Barcelona Weekly Tech & Startup News – February 13, 2017 – Barcinno

Hello and Happy Monday! I hope you all had a great weekend!

Our friends over at Sonar+d are quickly become a pillar of the global music tech ecosystem with their Startup Garden pitch contest within the Sonar festival. Startups looking for international investors and high profile partnerships should apply here before April 3rd.

We’re only 2 weeks away from the biggest tech show in Barcelona. If you haven’t got your tickets – do so now!

TICKETS:
Use the promo code BARCINNO_4YFN at check out to save 40% off the already discounted early bird rate! The 3-day 4YFN pass can be yours for €144 and includes a 1-day pass to the MWC.

EVENTS & AFTER-PARTIES:
Barcinno’s your source for all the extracurricular activities, afterparties and networking events that take place off-MWC. We’re updating our list daily and you can add your events too!

Ok, let’s see what’s new in Barcelona’s startup scene this week: 

THIS WEEK’S HIGHLIGHTS:

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Startup & Investment News

• Fever closed a fresh $5M investment round as they seek to turn a profit under a new CEO
• Spanish-born SaaS firm Audiense raised £3,8M from former “Candy Crush” Chairman
• Spain’s RaaS startup Summus Render secured €1,6M funding to expand internationally
• Kailani raised €160k through Crowdcube to roll out a healthy ice tea softdrink in Spain
• Fintech startup E.Kuantia received secured funding from Catalan internet firm Lleida.net
• Incident management App Sefici closed a €200k investment round as all is set for growth
• Social startup Reforestum raised €35k on Kickstarter, let’s you alleviate your CO2 output
• Spain-based Tweet Binder closed its first investment round to expand team and markets
• Zen Shopping, a startup founded by a Spaniard, was sold to German company Shop.co
• Barcelona ecommerce startup for DIY goods reached €2M in sales & 70% growth in 2016
• UK startup Adaptive opens office in Barcelona due to “favourable microclimate for tech innovation” and creates 16 jobs
• Barcelona’s Lanai Startup Partners plan to invest up to €75k each into 10 startups per year
• Sonar+D & Startup Garden opened the call for presentating projects in search of Series A
• Banco Sabadell launches new €30M Venture Capital Fund – Sabadell Selección Venture
• Meet the 24 finalists of the 4th edition of 4YFN that takes place at the end of this month
• CEO of Blablacar Spain talks about latest ruling by Spanish courts and the firm’s future
• And Airbnb hopes to follow suit as they look to find an agreement with Barcelona courts
• Insights into Barcelona’s startup success story and popular sunglasses firm Meller

Tech News

• Barcelona is looking to create another tech startup cluster and buildings similar to Pier 1
• Telefónica to cover whole Catalonia with high-speed fibre-optic internet within 5 years
• Barcelona will finally offer free wifi on all buslines starting in March – About time!
• Amazon invests over €200M in new logistic center in El Prat and will create 1.500 jobs
• Bizbarcelona 2017, a fair that helps startups & SMEs, will focus on ‘digital transformation’
• ‘Sharing economy’ lands in Spain’s food industy, local private cooks boom in Barcelona
• ImaginBank, part of Catalan CaixaBank, launches first chatbot in Spain’s finance sector
• BBVA’s first startup acquisition was … not so good – Bank cuts down 70% of book value
• Google’s Nest products start selling in Spain on February 15th, firm looks for partners
• 1.000 employees and a luxury client – Catalan firms builds “high tech” keys for Tesla cars
• Wallapop, Milanuncios and Vibbo are the most popular digital marketplaces in Spain
• Proptech, the term for real estate technology, has arrived in Spain – A revolution coming?
• European Union celebrates the end of roaming in the continetn, Spain not so much
• EU aims to create single digital market – allows cross-border access to online services
• Europe’s VR ecosystem boasts 300 companies, gaming is it’s most popular industry
• Good news for local tech firms: Barcelona Activa allocates €37M to create “quality” jobs
• Spain lags behind EU nations in regards to percentage of “Nearly Zero Energy Buildings”

Good Reads

• GOOD READ #1: How two Catalans earn €900k a year and make a business out of Memes
• GOOD READ #2: How two 22-year-olds founded SocialPoint and became millionaires
• GOOD READ #3: Is there an “Entrepreneurship Bubble” happening in Spain?
• GOOD WATCH #1: America First, Spain Second – The campaign to be No.2

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GREAT EVENTS THIS WEEK

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STARTUP JOBS IN BARCELONA