Barcelona's Weekly Tech Update

Hello,

This week’s main headlines:

• BCN rated 8th best city worldwide 🏆

• Factorial acquires Fuell 🤝

• More legal trouble for Glovo 🧑‍⚖️

BCN startup funding Q3: Barcinno insights 🚀 📊

It might not feel like fall here in Barcelona but Q3 is already over – which means, as promised, it’s time to take a look at who’s been raising what over the summer months.

Here are the Q3 results and takeaways:

🔭 BCN overview:

• Q3 has been the best quarter this year in terms of total funding raised with €261M (+54% compared to €170M in the pervious quarter)

• Barcelona startups raised slightly fewer rounds (39) compared to Q2 (42)

• So ticket sizes are actually larger – mainly thanks to bigger players like Paack, Cooltra, TravelPerk, Bound4Blue and Stark Future all raising €20M or more each (only one such round in Q2)

• August is an outlier since due to the summer break, many funding stories are announced later

🩺 🌍 Top industries in BCN:

• Funding round leaders: Healthtech (5), clima/cleantech & traveltech (both 4). Fintech, a Q2 leader, remains strong though with 3 rounds.

• In the whole of Spain, clima/cleantech (9) lead Q3 in front of fintech & healthtech (both 8).

 🍰 BCN vs Spanish startups:

• BCN startups accounted for about 50% of total funding in Spain this quarter, up from 45% in Q2

Have a great week!

Startup & Investment News

Barcelona investment news

• Mundimoto closes a €6M loan with BBVA Spark to strengthen its growth

• Alzheimer's healthtech ADmit Therapeutics closes €5.4M

• Open-source startup Genie raises €1.2M pre-seed round

• Vertical farming startup Groots gets investment from Clave Capital’s Tech Transfer Agrifood fund 

• Factorial acquires expense management startup Fuell

• Proptech Pragma acquired by Lithuanian group Icor

• Early detection breast cancer startup FrontWave Imaging opens 600K funding campaign

Barcelona startup news

• Glovo runs out of time to prevent its directors from going to prison

• Vicio plans to double its sales to exceed €40M after opening its first store in Madrid

• Dindog Tech sells its patent pet health technology to leading US vet firm Patterson

• CEO of Kave Home Francesc Julià wins Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award; other category winners include The Smart Lollipop & Cuideo

Spanish investment news

• Mallorca-based Laminar Pharma raises €8.8M to fight brain tumors

• Madrid fintech Divilo gets €6M & plans to reach profitability in 2024

VC, investment & crowdfunding news

• Skype founder's VC firm Atomico secures $1.1B amidst economic uncertainties

• K Fund closes new Leadwind fund of €237M & announces its first 5 investments

• Zubi Capital launches first VC fund with an impact on diversity & inclusion in Spain

• Lanai Ventures to invest €20M in seed-phase startups over the next 5 years

Open calls, accelerator news & incubator stories

• If you’re an innovative, ambitious startup with high growth potential, submit your candidacy to the Catalan Pitch Competition; until today Oct 9

• The Boehringer Ingelheim-Richi Foundation call for startups seeks those with a proof of concept that aims to accelerate & simplify the diagnosis of GPP; until Oct 25

• Female VCs/investors & founders: add your input to the European Venture 2023 State of Gender Diversity survey

Barcelona startup & entrepreneur profiles & interviews

• B3tter Foods: The food startup that’s not for sale & says no to large multinationals

• Tradeasy: Robots for the financial market

Tech News

Tech news in Barcelona

• Barcelona ranked 8th best city in the world & 3rd in Europe

• Microsoft eyes closing its giant Activision Blizzard deal next week (the latter moved its Infinity Ward studio to BCN in June)

• Mango develops Lisa, its own AI, to design clothing, identify consumer trends & more

• Salesforce bets on Catalonia to implement its talent & sustainability strategy

• Cuatrecasas enters strategic alliance with Harvey to become the first large Spanish law firm to implement a generative AI solution

Tech & big company news in Spain

• Revolut prepares to enter the mortgage market

• Aliexpress partners with Madrid neobank WiZink to launch its first credit card in Europe in Spain

• Bondholders get the green light from the court to take over Telepizza

• French unicorn Qonto says it wants to acquire fintech startups in Spain

Politics, legal & economics

• AI, quantum, semiconductors and biotech on EU’s list of critical tech to protect sovereignty in the face of China’s global rise

• EU urges airlines to offer free cabin luggage access to all travellers

• The CDTI allocates more than €40M for 80 business R&D&I projects

Good Reads

• Barcelona International Community Day celebrates its tenth anniversary - by Barcinno

• The 20 most promising startups in Spain, according to Emprendedores

• Chatbot hallucinations are poisoning web search

• 10 investors talk about the future of AI and what lies beyond the ChatGPT hype

Good Videos & Podcasts

• The role of the Product Manager, with Bernat Farrero, Co-founder of Itnig & Factorial (ES)

Great Events

This week:

• Thu, 5 Oct @09:30: Innovation hubs in Barcelona: best practices for attracting talent

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

Upcoming:

• Wed, 18 Oct @19:00: IndieDevDay/Barcelona Game Creators monthly meeting

• Wed, 18 Oct @ 18:30: Startup Grind Barcelona: Francesc Font Cot (Co-Founder & Co-CEO @Incapto Coffee)

• Wed, 25 Oct @17:00: eWorks Accelerator 2023 Demo Day - hybrid 

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

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

• Thu, 26 Oct @18:30: Startup Grind Mataró: Gemma Cernuda-Canelles (CEO & Founder @Ellas Deciden)

• Fri, 27 Oct: Future Travel Summit 2023

• Sat, 28 Oct: Barcelona International Community Day

• Wed, 22–Thu, 23 Nov: B GOOD DAY: Spain’s annual B Corp movement event

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

Startup Jobs:

• Bankflip needs a Software Engineer

• Unnax is looking for a Business Development Executive (BDE)

• Stark Future is hiring a Vice COO, a Senior Buyer & more

• Kantox needs a People Operations Manager