Barcelona's Weekly Tech Update

Hello hello,

This week’s main headlines:

• Wallbox gets €29M 💰

• Fira Barcelona adding 300K m2 🏗️

• Spanish media sue Meta for €550M ⚖️

Short week, short intro. With last week being cut short due to 2 bank holidays in Spain, today’s version is a light one. Still plenty of exciting stuff that happend, so enjoy catching up on all.

Have a great week!

Startup & Investment News

Barcelona investment news

• Wallbox secures €29M in fresh investment led by US firm Generac; Iberdrola and Skabholmen Invest also joined this round

• Biotech spin-off MiMARK Diagnostics successfully closes its €4.22M first round

Barcelona startup news

• Web3 startup Freeverse and LAOS Foundation launch new blockchain for interoperable digital assets

Spanish investment news

• Madrid-based decentralized identity solution Gataca secures €1.3M

VC, investment & crowdfunding news

• Madrid investment management firm Azora acquires €12.4M stake in British tech-enabled carbon procurement company Abatable

• Bolsa Social closes €700K to promote impact investment in Spain & expand to Portugal

Open calls, accelerator news & incubator stories

• Open call for the 3rd Start-UPFlama program, which promotes new innovative companies at UPF; apply until Dec 31

Barcelona startup & entrepreneur profiles & interviews

• Buo: an online supermarket that helps you save money while reducing waste

• Motiwate: Platform for team coaching from the Redessa ICT Incubator

• Nemi: a startup for on-demand transportation

Tech News

Tech news in Barcelona

• IESE rated 3rd best business school in Europe in new FT ranking

• New expansion of Fira will cover 300K m2, the equivalent of 10 football fields

• The L'Hospitalet BioCluster, which aspires to become the largest biomedical hub important in southern Europe, will generate €700M in turnover and 48K jobs

Tech & big company news in Spain

• These are the German, French & British competitors of PLD Space

• Telefonica seeks to axe 5,100 jobs in Spain by 2026, says union

Politics, legal & economics

• Spanish media files €550M lawsuit against Meta

• The EU favors self-regulation in new AI law

Good Reads

• “How many kilos of AI do you want?": Spanish companies want to jump on the AI train, but sometimes it’s not the right way (ES)

• Bootstrapping: Making A Virtue Out Of Necessity? (Forbes)

• Zara, the billion dollar missed opportunity: Built for Mars’ UX case study

• Growing up with European tech: A decade of Tech.eu

Good Videos & Podcasts

• Entrepreneurship with class consciousness, with Violeta Garín and Núria Aguado (Life on Mars, ES)

• Running a business venture as a 16-year-old is possible, with Ricard Guillem, founder at Cafler (Itnig Podcast, ES)

Great Events

This week:

• Tue, 12 Dec @18:00: Startup Grind Mataró with Mario Brassesco (Venture Partner @ Encomenda)

• Tue, 12 Dec @18:15: Industrial Tech Heroes: Talía Bonmatí, CEO & Co-founder at Dindog Tech

• Tue, 12–Wed, 13 Dec: Tech Spirit Barcelona

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

• Wed, 13 Dec @18:30: Startup Grind BCN hosts Laura Urquizu (CEO @Red Points) → 40% community discount already applied :D 

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

• Thu, 14 Dec @09:00: Entrepreneurship to Transform: building the future of entrepreneurship at Esade

Upcoming:

• 🎄

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

Startup Jobs:

• Nestor is hiring a Head of Sales

• Qonto is looking for a Partnerships Lead

• Kantox needs an Implementation Project Manager

• LAAGAM is recruiting a Creative Producer & Film Director