Barcelona's Weekly Tech Update

Hello & happy Monday ⚽,

If you notice some people mysteriously disappearing in the afternoons over the next few weeks, don't worry—they're probably just sneaking off to watch the UEFA EURO 2024.

Yet, there are lots of exciting non-football things happening in the Barcelona tech world. The biggest news is Japanese giant Sony opening their AI innovation hub in Barcelona. That’s an extremely positive sign for the region since AI is promised to be a major growth factor for economies going forward. In other news Badi continues its recovery, with a fresh €7M hopefully providing the funds it needs to take the next steps. And in another story related somehow to real estate, Itnig is branching out, launching their first co-living and restaurant in Poblenou.

Zooming out to look at Spain overall, Microsoft is opening its first cloud region in Spain which will be situated in Madrid. They’ll use that to provide cloud and AI services here. Good to know... So if we ever have to destroy a Skynet-like AI going wild, it looks like we’ll just need to hop on the AVE to Madrid!

Intro written by Clemens without AI.

Startup & Investment News

Barcelona investment news

• Apartment-sharing startup Badi gets €7M

• Retail investor stock platform Danelfin raises €2M

• Creator of the world's first biological battery Bioo is looking for funding

Barcelona startup news

• PATIO Campus identifies the 35 Spanish scaleups that could form the next IBEX35; Wallbox came 1st, with 2 other Catalan startups (Mundimoto & Heura) in the top 5

• Holaluz loses Banco Santander's sales channel for self-consumption

• Rever is no longer just about returns: it launches an ultra-precise system to track online orders

Spanish investment news

• Cabify secures a €20M investment

• Edtech SaaS Leemons expands last round to €1.6M

• Seedtag acquires Beachfront to strengthen its CTV offering amid channel growth

• Madrid fintech Cobee to be acquired by French firm Pluxee

VC, investment & crowdfunding news

• Zubi Group’s Iker Marcaide joins Bill Gates to mobilize €820M in sustainable investments

• SC Net Zero Ventures (Suma Capital & Repsol) raises €125M in its first investment closing to drive energy transition

• Dreamcraft Ventures closes €66M fund to support European seed & pre-seed B2B SaaS startups

Open calls, accelerator news & incubator stories

• Travel & tourism startups can apply to pitch at this year’s Touristech Startup Fest

Barcelona startup & entrepreneur profiles & interviews

• Short feature in TNW on Cafler: 19-year-old founder brings on-demand car services to Tesla, VW, Mercedes drivers

• Bleta: Tablets for seniors to close the digital divide 

• Flomics: How this startup could change cancer screening

Tech & Business News

Tech news in Barcelona

• Sony AI chooses Barcelona to open its newest artificial intelligence center

• Itnig branches out to open its first coliving space & restaurant in Poblenou

• European video game pioneers invest €25M to open Bespoke Pixel, a new AAA studio in Barcelona

Tech & big company news in Spain

• Microsoft opens its first cloud region in Spain to accelerate the development of the AI Economy

• Edu Solís, co-founder of Startups' Oasis & Growth Lead at Samara, has launched the most complete investor directory for Spanish startups

Politics, legal & economics

Good Reads

• All about Apple Intelligence, the company’s new generative AI offering

• Marcus Watkins, Spain’s NASA delegate: ‘We have to learn to live in outer space’

Good Videos & Podcasts

• Norrsken has a new climate podcast with Alexander Skarsgård & Spotify, How We Fix This (EN)

• Xavi Ginesta from Voxel on selling his uni project to Amadeus for €113M (Itnig, ES)

• The key to building a unicorn with +10,000 clients, with Jordi Romero from Factorial (Product Hackers, ES)

Great Events

This week:

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

• Tue, 18 Jun @17:00: The Collider Tech Transfer Community Day

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

Upcoming:

• 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:

• SeQura is hiring a Product Manager - Education

• Badi is looking for a Marketing Manager

• Qustodio needs a SaaS/Tech Customer Success Specialist - English Speaker

• +593 current Barcelona job openings in the fintech sector