Barcelona Startup News – 10 February

Hello and happy Monday!

Only two weeks to go until the crazy Mobile World Congress kicks off. Keep tracking our MWC2020 Parties & Events Guide as we add new events daily. Of course, do let us know if we missed any important event.

Ok, that’s it from me. Have a great week and see you out there!

Ok, let’s take a look at the latest Barcelona startup news from this week: 

THIS WEEK’S HIGHLIGHTS:

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BARCELONA STARTUP NEWS

Startup & Investment News

Barcelona Investment News

• Barcelona-based business travel platform BizAway gets €2.5M
• Barcelona-based Scaled Robotics closes €2M investment round
• Catalan customer data platform Loyal Guru lands €2M
• Barcelona & Boston-based biotech startup Onceheroes nets €1.1M and prepares a €4.5M investment round
• Barcelona startups Broomx, Biapower, Citibeats, Optimus Price, and Reloadly receive funding from Wayra Espana
• Barcelona startup Immfly sells minority stake to Boeing

Spanish Investment News

• Cordoba content creation tech startup Genial.ly raises €4.4M
• Madrid software startup Schaman receives €1M
• Navarre firms Genbioma Aplicaciones & Nadetech Innovation secures investment from Navarra Tech Transfer fund

Startup News

• eDreams acquires US hotel booking platform Waylo for an undisclosed fee
• eDreams opens to new technology centers in Porto & Milan
• HolaLuz records €208M in sales, 212K clients and €800K in losses in 2019
• Cooltra grows revenues by 50% to reach €39M in 2019
• Badi unveils Badi Homes, a new service to rent and manage homes from property management firms
• Overview of startups that took part in Ship2B’s programs last year, featuring a lot of Barcelona-based social impact firms
• Spain records one of the highest numbers of fintech startups in Europe
• 40% of ENISA loans to startups are not being paid back fully

VC, Investment and Crowdfunding News

• 84% of private equity firms in Spain consider environmental, social and governance criteria in management and investment decisions according to a PWC & Ascri report
• GPF Capital completes fundraising for its €300M fund aimed Spanish SMEs
• Sabadell Asset Management launches €60M fund aimed at startups
• Catalan Finance Institute & Avalis create new €60M financing line to promote sustainability firms in Catalonia

Open Calls, Accelerator News & Incubator Stories:

• Ship2B accelerated 76 startups that raised a total of €40M so far
• Ship2B & Rezinkers launch Rezinkers4Impact, a new acceleration and financing program for high impact firms focused on helping with social inclusion of vulnerable groups
• CRAASH Barcelona seeks innovative healthtech technologies to accelerate time to patients; apply until 16th of March
• Ingenia Energy Challenge 2020 opens call for projects that promote energy transition and decarbonization; apply until 22 of March
• Tech Startups Booster opens call for ecommerce and retail tech startups to join its accelerator; apply until 13th of April

Barcelona Startup & Entrepreneur Profiles & Interviews:

• Neuroelectrics: the company helping Facebook read your brainwaves
• Pep Gómez: the ‘enfant terrible’ of the Spanish startup Reby

Tech News

• ABB opens its first European robotics innovation centre in Barcelona
• Grupo Castellví invests €80M to create new offices in 22@
• Barcelona City Councils is considering the suspension of building licenses in 22@ amidst gentrification concerns
• FC Barcelona presents its new digital strategy which includes, amongst other initiatives, the creation of an OTT Barça TV+
• Ericsson & LG pull out of Mobile World Congress over coronavirus concerns
• Plaza Espanya tunnel to debut 5G technology
• Barcelona gives green light to start work on the extension of the Diagonal tram line
• The Port of Barcelona closes 2019 with a net profit of €44M, 18% less than the previous year
• Parking polluting cars in Barcelona is now more expensive in certain areas, while zero emission cars can park free of charge

Tech News in Spain

• WhatsApp is set to introduce a payment service in Spain similar to Bizm and WeChat
• Huawei to open its own ecommerce store in Spain this month
• Telefónica to launch new lab in Málaga aimed at 5G and connected car technology development
• El Corte Ingles & Deliveroo join forces to compete against Mercadona
• Enrollments in STEM degrees in Spain fell by 6.1% between 2013 and 2017 according to latest report

Politics and Economics

• The Catalan economy continues to slow down for the fifth year in a row & records a 2% GDP growth in 2019
• The Government of Spain commits €11.5M to the Diputación de Barcelona to boost renewables
• Interest rates on bank deposits in Spain edger even closer to 0%
• Spain’s central bank urges government to stick with labour reform (FT)
• Spain’s PM meets Catalan separatist leader, sets out roadmap for talks (Reuters)
• Spain and Italy ready joint migration policy proposal for EU (NYT)
• Spain abandoning the poor despite economic recovery according to UN envoy

Good Reads

• How Spain Attracts Latin American Startups Looking For Growth
• The battle between regulators and e-scooters is about to heat up
• Overview of UX/UI salaries in Spain

Good Videos & Podcasts

• Interview with Francesc Riverola, Founder of FXStreet
• Interview with Rosa Suñé and Jordi García, Founders of Bicicleta Studio
• Interview with Eva and Maria Martin, Co-Foudners of Tiendeo (by Lunes Inspiradores)
• Interview with Francesc Font, CEO & Founder of Nubelo (by Itnig)

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GREAT EVENTS THIS WEEK

This Week Tue, 11 Feb @19:00: Workshop – Introduction to Product Management (ESP) Wed, 12 Feb @10:00: Trends and projection of the real estate sector in 2020 (ESP) Thu, 13 Feb @18:00: Become a Digital Nomad: How to work remotely and make a living of it Thu, 13 Feb @18:30: The Strength of Agile Methodologies in Intercultural Teams Thu, 13 Feb @18:30: Inspirational Talks : How I started my career as a Product Manager Fri, 14 Feb: Valentine’s Day (spend time with the people you love!) Next Week Tue, 18 Feb @08:30: Finance Breakfast: International Series-A From The Perspective of A Lawyer (CAT) Tue, 18 Feb @18:30: How to use Push Notifications on your website as a Growth Channel Wed, 19 Feb @14:00: Money Makers – Pitch Your Startups To Investors Wed, 19 Feb @18:00: 22@EMPRÈN (ESP) Thu, 20 Feb @19:00: Financing Growth Without Losing Equity (ESP) Sat, 22 Feb @10:00: Pitch to WIN: Practical Tools to help you build the winning pitch Sun, 23 Feb @18:00: Tech.eu Mobile Sunday 2020 2020 Q1 Key Events: Mon-Thu, 24-27 Feb: Mobile World Congress Mon-Wed, 24-26 Feb: 4YFN See the full event calendar here. See the full MWC2020 Parties & Events Guide here.

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STARTUP JOBS IN BARCELONA

Job of the week: Agile Content is a multinational growing team, included in the “Europe’s 1000 fastest-growing companies”, according to the Financial Times. If you want to be part of thrilling projects and products within the tech and TV industry, come and join them here!

• Unnax is looking for a VP Sales – B2B SaaS
• Agile Content is hiring a Senior Java Software Engineer

See the full Job Board here

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Barcelona Startup News February 10 2020 covers all the latest stories about Barcelona’s Tech & Startup scene from February 10th 2020 until February 17th, 2020. If you want to read more stories about the city’s startup, tech and innovation scene, check out all Barcelona startup news here.