For the first time ever, Barcelona was host to Ouishare Fest, the global event dedicated exclusively to the sharing economy. Companies and global sectors such as mobility, tourism, education, finance and health were all present and accounted for to promote this emerging model of doing business and adding value.
As the world has embraced sharing economy startups like Airbnb, UBER, BlaBlacar and many others, Barcelona is growing into a great place to launch and introduce new products of the sharing economy.
Rodolfo Küstermann, CMO of Amovens at the Ouishare Fest in Barcelona.
Rodolfo Küstermann, CMO of Amovens, a car-sharing platform and BlaBlacars biggest competitor in Spain explain why he means Barcelona is a great place for companies as his own.
“The sharing economy is very developed in Barcelona, maybe more than in Madrid. The sharing community is very big and the city administration is very helpful here”, he tells Barcinno.
The Barcelona mind-set
Amovens, which offers both carsharing and peer-to-peer rentals, is growing rapidly in Spain and Barcelona and their five-year goal is to have three million users in Spain. Amovens and Küstermann was attending the Ouishare fest in Barcelona, and are actually thinking about having a larger presence in the city.
“Other cities in Spain has not yet embraced the idea of the shared economy as people in Barcelona, they have a particular mindset”, Küstermann explains.
Another peer-to-peer rental company, Drivy, which is the leading company of its kind in Europe, opened their first office in Barcelona this summer.
Country Manager of Drivy in Spain Jaume Suñol and Communications Manager Raquel Priego.
“The people in Barcelona are very international and flexible, they are perfect for the sharing economy. The startup ecosystem is also very well connected, which makes it easier to operate from Barcelona”, says Raquel Priego, The CCO of Drivy in Spain.
Drivy has over 35.000 cars all over Europe, and in Spain where they just started up, they now have 600 cars and growing every week.
The unicorns paved the way
Albert Cañigueral is the man behind Ouishare Fest in Barcelona, and has promoted and shared his enthusiasm for the sharing economy for years.
He thinks one of the many reasons for why shared economy startups often choose Barcelona, is that the pioneers of the sharing ecnonomy has a heavy presence in the city.
Head of Barcelonas Ouishare Fest and an expert on the sharing economy, Albert Cañigueral.
“Many of the huge companies like Airbnb, Wallapop, Socialcar etc have global or national headquarters here in Barcelona, and their presence is stimulating the eco-system making the city very attractive to these kind of startups”, Cañigueral tells Barcinno.
MyTwinPlace, a peer-to-peer home-sharing platform also have a heavy presence in Barcelona. With 30.000 travelers placed over 160 countries, they know a lot about the sharing economy. Maitane Rodrigo, marketing & communications manager at MyTwinPlace explains why they chose Barcelona.
“We are at the crossroads between home exchange, collaborative consumption and technology, so it was very relevant for us to be here. It has helped us stay connected with the sharing economy ecosystem on a daily basis”.
The entrepreneurs Barcinno spoke with explains how people years ago chose to launch their business in Barcelona because of the climate and the lifestyle. Now however people choose it because of its ecosystem, great accelerators and the constant success-stories coming from the city.
Room for more people
Barcelona is not perfect, and the shared economy has met challenges in Spain, taking examples from UBER, Cabify and BlablaCars clinch with the authorities.
One thing all three startups sited above agree on, is how friendly the Barcelona startup ecosystem is.
They all recommend entrepreneurs with an idea or a startup to come to Barcelona.
“Barcelona is home to leading accelerators, top tech events, senior entrepreneurs, human talent and big opportunities every day. Of course, I would recommend starting and growing in this environment”, says Rodrigo at MyTwinPlace.
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Hi!! Nice article, but you forgot to mention Sharing Axademy, the peer-to-peer tutoring marketplace for university students. We launched this year and are from Barcelona. We helped organizing the Education track of the Ouishare Fest and the same week won the 1st prize of the global competition Smar City App Hack in Collaborative City. Talk to me if you wanna know more 🙂
Hi Jordi! Thanks for the comment, I will remember you guys the next time we write a similar story. Sharing Academy seems great! 🙂
What a great article, Sindre! All the companies in the article certainly are doing great things and it would be interesting to see how they affect the growing landscape of the Sharing Economy. As a company, Compare and Share are THE discovery site for all things sharing: exchange it, swap it, borrow it, lend it, give it. It’s all sharing and we know it’s already happening in neighbourhoods all around the world. That’s why we created our platform, so that people can access all the great goods, resources and skills coming out of this great economical movement.
Jordi, Sharing Axademy sounds like a great platform. You should certainly check out our site and get it listed so our sharing community can access all the great opportunities you’re offering.