Barcelona's Weekly Tech Update

Hello and happy Monday,

🙏 🌍 Thanks to all who responded to our language poll a couple of weeks ago! Not only was it super interesting to learn more about our readers, but it will help us improve the newsletter and what we share.

Quick result roundup:

• The majority of Barcinno readers speak Spanish, Catalan & English (37%)

• Closely followed by Spanish & English (36%)

• There were many other very cool combinations—lots of you speak three, four, or even five languages 👏 Time to boot up Duolingo…

Keep on doing great things & have a good week! 🚀

Startup & Investment News

Barcelona investment news

• Natural disaster prevention startup Mitiga Solutions gets €8M

• Responsible genAI startup Alinia raises €2.2M pre-seed

• Soonicorn Paack explores new round of capital or a sale with Morgan Stanley

• Mallorcan auto firm OK Mobility invests in Mundimoto

• AI healthtech Mediktor acquires San Francisco-based Sensely

Barcelona startup news

• Glovo closes its Madrid tech hub & moves ops to BCN; according to Redditors, 10% more engineering staff will be laid off

• Travel gear startup Tropicfeel becomes the officially licensed footwear brand for the America's Cup

• Healthtech Sycai Medical selected for the Google for Startups AI Health program & also wins the South Summit health vertical

• Apartment-sharing startup Badi emerges from €24M losses thanks to sale of assets

Spanish investment news

• 3 Madrid-based rounds:

  • Student financing solution Bcas: €17M

  • Solar startup Samara: €9M

  • Soccer sportstech BStadium: €480K

VC, investment & crowdfunding news

• Cisco sets up a $1B global AI investment fund

• Draper B1 announces €30M Frontier Tech Fund to invest in spacetech & AI/blockchain fintech and cybersecurity

• BCN impact VC Seven Roots launches an accelerator to propel companies towards a sustainable economy 

Open calls, accelerator news & incubator stories

• FutureTravel Summit (this Nov 28 in Barcelona) is calling for event speakers

Barcelona startup & entrepreneur profiles & interviews

• Basket Stats Assistant: App to enhance basketball performance

• Flami: Corporate fertility benefits for women

• Wasi 3D: Affordable & sustainable 3D-printed houses by EAE students

Tech & Business News

Tech news in Barcelona

• The digital talent market in BCN has hit an all-time high at 13,500 professionals, but it’s still not enough to keep up with demand

• Tech center Eurecat exceeds €62M revenue in 2023, a growth of over 126% since its creation in 2015

• American tech firm Dataxstream opens its first European headquarters in Barcelona, creating 30 jobs

• Soho House to open new Pool House for creatives in Barcelona, centered around food and wellness

Tech & big company news in Spain

• Six funds compete to buy Idealista for over €3B

• After talks last Dec, Bizum will launch instant payments in Italy & Portugal this year

• Spain bans Meta from launching election features on Facebook & Instagram over privacy fears

• Inneürope connects Europe and Latin America through its Fintech Immersion Program

Good Reads

• VIA Empresa shares the best Catalan companies to work for in 2024 from Forbes’ Spain-wide list

• Report #1: WITH & ENISA’s Guide to Women Leaders of the Business Ecosystem

• Report #2: Mobile World Congress 2024 Trends & Analysis

• Less than a tenth of deeptechs are founded by all-women teams–this EU body wants to change that

Great Events

This week:

• Tue, 11 Jun @18:30: Business Speed Dating Barcelona

  Wed, 12 Jun @08:30: Catalonia's First Mental Health Investment Forum

• Wed, 12 Jun @18:30: ProductTank Barcelona - Product Management in Mobile Gaming

• Thu, 13 & Fri, 14 Jun: DevBCN 2024 Developers Conference

• Thu, 13 Jun @09:00: Hired!BCN Talent Acquisition Conference

• Thu, 13 Jun @18:00: Tech Barcelona Pier07 Health Afterwork

• Fri, 14 Jun @09:00: Pat Carrasco: CreativeMornings Barcelona

Upcoming:

• Tue, 18 Jun @09:00: Prepare your company for the upcoming EU Accessibility Law

• Tue, 18 Jun @18:30: Startup Grind w/ Anna Boldú (CEO & Co-founder at Platanomelón) → link includes 40% community discount! 

• Thu, 20 Jun @09:30: Breakfast with Glovo, Revlon Professional & Cegid

• Tue, 25 June @18:00: Global Unveiling of the Official 2023 FoodTech 500

• 28–30 Jun: HackBCN AI Hackathon

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

Startup Jobs:

• Bourbon Creative is hiring a French SEO Writer, 100% Remote

• TrekkSoft is looking for a Sales & Account Manager (DE/EN)

• Ukio is after Interns, Engineers & more

• Flanks needs a Brand & Comms Specialist