding Challenge

• Fri, 8–Sun, 11 Sep: IndieDevDay

• Wed, 13 Sep: Women+ Who Have Transitioned to Tech, Parents Edition

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

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

• Mon, 9 Oct–Wed, 11 Oct: GSAS 2023 → Use code barcinno-gsas23 for 20% off 🙌 

• Wed, 25 Oct @18:00: Barcelona Tech Job Fair Autumn 2023

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

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

Startup Jobs:

• Xcelirate is looking for a Senior Python Developer

• VICIO is hiring a Growth Analyst

• SAYE is recruiting a Graphic Designer

• Kantox needs a People Operations Manager

• Caravelo is looking for a:

  • Marketing Intern

  • Talent Acquisition Specialist

  • Customer Success Manager

• Menlo Media (EU-Startups) is hiring a Part-Time Accounting Assistant