Barcelona's Weekly Tech Update

Hello community,

This week’s main headlines:

• CaixaBank CEO is Forbes’ #1 💼

• Holaglow gets €1.5M ✨

• AI firms in Catalonia triple 🤖

BCN FinTech X Barcinno #014: Payment Technology 📲 

🎟️ The countdown is on for our next big event on Weds 24 April, BCN FinTech X Barcinno #014: Payment Technology.

Join us at Aticco Bogatell for an evening of insightful discussion and networking. Dive deep into the world of Payment Technology with our esteemed panelists:

• Dr. Alina Kornienko, COO and Co-Founder of Quppy

• Gwendoline Savoy, CMO at Powens Group

• #3 TBC

Super-early bird tickets are long sold out, but you can still grab a regular early bird if you’re quick. And as always, you get 50% off for being a friend of Barcinno (code already applied). Sign up here and see you there!

Startup & Investment News

Barcelona investment news

• Aesthetic medicine (and ex-Swipcar) startup Holaglow closes €1.2M

• New traffic accident prevention startup ITSX seeks €150K seed funding

Barcelona startup news

• Femtech Emjoy closes down; founder Andrea Oliver Garcia shares her advice

• Qonto launches new short-term financing solution for SMEs & the self-employed 

• Doonamis & Eurecat create new AI nutrition module for Sorli app

• Catalan men's jewelry company TwoJeys to open two new establishments in Valencia & Seville

• UB spinoff Braingaze gives US firm Tris Pharma exclusive rights to its digital ADHD platform in North America

Spanish investment news

• Navarra-based Medibiofarma closes €1M

• Madrid supply chain SaaS Nalanda acquired by Once For All

• Navandu merges with fellow Madrid-based firm SNGULAR to enhance its health division

VC, investment & crowdfunding news

• Henko raises its second fund & increases the size of its first to support fast-growing Spanish & Portuguese SMEs

• Huruma invests €8M in Sindhuja Microcredit, its third capital investment in India

• Miura transfers dental company Proclinic to a secondary fund after failing to sell it last year

Open calls, accelerator news & incubator stories

• Leading air navigation management company ENAIRE has launched the 3rd edition of its technological challenge, which awards a research group with €60K to implement its solution; apply until Apr 30

• The G-Accelerator 6-month program is open to support seed & pre-seed projects creating a socially, economically or environmentally sustainable business in Catalonia; apply until 15 May

• Sage Corps’ global entrepreneurship program sends top US undergrad students to work with your startup, for summer ‘24

Barcelona startup & entrepreneur profiles & interviews

• CareerOS: Career development platform for university students 

• e-Pitinglish: New kids’ English learning marketplace that’s neurodiversity-inclusive

Tech News

Tech news in Barcelona

• CaixaBank’s Gonzalo Gortázar ranked #1 in Forbes’ 100 best Spanish CEOs; these are the (small number of) women 

• Companies dedicated to AI in Catalonia triple in 5 years

• L'Hospitalet biomedical cluster gets the green light, a project said to create 50K jobs & invoice over €7M a year

• Level's new route between Barcelona & Miami will apparently generate €50M impact

Tech & big company news in Spain

• Microsoft unbundles Office and Teams globally following years-long criticism

• Digi sells its fiber for €750M & raises funds for mobile expansion

• The first Spanish real estate developer has joined the metaverse

• Jet2 confirms job losses to be made following review of operations in Spain

• InfoJobs registered 9% fewer vacancies in 2023, but increased AI offers by 31%

Good Reads

• Barcinno startup interview: 4YFN award winners Qilimanjaro Quantum Tech 

• Overview of Spanish banks leading the way in fintech investments

• The European startups taking part in YC W24

• Bridging the gender diversity gap: Insights from women leaders and founders in European fintech

Good Videos & Podcasts

• Why Andreesen Horowitz is betting big on crypto in Europe (Sifted, EN)

• Challenges of running a company for 10 years, with Las Muns Co-founder Mariano Najles (Life on Mars, ES)

• Scott Kelby: Using Your iPhone As Your Second Camera for Travel Photography

Great Events

This week:

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

• Wed, 10 Apr @18:30: AI Strategy & Marketing: Why? How? And Why Now?

Upcoming:

• Mon, 15 Apr @18:30: Industrial Tech Heroes #4: with Keybotic CEO & Co-founder Irene Gómez

• Wed, 17 Apr @18:30: Aticco Talks: Boost your brand's presence on TikTok

• Wed, 24 Apr @18:30: BCN FinTech X Barcinno #014: Payment Technology → 50% off code applied 😌

• Sat, 27 Apr @10:30: 4Voices Public Speaking for teens: The Digital Jungle: navigating the online world

• Thu, 16 May–Sat, 18 May: Esade Entrepreneurship Summit 2024

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