Barcelona's Weekly Tech Update

Hello and happy Monday,

For anyone interesting in boosting their AI knowledge to build and launch new products there’s a free AI workshop next Monday, October 14th at 19:30 CET hosted by Barcelona-based AI entrepreneur Germán León.

Germán has been working in AI since 2012 and recently sold his startup Gestoos to PreAct Technologies. He is running an in-person version of this same workshop tomorrow, Tuesday, October 8th at the Sir Victor Hotel. It’s for Sircle Club members only, but if you’re interested in attending please reply to this email for more details and we’ll try to add you as a guest for the evening. Limited spots available.

👉 If you’re looking to:

• Understand how to leverage AI in your field and within your company

• Gain practical hands-on experience and develop a new AI product

• Learn how to use AI to create real value and market impact

This is a great opportunity to learn from a longstanding member of the Barcelona startup community. Learn more and sign up for this free AI workshop here ✨ 

Startup & Investment News

Barcelona investment news

• Immersion cooling company Submer secures €50.3M

• Another Paack update: current partners provide €21.7M for its restructuring & profitability strategy

• Microbiome startup Sequentia Biotech raises €10M Series A

• Sales SaaS KomboAI gets €700K

Barcelona startup news

• Fintech Flanks launches Flanks LUME, an end-to-end wealth management solution

• Flower delivery startup Colvin is negotiating a restructuring plan with creditors & shareholders

• Housfy CEO says company is now EBITDA positive

Spanish investment news

• Natural sports supplement startup Be Levels gets €6M from Axon

• AI audio platform Loud Intelligence raises €1M

• Product Hackers acquires Libros.com

VC, investment & crowdfunding news

• Itnig makes its VC debut with €15M to invest in early-stage startups

• Miura Partners raises €800M+ in 2024 for 3 strategies; Miura Fund IV reaches final closing of €475M

• Boutique VC Costanoa Ventures closes $394M in two new funds, focused on AI

Open calls, accelerator news & incubator stories

• Deloitte launches its Technology Fast 50 Programme for the first time in Spain, for 50 fast-growing tech scaleups 

• Caja Ingenieros Foundation’s 12th Premio Emprendimiento FCI awards €25K to sustainable development, social impact, etc projects; deadline 11 Oct

• Women Startup Challenge 2024 offers the 10 most promising initiatives led by women entrepreneurs a personalized growth program, mentoring, etc; deadline 20 Oct

Barcelona startup & entrepreneur profiles & interviews

• Interview with 4YFN director Pere Duran about the evolution of the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Catalonia

• Venga: Crypto super-app debuts at EBC

• TechCrunch talks to Heura Foods about its new product line

Tech & Business News

Tech news in Barcelona

• Another British fintech lands in Barcelona: Dojo

• Two sectors on the up in Catalonia: 

  • The Catalan gaming sector now exceeds 230 companies & begins internationalization

  • The blue economy brings in over €5.5B & generates 24K jobs

• European Space Agency chooses BCN for its program against climate change

Tech & big company news in Spain

• RevenueCat acquires ‘spicy’ audiobook app Dipsea

• Abu Dhabi’s financial arm Mubadala Investment Company acquires 70% of Madrid consultancy Babel, around €350M

  • It also acquired a stake in Revolut

• German neobank Vivid launches in Spain, offering 5% interest for businesses

• Inditex launches Zara Streaming, a live shopping channel format big in China

Good Reads

• About OpenAI raising $6.6B–the largest VC round in history

• Six months inside Spain's largest accelerator (Lanzadera) by Nacho Sánchez, Co-Founder of Montchis & Spanish Startups

• Forbes x Holded report: The Spanish SMEs changing the world 2024

Good Videos & Podcasts

• Itnig presents its first entry into the VC world (ES)

• EU-Startups chat with Steve Chen, Co-Founder & former CTO of YouTube (EN)

Great Events

This week:

• Tue, 8th Oct: Remote: The New Normal: creating & managing global teams

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

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

• Thu, 10 Oct @09:30: TB Workshop: AI Security and Regulation for companies

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

• Thu, 10 Oct @18:30: Startup Grind Mataró with Jordi Dalmau, Mun Kombucha

Upcoming:

• Wed, 23–Thu, 24 Oct: Bizbarcelona by Barcelona Activa

• Thu, 24 Oct @18:30: Corporate migration: opportunities for business growth (BCN Finance Hub)

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

• Wed, 30 Oct @19:00: Fintech Vermut & Networking by BCN FinTech (🎃 Halloween edition)

• Wed, 6–Thu, 7 Nov: Impact Week 2024 at Norrsken

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

Startup Jobs:

• MarsBased is looking for 2-3 Ruby on Rails, React and/or Node.js developers

• Too Good To Go needs a Key Account Manager

• +519 Barcelona-based jobs in the fintech sector (per 1 Oct)