Barcelona's Weekly Tech Update

Hello and happy spring,

This week’s main headlines:

• Spanish news comes to ChatGPT 🗞️

• Europe’s biggest climate fund 🌍

• Filmin must raise prices for the first time 🎬

Poll results: EU AI act impact 🤖

With a weighty 50% voting negative, it's clear that concerns about the act holding back innovation and our position in the AI race are top of mind.

🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️ Positive: creates legal clarity & new opportunities

🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Neutral: good & bad effects will more or less offset each other

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Negative: hinders innovation & makes us fall behind further in the AI race

Meanwhile, a great insight from one positive-voting reader highlights the need for a framework that not only boosts innovation but ensures it heads towards sustainable and safe advancements: “The rush will be toward everything AI, then once people and companies realize unfettered AI is a danger, there will be backpedaling towards safety, rules, and clarity about usage”.

We’ll have to watch this space for any bigger impacts once the act settles in.

Have a great week!

Startup & Investment News

Barcelona investment news

• Oncology biotech Cure51, Paris-based but working with BCN’s Vall d'Hebron, raises €15M seed round

• Female-led foodtech Poseidona raises €1.1M pre-seed funding

Barcelona startup news

• Filmin raises prices for the first time in 17 years: "It was that or advertise"

• Kleta opens flagship store in Barcelona after turning over €1M in 2023; local brand Café de Finca, also invested in by the Gasols, will join them

• Ultrafast package delivery startup Beeasy Delivery goes into liquidation

Spanish investment news

• Valencian supply chain startup Imperia closes €3M led by Samaipata 

• Social media rewards app Filtroo gets €1M

• Asturian satellite SaaS Imageryst raises €700K

• Madrid-based PiperLab acquired by global consultancy Bain & Company

VC, investment & crowdfunding news

• World Fund closes one of Europe's biggest climate funds at €300M

• Frontline Ventures raises latest $100m seed fund to back B2B European startups with ambitions to cross the Atlantic

• The ICO allocates €64M public investment for startups via its Next Tech fund; Wallapop is the latest following Cabify & Paack

Open calls, accelerator news & incubator stories

• Catalan energy & telecoms group Estabanell launches Eria, its corporate venturing vehicle, and unveils its first acceleration program

• Desigual and Wayra are looking for the most disruptive GenAI startups to join Awesome Lab; apply until Mar 31

• AticcoLab launches its 8th Startup Booster, an ultra-personalized program with a 10K ticket to start & a possible 100K at the end

Barcelona startup & entrepreneur profiles & interviews

• BCN Founders Club: A new event series launched by Tina Louise

• ITSX: The startup that wants to end bike & motorcycle accidents

Tech News

Tech news in Barcelona

• Following the January EU directive, Wallapop clarifies when shoppers must pay taxes on their sales

• Seat CEO calls on Spain to promote electric cars as company posts €625M profit

• Mango founder Isak Andic leaves a low profile to collect the ‘Reino Espana’ award

Tech & big company news in Spain

• OpenAI partners with Prisa Media to bring Spanish news content to ChatGPT

• Madrid fintech Bnext negotiates its sale to US company Rêv

• Malagan police trial first-of-its-kind AI robot dog to monitor electric scooter riders and other traffic violations

Good Reads

• Veteran investor Anne Glover (Amadeus Capital) on Europe's chance to shine in deep tech

• Meet the teenage AI founders: ‘I have seven hours less than my competitors because I’m at school’

• Another big-name analysis of the BCN ecosystem, Forbes: Where Next For Barcelona’s Startup Funding Ecosystem?

Good Videos & Podcasts

• The secret recipe of a business and the perfect pizza: Gross Napoletano (Itnig, ES)

Great Events

This week:

• Tue, 26 Mar @18:30: Aticco Talks: Define your values ​​and boost your potential

Upcoming:

• Tue, 2 Apr @10:30: Startup/Investor Open Coffee. Let's talk Startups, Growth and Investing!

• Wed, 3 Apr @18:30: Aticco Talks: Effective communication for happier teams

• Thu, 4 Apr @18:00: TechMeetups Barcelona Tech Job Fair

• Fri, 5 Apr @09:30: Promoting Entrepreneurship: Lessons Learnt from Research on Corporate Entrepreneurship

• Tue, 9–Thu, 11 Apr: Advanced Factories Industry 4.0 Congress

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