Barcelona's Weekly Tech Update

Hello and happy Monday,

This week, we’re excited to share our own event – the second edition of Hello Operator’s AI Marketing Workshop! Back by popular demand, this one focuses on Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), aka search in the AI age.

💻 Hosted by us at Hello Operator in collaboration with Cloudworks at their stunning Sagrada Familia location in Barcelona, this interactive session is built for founders, freelancers, marketers, and creators ready to future-proof their digital strategy. No technical background required!

Stick around after the workshop and Q&A for networking, drinks, and views from Cloudworks’ terrace.

👉 Register here – hope to see you there!

Startup & Investment News

Barcelona investment news

• Ex-unicorn team unveils Afori from stealth with €4M to power AI for insurance brokers

• Payflow raises additional €2M to bring Wille Finance on board

• Biotech & semiconductor startup SHINEPHI closes €1M seed round

• British fund JamJar Ventures invests in fashion startup TwoJeys

Barcelona startup news

• David Okuniev & Neil Kinnish’s ツSupercut is now live

• Gourmet Italian food startup Brutalia begins operations in Madrid and seeks an investment partner

• Exoticca steps up its US expansion with ambitious M&A plan

• Factorial forms strategic alliance with Telefónica to accelerate SME digitalization

• Sateliot launches project with the European Space Agency to break GPS dependency

Spanish investment news

• AI fraud & money laundering prevention startup Acoru gets €10M

• Navarre-based drone developer Fuvex raises €1.7M

• Chinese home appliance giant Midea acquires 100% of Seville startup Pacerin

VC, investment & crowdfunding news

• The FITA Fund, managed by Grow Venture Partners, announces its first 5 Catalan investments

• Iris Ventures raises nearly €100M to invest in consumer tech

• Canary Islands VC firm Archipélago Next opens a branch in Barcelona

Open calls, accelerator news & incubator stories

• Opportunity to co-develop inclusive digital solutions with the Scottish Government; deadline 30 Oct

• The JEAP 2025 program offers decarbonization startups a gateway to Japan’s market; deadline 31 Oct

• Catalan startups can get global exposure and PoC funding with Yamaha in sound, wellbeing, and creative tech; deadline 31 Oct

Tech & Business News

• Aticco to open the largest coworking space in Spain and Southern Europe, in 22@

• FC Barcelona formalizes partnership with Uber after conflict with taxi sector resolved

• Barcelona Deep Tech Summit will bring together 600 startups, 180 investors, and more than 90 speakers

• Telefónica is working on a collective redundancy plan impacting 6,000 workers & costing €2.3B

• Mango warns of cyberattack that exposed customer data in Spain

Good Reads & Watches

• Founder Info-Diet: Where to find great ideas, patterns, and frameworks in 2025: Ivan Landabaso

• Bill Gurley has written a book

• The first peeks of MWC 26: Honor’s Robot Phone

• Every AI Founder Should Be Asking These Questions (Y Combinator, EN)

• Urgent reflections on impact investment, with Sir Ronald Cohen (Ship2B, EN)

Great Events

This week:

• Tue, 28 Oct @09:00: 22@ Demo Day

• Tue, 28 Oct @18:30: Free Coding Workshop at Factorial

• Thu, 30 Oct @17:30: Health2Tech Barcelona 

• Thu, 30 Oct: FutureTravel Summit 

• Thu, 30 Oct @18:30: Networking meetup: Entrepreneurs & Tech Professionals

Upcoming:

• Tue, 4 – Thu, 6 Nov: Barcelona Deep Tech Summit

• Tue, 4 – Thu, 6 Nov: Smart City Expo World Congress

• Wed, 5 Nov @17:00: From Barcelona to the World: Overcoming Health Tech Startup Challenges

• Tue, 11 Nov @17:30: eWorks Accelerator 25 - Demo Day

• Wed, 12 Nov @18:30: AI Marketing Workshop with Hello Operator – Rescheduled! 

• Mon, 17 Nov: Finance Week Barcelona

• Thu, 27 Nov: AI Day @Bcombinator

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Startup Jobs

• Happy Mammoth is recruiting a Creative Strategist

• Barcelona Supercomputing Center is hiring a Tech Transfer Junior Officer

• Cooltra needs an Operations Specialist

• Powens Group is hiring a Senior Frontend Developer

• Codeway is looking for an HR Business Partner