Barcelona's Weekly Tech Update

Hello and happy Monday,

Hope everyone enjoys the event break this week! In today’s edition, Catalan startups raise over €12M, BCN seems to be having a bit of a British 🇬🇧 takeover, and there’s a slew of startup & scaleup rankings to check out from LinkedIn, Norrsken, and more.

Have a great first week of October! 🍂 

Startup & Investment News

Barcelona investment news

• IoT spacetech Sateliot raises €10M

• New app Nurture, which gamifies teaching life skills to kids, raises €2.5M

• Digital identity platform Privado ID (formerly Polygon ID) merges with NYC-based Disco

Barcelona startup news

• Home care startup Cuideo plans to have 20 physical offices by the end of 2025 to consolidate its expansion in Spain

• Two Catalan entrepreneurs produce world's first coffee grown in a continental climate 

• LinkedIn’s annual top startups ranking: Vicio top the Europe list, BCN dominates Spain

Spanish investment news

• Unicorn Job&Talent gets €18M convertible loan after recent trouble

• Insurtech Tuio raises €15M

• Mallorca-based Hotelverse, which allows guests to select exact hotel rooms via digital twins, gets €5M

• Madrid-based Homedoctor raises €4.5M

• Security & defence tech XRF closes €2.3M

VC, investment & crowdfunding news

• Akka, the platform democratizing access to Spanish startup investment, shares who its community invested €2M in

• All Iron Ventures rebrands as Acurio with a new €150M ‘follow-on’ fund

• BCN-based Asabys closes 2nd fund at €180M to invest in 12-15 pharma bio startups

Open calls, accelerator news & incubator stories

• Impact Hub Barcelona’s accelerator offers 6 programs, including culture & tourism, energy, and Catalonia-specific projects

• 4YFN25 call for speakers is open; deadline 30 Oct. The deadline for its Startup Awards is also tomorrow, 1 Oct!

Barcelona startup & entrepreneur profiles & interviews

• Interview with SolarMente Co-Founder Victor Gardrinier: How a Spanish solar startup found its way in the 'different world' of the U.S.

• Mathew: AI assistant for teachers & students

Tech & Business News

Tech news in Barcelona

• Swedish digital marketing platform Tradedoubler opens an office in BCN

• British investment app Neverless, founded by ex-Revolut execs, also opens a BCN office 

  • Apparently, British investment in Catalonia is rising at 936 companies, up 20%

Tech & big company news in Spain

• SMM tool Metricool got acquired by Belgian firm team.blue, valuing it at over €100M

• San Francisco giant Globant opens an AI center in Madrid & will invest €250M in Spain over 5 years for its expansion in the country

• New LETS reports ranks Barkibu, Sonosuite & Stratio among the 11 most innovative Spanish scaleups in Europe

Good Reads

• iPhone designer Jony Ive’s new empire, including working on a device with OpenAI

• Piece on the rise of Spanish athletes in the startup/investment world, led by Marc Gasol & Morata

• Norrsken’s Impact/100 most promising impact startups; Sifted analyzed the 49 entrants from Europe

Good Videos & Podcasts

• All about remote-first work with Tony Jamous, CEO of unicorn Oyster (EN)

• Tech Barcelona’s TB Game Changers, with Aram Sargsyan FREENOW (EN)

• Interview with Jaime Medina from The Startup CFO (ES)

Great Events

This week:

• Wed, 2 Oct @09:30: TB Workshop: Boost user conversion through Kit Consulting

Upcoming:

• Wed, 9 Oct @18:30: Fuckup Nights Barcelona

• Wed, 9–Thu, 10 Oct: AI & Big Data Congress

• Thu, 10 Oct @18:00: Empowering Patients through Digital Solutions (Barcelona Health Hub & Norrsken Barcelona)

• Fri, 25–Sun 27 Oct: Barcelona Change Days: Shift Festival

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

Startup Jobs:

• SeQura is hiring a Product Marketing Manager

• Goin is recruiting a Finance/Operations Intern

•  haddock (YC W22): Open talent applications