Barcelona's Weekly Tech Update

Hello,

This week’s main headlines:

• 📈 +€75M raised across 4 rounds by BCN startups

• 👼 166 business angels investing in Spanish startups

• 👩‍💼 Beatriz Sanz to lead EY’s global AI division

Summer slump is over; Spanish startup investment on the up

Summer is often a slow month when it comes to funding. Most startups rush to close deals before the holidays (if they can afford to take any). Or they have to wait til summer’s over to get them over the finsihing line. The latter seems to be what we’re seeing right now.

This week, Barcelona startups alone raised a total of €77M across 4 rounds. Meanwhile, the rest of Spain saw 10 funding rounds, none larger than REVEL’s gigantic €115M investment. Not a bad week in terms of funding. Hopefully this moment can carry over to the next months ahead.

Have a great week & chase your dreams relentlessly!

Startup & Investment News

Barcelona investment news

• New space leader Open Cosmos gets €45M to boost its satellites

• BCN-founded customer engagement platform Beamer raises €18.6M

• Barcelona health tech IOMED closes €10M Series A to expand its AI-powered healthcare data activation

• Travel subscription solution Caravelo raises €3.5M Series A led by Samaipata

Barcelona startup news

• Sustainable sportswear brand Fitplanet launches its first recyclable collection, opens commercial space in Sitges, and aims to reach €400K in sales this year

• Healthtech Mediktor closes agreement to bring its AI to Puerto Rico

• Viko Group creates Kaibos, the first company to launch native brands on Amazon for manufacturers

• Barcelona firms Belvo, Vitaance and Factorial included in BBVA’s list of 10 startups that stand out for their international projection

• Barcelona companies Parallel and Lawwwing featured in Emprendedores’ 6 most innovative law firms

Spanish investment news

• Madrid car subscription firm REVEL gets €115M

• Valencian medtech PhysioMRI closes €4M

• Climate tech Build to Zero gets €2.5M from Axon

• Basque biotech Mikrobiomik raises €1.1M & prepares another of €8M-10M

• Energy sales startup eSave closes €1M

• Video editing marketplace Storimake scores €875K

• Smaller rounds: Medity: €750K, Bemyvega: €641K, Wabi Home: €600K

• Healthtech scaleup Idoven gets new investment from Pau Gasol  

• Traveltech Smartvel acquires destination content specialist ArrivalGuides from Lion Ventures

VC, investment & crowdfunding news

• Air Street Capital announces $121M Fund II to back AI-first companies in Europe & the US

• Connect Ventures hits $80M for its next fund, says the Bear market means ‘Product is back, baby!’

• Catalan fund Asabys leads €14M round in French company Gradient; also gets €10M from the ICF

• Spanish VC Portobello makes its first direct investment in Germany

Open calls, accelerator news & incubator stories

• EduCaixa opens new accelerator The Bridge for young entrepreneurs with social and environmental impact projects; apply until Oct 10

• Barcelona Music Tech Hub has launched the Music Tech Europe Academy, a 7-month accelerator for music tech startups; apply until Oct 12

• Purina launches a call for the 5th edition of its pet care accelerator, Unleashed; apply until Oct 15

Barcelona startup & entrepreneur profiles & interviews

• Beder: Trip planning through videos

• eRoots: Pioneer in the renewable energy analysis world

• Flock Drone Art: The company illuminating the Barcelona skies for La Mercè

Tech News

Tech news in Barcelona

• Mango continues its US expansion spree

• Lotte Energy Materials' investment in Catalonia for elecfoil production could hit €1.2M (double the initial investment) & create 600 direct jobs

• TMB invests €23M in hydrogen buses, aiming for 25% of its fleet to be zero emission by 2024

• Lorenzo Di Pietro becomes new general director of Barcelona Activa

Tech & big company news in Spain

• EY appoints to Spanish manager Beatriz Sanz to lead AI globally

• Telefónica and Microsoft launch Educa365

• BBVA Spark, the business unit for tech companies, arrives in Argentina

• Inditex almost levels Iberdrola as the 3rd Ibex company in terms of profits, only behind Santander & BBVA

Politics, legal & economics

• Spain tweaks 5G funding terms amid competition concerns

• EU to let ‘responsible’ AI startups train models on its supercomputers

• Manpower Group study reveals that 35% of Spanish companies will hire in the last quarter of 2023 & only 2 in 10 will make cuts

Good Reads

• 166 business angels in Spain investing in startups

• "We need to boost policies based on capital instruments and subsidies to support deep-tech sectors such as biotechnology", Ion Arocena - CEO at AseBio

• Twitch: the platform that changed everything – Forbes interview with spokesperson Sara Pastor

Good Videos & Podcasts

• The SYRA COFFEE Model and the great IPO of the moment (Itnig, ES)

Great Events

This week:

• Tue, 19 Sep @10:30: Work in Barcelona! Job Fair

• Tue, 19 Sep @18:45: Investment and Startups: Navigating the Future of Work

• Wed, 20 Sep @18:30: BCN FinTech X Barcinno #010: Benoit Menardo (Co-Founder at Payflow) → Code already applied for a Barcinno discount ☺️

• Wed 20 Sep @18:30: CreatorsLab. Get financing to boost your business

• Thu, 21 Sep @19:00: Startup Talks: Future Trends in B2B Sales

Upcoming:

• Tue, 26 Sept @18:00: 1st Bananatech Meetup: Networking for Ecuadorian techies 

• Tue, 26 Sept @18:30: Startup Grind Mataró hosts Josep Casas (CEO @ Food for Joe & Europistachios)

• Wed, 27 Sep @18:00: Digital Health Innovators Barcelona: Get Together event with Dr Geeta Nayyar

• Wed, 27 Sep @18:30: Honeypot [Workshop] Women in Tech: From Awareness to Action

• 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 🙌 

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

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

Startup Jobs:

• European Blockchain Convention wants a Web3 Community Builder

• Factorial is hiring a Marketing Operations Specialist

• N26 is looking for a Head of Product

• Thunes is recruiting a Strategy & Operations Intern

• TravelPerk is hiring a Sales Executive - Growth Markets

• +340 jobs at fintech companies based in Barcelona