Barcelona's Weekly Tech Update

Hello and happy Monday,

This week’s main headlines:

• Wallbox acquires German EV firm ABL 🔋

• BCN startups raise €17M+ across 8 rounds 🌱

• Digital Euro preparations begin 🪙

👋 The Barcinno team will be at Barcelona International Community Day, European Blockchain Convention, and FutureTravel Summit this week!

So if you want to talk startups, tech, or marketing (or just say hi) at any of these events, send Scott, Clemens, or Tasha a message on LinkedIn.

Startup & Investment News

Barcelona investment news

• Fintech firm Flanks, which has built an API for automated wealth services, closes a €7.5M funding round to democratize access to wealth management across Europe

• Corporate housing solution Apartool raises €5.5M Series A

• Solar startup Sunhero gets €3M loan from BBVA Spark

• Furniture store Hannun signs a €1.1M financing agreement with Inveready

• Tourist rental platform Winahost raises €475K first round

• Smaller rounds: Let’s Cook (€280K), AtheneaEDU (€120K), Plazy (€300K)

• Wallbox acquires German EV charger manufacturer ABL for €15M

Barcelona startup news

• Lawwwing becomes the first Spanish legaltech to achieve IAB & Google certification for business services; it has also opened a new funding round 

• BSC spin-off Mitiga Solutions wins Best Startup at the D+I Innovation Awards

• SpliceBio partners with Spark Therapeutics to develop retinal disease gene therapy

• Dental Residency reinvents itself under the Lura Care brand

Spanish investment news

• US-Spanish autonomous solar plane startup Skydweller gets €30M from EIB

• WhatsApp AI assistant LuzIA snaps up €9.5M

• Madrid biotech Life Length closes €4M

• Proptech VIVLA receives €2.7M & acquires Suomma

• Home services marketplace Webel raises €2.1M

• Healthtech app PharmaDate gets €400K

VC, investment & crowdfunding news

• Breega launches €150M 'Europe Seed III' fund to boost early-stage startups

• Swanlaab launches €40M fund for innovation in the agri-food sector

• K Fund launches new €11M fund focusing exclusively on pre-seed startups

Open calls, accelerator news & incubator stories

• ACCIÓ is giving grants to promote emerging tech companies led by women, both startups & cooperatives; apply until Oct 24

• ACCIÓ also invites companies to Scale & Succeed with the US Startup Launchpad Program; apply until Oct 26

• Music Tech Europe Academy offers a pan-European acceleration scheme for music-tech startups, entrepreneurs & SMEs; apply now

Barcelona startup & entrepreneur profiles & interviews

• Goodbyememo: Messages delivered after a loved one passes

• Iñaki Uriz Millan, Caravelo: Why Airlines Struggle to Innovate

• MIXO: The nighttime robot that serves cocktails in 30 seconds

• Smart Point: Smart locker startup expanding into UK & Europe

Tech News

Tech news in Barcelona

• New AI exhibition in BCN aims to “make people more aware, more familiar, and less afraid of artificial intelligence”

• The sharp rise in Barcelona housing costs is apparently scaring off companies & entrepreneurs

• German drugstore chain Rossmann opens megastore in Barcelona

• Chinese multinational Wanhua opens its first southern Europe innovation center in Cornellà

Tech & big company news in Spain

• Adigital and EsTech propose a Scalability Law, a version of the Startup Law but which promotes scaleups and Spanish ‘digital champions’

• BBVA announces new integrated company BBVA Technology, offering more career development opportunities for its tech team

Politics, legal & economics

• Digital euro preparation phase begins on Nov 1 – but ECB says this doesn’t make its issuance certain

Good Reads

• The 18 most influential (and powerful) Catalan businesswomen who dominate the Forbes list

• Here's what tech recruiters really want you to know this year

Good Videos & Podcasts

• The Go to Market of Shopify in Spain (Product Hackers, ES)

• Asynchronous work, with Startup Grind’s Franc Carreras (Life on Mars, ES)

• Interview with Jordi Agustí, CEO of Waynabox (Historias de Crecimiento, ES)

Great Events

This week:

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

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

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

• Thu, 26 Oct @09:30 DeepTech DemoDay by The Collider

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

• Fri, 27 Oct: FutureTravel Summit 2023

• Sat, 28 Oct: Barcelona International Community Day

Upcoming:

• Fri, 17 Nov: Jump2Digital: Mobile World Capital BCN digital talent festival 

• 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:

• VEGA Chargers is recruiting a Technical Writer

• IOMED is looking for an Annotation Manager 

• Attico is hiring an Interim CPO

• Mitiga Solutions needs an R&D Project Coordinator