Barcelona's Weekly Tech Update

Hello,

This week’s main headlines:

• Tesla establishes in BCN 🚗

• WeWork continues in Spain 🏢

• New “Glovo” VC fund 🟡

Barcelona’s underrated advantage for networking 🙌

There is something about Barcelona that makes it a great place for networking. Perhaps it’s the fact that over 1.6 million people live here in a city that is geographically limited by both the mountains and the sea, thus shortening the commute time to meet in person. Or maybe it’s just the general culture and life style which creates a more positive, welcoming environment. Whatever it is, it’s a huge advantage for entrepreneurs and communities that strengthens our ecosystem.

I just got reminded about this once again this week, speaking with multiple highly motivated and inspiring founders, builders and eco-system players. One is aiming to create a social impact entrepreneurship hub in Barcelona, one is launching a new event series to promote education around investment for the general audience, and another is exploring potentially launching a new fintech venture.

Of course, there are tons of startup, tech and innovation events happening in Barcelona every week, not to mention all the major conferences, trade shows and the like. And I very much encourage you all to explore and experience these to connect with more people.

However, there is also another, much more casual way to engage which I have found very useful and successful myself here in Barcelona: if there is anybody you want to meet to pick their brain or help you out, just reach out to them on LinkedIn and invite to meet for a coffee ☕. In my experience, as long as you genuinely show respect (= personalized copy, point out relevance & no sales), explain who you are and what you want, people are generally quite receptive and welcoming. It may even surprise you.

So don’t be shy. If you want to meet anyone, just reach out. On that note, our doors at Barcinno are also always open so feel free contact Scott, Natasha or Clemens & we’ll be happy to chat with you.

/written by Clemens (without AI 🤖)

Have a great week & make useful connections!

Startup & Investment News

Barcelona investment news

• Freight transport management Tennders closes €1.5M, with the objective of reaching €5M capital

• Rental management software Nester raises €1.2M led by Caixabank’s Zone2Boost & more

• Wellbeing biotech Kamleon gets €1M with the participation of Casillas and Piqué

• Vall d’Hebron spin-off Manina Medtech closes pre-seed investment to develop its in-vitro fertilization device

Barcelona startup news

• Dogfy Diet awarded best startup in Spain by Esade Alumni & Banco Sabadell

• Fintech ID Finance secures €132M revenue in 2023 after record high credit originations of €282M

• Wallbox financials: records Q3 losses of €28.28M, a reduction of 5.3% annually, and hopes to break even in Q1 2024

• Ship2B Ventures becomes a certified B Corp

• Music Tech Europe Academy selects the 4 startups for its acceleration program, promoted by the Barcelona Music Tech Hub

Spanish investment news

• Madrid-based magnetic tech startup Frenetic bags €11.2M

• Andalusian smart grid platform Adaion raises €2.6M

• Pharmacy digital network LUDA Partners closes €400K

VC, investment & crowdfunding news

• Munich-based Acton Capital launches 6th fund at €225M to back EU and Canadian companies that are “ready to scale & built to last”

• Nekko Capital becomes Encomenda Capital Partners & will launch a new fund of €40–50M; Carlos Blanco will be the president and largest shareholder

• Glovo founders & former Atomico investor launch new Yellow fund, a €30M pre-seed to invest at the earliest stage possible

Open calls, accelerator news & incubator stories

• Google for Startups’ 3-month program, Growth Academy: AI for Cybersecurity, is open; apply until Nov 19

• Lefebvre Sarrut launches a call for the 3rd batch of its LightSpeed accelerator, focusing on ESG, gen AI & the enterprise market; apply until Nov 28

Barcelona startup & entrepreneur profiles & interviews

• BCome: Tracing and measuring the social & environmental impact of garments 

• Electric Inside Boats: Solar fishing boats part of the port’s new initiative 

• Groenlandia Tech: Smart fridges for the healthcare sector

• hello.app: The Web3 Dropbox with a 19-year-old CEO

Tech News

Tech news in Barcelona

• Tesla establishes a holding company in Barcelona

• Tripadvisor agrees to up to 69 layoffs in Barcelona after automating its procedures

• Nikkei, the world's largest financial newspaper, spotlights Catalonia as a tech hub destination

• Airbnb Co-founder Nathan Blecharczyk meets with Barcelona’s tech ecosystem

Tech & big company news in Spain

• WeWork’s recent bankruptcy declaration won’t affect operations in Spain

• Superapp Jeff negotiates new funds after filing for bankruptcy earlier this year

• Spotahome continues its post-pandemic comeback after reaching profitability & will not seek a short-term investment round

• Valencia's Zeleros is determined to bring hyperloop travel to reality by 2030

• Komvida consolidates its leadership by generating over €20M to Spain’s kombucha market in 2023

Politics, legal & economics

• Pedro Sánchez set to retain power in Spain after amnesty deal with Catalan separatists

• - The deal also includes plans to promote the return back to Catalonia of companies that have moved their registered offices out of the region in recent years

Good Reads

• Smartphone without a screen: All the details about Humane’s AI Pin, which costs $699 and has OpenAI integration

• New Forbes list: The 100 richest Spaniards 2023

• Sifted: When is the right time to expand into Asia?

• Codemotion: State of European tech communities 2023: exploring trends, innovations, and challenges of this year

Good Videos & Podcasts

• LINCE: Generative AI in the Spanish-speaking world, with Clibrain Co-founder Elena González-Blanco (Product Hackers, ES)

• Setting up a Venture Builder, with Mutter Ventures’ Christian Rodríguez (Itnig, ES)

Great Events

This week:

• Tue, 14 Nov @ 18:30: Free webinar: Start your career in tech with CEO Katrina & CodeOp graduates

• Wed, 15 Nov @18:30: An introduction to coding with CodeOp: HTML & CSS

• Thu, 16 Nov @10:00: Proptech Thursday by The Fringe/LABS

• Thu, 16 Nov @16:00: 3rd Insurtech investment forum BIH

• Thu, 16 Nov @18:30: Startup Grind Mataró: Yen Yin Jiao (Owner @ Toyo Restaurant & former Official @ Government of the People's Republic of China)

• Thu, 16 Nov @17:15: StrongHer by Qonto: Workshops for female entrepreneurs

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

Upcoming:

• Wed, 22 Nov @20:00: Angels & Beers (for investors only)

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

• Tue, 28 Nov–Thu, 30 Nov: 3-day coding challenge

• Wed, 29 Nov @18:30: BCN FinTech X Barcinno #011: FinTech Trends - What's next? → Barcinno discount already applied 🙂

• Wed, 29 Nov @18:30: ​​Women Tech Talent Sessions: Barcelona

• Wed, 29 Nov–Thu, 30 Nov: 10th Ship2B Impact Forum

• Thu, 7 Dec @12:00: Trans Atlantic Angel Conference 4: Final Demo Day Event

• Tue, 12 Dec @18:30: Fuckup Nights Barcelona Dec. 2023 (Vol. XLV)

• Wed, 13 Dec @18:30: Free bootcamp: An introduction to data science

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

Startup Jobs:

• Bourbon Creative is looking for Freelance Writers (Native French, 100% Remote) 

• Novicap is hiring a Partnerships Manager, Compliance Manager & Software Engineers