Barcelona's Weekly Tech Update

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Hello and happy Monday,

It’s back to business after the long weekend with Revolut opening a physical BCN store, a flurry of M&A, and €100M for Citibox. Let’s get into it – and as always, have a great week!

Startup & Investment News

Barcelona investment news

• UB spinoff Impetux Optics raises €2.M led by Bullnet Capital

• Telecare platform SeniorDomo closes a new round led by Bcombinator

• Cloud solution ACKStorm acquired by Izertis

Barcelona startup news

Spanish investment news

• Ecommerce company Citibox closes €100M in equity & debt

• Madrid-based Punto raises €2M from Samaipata to expand its AI admin platform

• Lux-ES aerospace firm Spacebackend raises €1.8M 

• Swanlaab Venture Factory leads €1M seed in Valencia-based Eaship to digitize transport

VC, investment & crowdfunding news

• Kfund launches new €20M fund for early-stage startups

• Iñaki Berenguer launches Life Extension Fund II EU with a €70M target, for life sciences and tech companies

• CaixaBank CIB joint bookrunner in Redeia's successful execution of €500M inaugural EU green hybrid bond

Open calls, accelerator news & incubator stories

• Startup Battle applications are now open for EBC12 in Barcelona

• Applications for Decelera’s Menorca 2026 startup decelerator are still open

Barcelona startup & entrepreneur profiles & interviews

• Profile of Quiver, the frontier AI for brand design backed by a16z

• Distinkt: Smart inks to stop counterfeits

• HelixAI: New spin-off transforming biomedical data into clinical insight using AI

Tech & Business News

Tech news in Barcelona

• Revolut to open store in Barcelona, marking first move into physical retail

• New CaixaResearch Institute strengthens Barcelona’s leadership in biomedicine

Tech & big company news in Spain

• Bit2Me to offer funds, stocks, and ETFs on its platform Bit2Me Invest

• Freepik becomes Magnific as it pivots to video AI 

• BBVA jointly leads Australia’s first blue loan for sustainable water infrastructure

• Seaya Andromeda acquires a majority stake in smile to accelerate its expansion in Spain and internationally

Good Reads & Watches

• The European tech ick list: Emojis, baseball caps and everything-maxxing

• Manfred’s Salary Benchmark: The State of Tech in Spain (2026 Edition)

• Norrsken open letter: Make Europe the Electro Union

• Base4: The startup that detects diseases before they happen (Itnig, ES)

Great Events

This week:

• Mon 4 May @17:00: G-Club Hackathon: Networking, Mentoring, Talk &Pitch competition

• Wed 6 May @10:00: Webinar: Finance as a strategic driver in the AI ​​era

• Thu 7 May @18:30: Beyond Code: Humanist Narrative, AI & Digital Experience

Upcoming:

• Wed 13 May @09:30 HER/O Day women in tech conference

• Thu 14 May @11:00: Month-End at Speed: Cutting AP Cycle Time While Improving Audit Readiness

• Wed 27 May @18:00: Strive Tech and Business Networking

• Thu 28 May: Early Bird: StartupMat Tech Summit 2026

• Thu 28–Sat 30 May: Esade Entrepreneurship Summit 2026 

• Thu 30 May @17:00: Workshop | Connecting Applications Across Your Business Landscape

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