Barcelona's Weekly Tech Update

By Scott From Barcinno • Issue #522

Barcinno Media
June 03, 2024

Hello & happy Monday,

New report breakdown: The Spanish tech ecosystem 2024 🇪🇸

Dealroom’s fresh report is out, and it's great to see Spain sitting among the fastest-growing tech ecosystems in Europe.

TLDR: Spain remains strong in early-stage funding but continues to lag behind the EU average for bigger rounds. However, Spanish startup value is growing at the 2nd fastest pace in the EU.

🚀 Startup value:

Spanish startup value surpassed €100B for the first time in 2023, now standing at €105B (to put in perspective, that’s like 7.2% of Spain’s GDP).
This places Spain 5th in the EU behind DE, FR, SE and DK .
But Spain’s startup value growth rate for the 2019-2024 period of 2.7X is the 2nd highest amongst the biggest EU ecosystems (just behind NO).

💰 VC investment:

While overall VC growth in Spain lags behind the European average, early-stage investment has outpaced it.

Dealroom’s data–and Barcinno’s, too–recorded €2.2B raised by Spanish startups in 2023; 7th in Europe (behind even SE, CH & NL).
Spain ranks 4th for both number of VC rounds (764) and early-stage investment (€1.1B) behind only the big players UK, DE & FR.
As for Barcelona, it attracted €457M VC investment, less than Madrid (€605M); the top 5 are rounded up by Seville (€70M), Valencia (€46M) & San Sebastian (€30M).

📈 Some notable trends:

Climatech & biotech attracted the most investment, something we have consistently seen in our own funding tracking.
Female-founded Spanish startups received €1.6B between 2019 and 2023 (12% of total VC investment). While it’s positive that this is an increase, there’s still much room for improvement.

🦄 Unicorns & growth:

Spain ranks 7th in Europe for unicorns (18), a sign we are continuing to produce high-value startups. But what could be learned from the UK, who came in first with a whopping 171? Is it their tech-supportive frameworks & policies, or should Spain aim for a bigger international presence?

Overall, we can celebrate that the Spanish ecosystem rose in maturity, diversification, and valuation in 2023. But there are still challenges, like improved late-stage investment, graduation rates, and support for female founders. By addressing these and learning from more mature ecosystems like the UK and even some smaller niche ecosystems outperforming us on certain metrics, Spain can continue innovating, attract more international investment, and up its unicorn count.

Have a great week! 👋

🚀 Join us at the European Blockchain Convention! 🌍

Ready to be part of the most influential Blockchain and Digital Assets event in Europe? With 6.000 attendees and 300 speakers, EBC is back bigger and better than ever!

Join us in Barcelona for a 2-day extravaganza and meet the whole Web3 ecosystem in one go. Experience an unforgettable event featuring 3 stages, a buzzing exhibition area, startup competitions, parties, and so much more.‍

Don’t miss out: Use code 15BARCINNO to get a 15% discount. Get tickets here and we’ll see you there!

Startup & Investment News

Barcelona investment news

Cosmetics biotech Vytrus closes €2.3M
Fintech for SMEs Banktrack gets €2M
Zefi.ai raises €1.6M for its ML-powered data analytics; a startup unifying the Italian & Spanish ecosystem with funds from both countries
Legaltech LexDoka closes €300K

Barcelona startup news

Gaming company Scopely made TIME Magazine’s 100 Most Influential Companies in the World list
After recent financial troubles, Holaluz says it’s achieved a normalized EBITDA and business is recovering
Spacetech Sateliot partners with SpaceX to launch 4 satellites in July
BCN startups The Blue Box Biomedical Solutions, Showee Smart Wellness, Nuwe & Cafler amongst winners of CaixaBank's Premios Emprendexxi

Spanish investment news

Company emotional well-being platform ifeel raises €18M
Remote self-consumption service Comunidad Solar closes €800K crowdlending

Tech & Business News

Tech news in Barcelona

Tech & big company news in Spain

Good Reads

More of a good view, but this site lets you walk down the street in some of the world’s top cities
On the recent Google leak: “An anonymous source shared thousands of leaked Google search API documents with me; everyone in SEO should see them”

Good Videos & Podcasts

Alex Berriche, Sequoia Capital Scout & Fleet Co-founder: Lessons learned from over 100 angel investments (EU-Startups, EN)

Great Events

This week:

Tue, 4 Jun @15:00: Trans Atlantic Angel Conference Final Demo Day
Wed, 5 Jun @16:00: Revolutionize your SME: Discover the power of AI and Digital Transformation
Wed, 5 Jun @18:30: Fintech Vermut & Networking X BCN FinTech 2-Year Birthday Party 🎉
Thu, 6 Jun @09:30: M&A: How to sell or find investment partners for your company

Upcoming:

Tue, 11 Jun @18:30: Business Speed Dating Barcelona
Wed, 12 Jun @08:30: Catalonia's First Mental Health Investment Forum
Thu, 13 Jun @09:00: Hired!BCN Talent Acquisition Conference
Tue, 18 Jun @18:30: Startup Grind w/ Anna Boldú (CEO & Co-founder at Platanomelón) → link includes 40% community discount!

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

Startup Jobs:

Union Avatars is hiring a Product Manager
FutureTravel is looking for an Events & Business Development Intern
Factorial is seeking ad actors