Barcelona Startup News June 25 2018 – Barcinno

Hello and happy Monday, we hope you had a great Sant Joan weekend!

I’ve officially returned from the baby break – Luca James Mackin arrived healthy and happy in May and we couldn’t be happier! I’m back in the saddle, ready to deliver the latest news in Barcelona tech & startups again! Let’s go:

First up, Catalunya Emprèn is organizing the Barcelona Startup City Seminar next week (July 2nd-5th). This can’t-miss event will bring together the main players from our local ecosystem and offer a great forum to connect in a casual atmosphere. You can find more information here or book your free ticket here.

For anyone searching for a new project, Techstars is teaming up with Google for Entrepreneurs to host Startup Weekend Barcelona Social Impact from July 6th-8th at Pier01. Barcinno readers enjoy 20% discount with the code: BARCINNO.

Lastly, our friends at OneCoWork are opening their new Plaça Catalunya location in just a few days! Barcinno readers get a 30% discount on membership, so if you want a sneak peek at Barcelona’s new 5-star coworking space, book a free tour here.

They’re also seeking an experienced Social Media Manager for their rapid expansion plans – please spread the word!

Connect to the main players in the Barcelona Startup Ecosystem

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

THIS WEEK’S HIGHLIGHTS:

BARCELONA STARTUP NEWS

Startup & Investment News

• Spanish HR firm Jobandtalent receives a €10M loan
• Barcelona startup Science Bits secures a €2,5M investment
• Barcelona startup Carethy gets €500K for 10% of equity
• Spanish firm Plan&go closes a €150K investment round
• Barcelona fintech Instant Credit acquired by InnoCells, Banco Sabadell’s hub for digital ventures
• Barcelona startup Signaturit signs agreements with Axa and DAS and is looking for €5M in funding
• Catalan startup Parlem opens €750K investment round
• With the World Cup in full swing, Catalan football players & their startups are making headlines:
  • • Barca star Piqué closes his video game project Golden Manager, focuses on startup eFootball.Pro instead
    • Spain football star Andrés Iniesta-backed Olyseum to incorporate crypto-technology
      • Overview of Olyseum
• Barcelona startup BROOMX wins first prize at Sonar+D
• Spanish startup Cabify considers eventually going public
• Catalan startup Glovo continues its rapid expansion, opens new markets in four continents in less than two months
  • Catalan firm Glovo wins best startup of the year prize
• Ulabox’ project with Mercat del Ninot in Barcelona receives an award from AECOC at VII Premios Shopper Marketing
• Kantox is looking into opening its capital to banks
• Barcelona blockchain-based energy platform FlexiDao joins ACCIONA’s accelerator program
• Paris fintech Payfit opens a 300m² office in Barcelona
• 10 industrial startups join local accelerator IQS Next Tech to get their prototypes production-ready in six months
• Spanish crowdfunding platform The Crowd Angel and KPGM form a partnership to boost startup growth
• The first edition of AI Saturdays in Spain arrives in Barcelona
• Barcelona and Kyoto exchange startups to improve the connections between the two ecosystems
• The Fòrum d’Inversió 2018 took place last week, and here’s a round up of all 50 startups selected to participate
  • Braibook crowned winner of Fòrum d’Inversió 2018
• There are currently 12 open calls for startups in Spain
• Barcelona startup profiles, interviews & success stories:
  • Earthdas: what if five minutes were enough to charge your battery?
  • Glovo: Sacha Michaud explains their hypergrowth
  • Gotaki: a decentralized digital mapping solution
  • Wallapop: “our DNA lies in absolute expansion”

Tech News

• Barcelona ranked amongst the top 5 global cities for workers
• Barcelona IT & tech talents earn the highest salary in Spain
• Spain loses further ground and falls to number 32 of 63 in latest digital competitiveness ranking
• Telefónica is ‘without coverage’ in the center of Barcelona
• Catalan trade marketing service firm Caher has a new investor as Suma Capital acquires 30% of stakes
• Biomedical companies in Catalonia attracted €102M in investment in 2017
• Siemens, Lufthansa & Glaxo to participate in third edition of IN(3D)USTRY in October in Barcelona
• Spanish economy slows to 0.7% growth rate in Q2 of2018
• After a statement and ongoing strikes, Amazon has reopened negotiations with workers’ unions in Spain
• Google launches several new products & features in Spain:
  • Market Finder is now available in Spanish, the tool that aims to help firms identify new business opportunities
  • Google Home, Google Mini & Google Wifi arrive in Spain
  • YouTube Music and YouTube Premium launch in Spain
• Alexa Skills Kit and Alexa Voice Service launch in Spain
• LaLiga strengthens its fight against piracy and founds its own technology company

Good Reads

• Barcelona Startup City Seminar Unites Barcelona’s Startup Ecosystem
• The 7 most advanced Spanish startups of the moment
• Overview of active neobanks and challenger banks in Spain

GREAT EVENTS THIS WEEK

• Wed, 27 Jun @ 16:00: LABs Demo Day Ship2B
• Wed, 27 Jun @ 18:30: Startup Grind BCN with Len Shneyder
• Thu, 28 Jun @ 19:00: AI for your business, with Alessandro Pregnolato, Director of Analytics at Typeform
• Thu, 28 Jun @ 19:30: Levantando rondas de financiación con Lavin Luis
• Fri, 29 Jun @ 19:00: Conferencia de iniciación a las Criptomonedas, Inversiones y Blockchain

See the full Event Calendar here

STARTUP JOBS IN BARCELONA

• Reactivation Group is hiring a Technical Project Manager/ System Architect
• OneCoWork is seeking both a Social Media Manager and a Junior Accountant
• Ideal Credit is looking for a Jr. PhP developer