Barcelona's Weekly Tech Update

Hello and happy Monday,

🎢 This week brings nearly €50M for Catalan startups as well as expansions, more new hubs in BCN, and more AI buzz and accelerators – while other firms are navigating rocky patches. Here's your rundown of everything in the ecosystem.

As always, have a great week! 🔥 

Startup & Investment News

Barcelona investment news

• Biotech Oryzon Genomics recieves €30M & aims to list on the Nasdaq

• Fintech Belvo secures €14M+

• Sheblooms Venture raises €205K to empower female entrepreneurship

Barcelona startup news

• Flower startup Colvin lays off 50% of its workforce, a decision made by its British investor Claret Capital 

• Hackernoon’s startups of the year Europe place B2B SaaS localization & translation engine Undertow at #3

• Vicio’s burgers land in Vigo, its first location in Galicia

Spanish investment news

• Payroll management startup Salsa raises $20M from top US investors

• Rental platform Spotahome closes €5M 

• Financial cybersecurity startup Acoru emerges from stealth with a €4M seed round

• Madrid-based TaxDown raises €4M to double down on AI

VC, investment & crowdfunding news

• RockawayX announces the close of its new $125M crypto venture fund

Open calls, accelerator news & incubator stories

• a16z Speedrun: A 12-week accelerator in LA with $1M investment, perks & mentorship for AI, tech & entertainment startups; deadline 11 May

• Norrsken Accelerator 2025 applications are open for global impact startups; deadline 15 June

• Ruralizable closes its fourth edition, supporting 62 rural entrepreneurship projects in Spain

Barcelona startup & entrepreneur profiles & interviews

• Jungle Roofs: The Catalan startup that wants to cool Barcelona with green roofs

Tech & Business News

Tech news in Barcelona

• Kid’s clothing company Boboli launches new secondhand clothing line

• Catalan Cava producer Freixenet considers massive layoff scheme citing challenges related to climate change

• Biopharma multinational Sanofi to create 300 highly skilled jobs at new AI hub in 22@

Tech & big company news in Spain

• Update on LALIGA internet blocks: legitimate, unrelated websites are becoming inaccessible in Spain

• Reports say Revolut is developing a points-based credit card to challenge American Express

• Lyft to buy taxi app FREENOW for $197M to enter Europe

Good Reads & Watches

• How to dress tech bro in 2025

• Edu Solís’ Top pet tech startups to watch in Spain, an underfunded sector according to many

• The rise of the new C-level role: Chief AI Officer

• EU-Startups podcast with Claudia de la Riva, CEO of BCN-based Apolo Kids (EN)

• DeepL founder & CEO Jarek Kutylowski on how his startup took on Google Translate and won (EN)

Great Events

This week:

• Tue, 29 Apr @18:30: BCN FinTech & SIA Investor Networking: Investment Strategies, Market Fit, and Regulatory Challenges in FinTech

• Wed, 30 Apr @18:30: Live webinar with abroaden, GroüHub & Entretramites: How to run your business from abroad

• Thu, 1 May @18:00: THE Product Marketers Meetup Barcelona

Upcoming:

• Wed, 7 May @18:30: AI Marketing Workshop with Hello Operator 

• Thu, 8 May: Future Finance Day 2025

• Thu, 8 May @ 16:00: Webinar: Cloud cost chaos? How to save up to 40% without sacrificing performance

• Wed, 14 May @18:30: DeepTech Stories #1: Jonathan Hayes (Founder @Dinube)

• May 21–22: SaaS on the Beach

• Fri, 23 May @16:00: Fuckup Nights Barcelona 7th Anniversary | Failure, Psychological Safety & Growth

• Wed, 28 May @18:00: StartupMat Tech Summit 2025

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