Barcelona Startup News November 20, 2017

Hello and Happy Monday! We hope you had a great weekend.

So there’s an outside chance that Barcelona is announced as the new home of the European Medicines Agency today. This is one of the first major fallouts of Brexit and will have a tremendous long-term economic impact on whichever city lands the new HQ. Fingers crossed!

Then, this Friday (24th) marks the first-ever #Mornings4 Conference featuring some of the brightest minds in tech exploring ways we can harness innovation for a better future! Save 40% on tickets with the code: barcinno

Have a great week and we’ll 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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Startup & Investment News

• Barcelona VC Ysios Capital amongst leading investors in Swiss startup Xeltis €45M Series C financing round
• Barcelona-based biotech GlyCardial Diagnostics gets €2,4M
• Catalan startup Baluwo closes €600k investment round
• Digital marketing agency Smartbrand raises €300k 
• Devicare teams up with Parc Tauli to develop medical devices which enable patients to monitor their own health
• Barcelona startup Yugo records tenfold user growth in 2017
• Airbnb closes down Trip4Real one year after its €5M takeover
• Wallapop’s estimated value drops 24% according to Vostok
• ImaginBank, the mobile bank of CaixaBank, grows user base from 90k to 500k in less than a year 
• 5 Barcelona startups, Brokoli, Daysk, Iomed, Smaze and Validated ID selected for Cuatrecasas Acelera program
• Barcelona-based VC Bloomium opens office in Madrid & plans to invest in 6 startups
• Catalan firm Inveready gets €16M for launch of new VC fund
• New investment fund Gate 93 connects you to Silicon Valley
• Drivy, the popular car sharing platform in Spain, has expanded to the UK market
• Pheidon is the first investment fund in Spain aimed at cryptocurrencies
• Barcelona startup profiles, interviews & success stories:
  • Saveboost: the app to help you save money
  • SoftDoit: hoping to grow its business by 400% in 3 years
  • Foot Analytics: helping you become a data-driven firm
  • Airning: airline compensation claims with on click

Tech News

• Barcelona ranks amongst 25 most high-tech cities worldwide
• EU will select the new HQ for the European Medicine Agency today, Barcelona hopes to land the deal, fingers crossed!
• Unilabs acquires Barcelona-based company European Telemedicine Clinic
• SEAT’s digital lab officially launched last week
• Smart City Expo World Congress shatters records
• Rakuten closes down its Spanish subsidiary
• Spanish tax agency to charge second-hand online marketplaces like Wallapop 4% on each sale
  • This is how the firms try to deal with it
• Barcelona tests cameras on buses to detect blind spots
• 54% of Spanish population to take advantage of Black Friday
• 25% of Spanish Christmas sales to come from e-commerce

Good Reads

• Overview of Barcelona Tech Ecosystem: Map of main players
• How do Spanish banks adapt to the digital age?
• How to start a business from scratch
• Still don’t understand blockchain?

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GREAT EVENTS THIS WEEK

• Tue, 21 Nov @ 19:00: From Wall Street to Space
• Wed, 22 Nov @ 18:30: Startup Grind BCN hosts Angel García
• Wed, 22 Nov @ 18:30: Step up your career with UX & UI
• Thu, 23 Nov @ 17:00: World Marketing Festival 2017
• Thu, 23 Nov @ 19:00: Smart Cities and Data
• Fri, 24 Nov @ 08:30: #MORNINGS4

See the full Event Calendar here

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STARTUP JOBS IN BARCELONA

• Translation.com is looking for a:
  • Front End Software Engineer
  • Back End Software Engineer
• Totally Communications is hiring a WordPress Developer

Barcelona Startup News November 20, 2017 cover all the latest stories about Barcelona’s Tech & Startup scene from November 13th until November 20th, 2017.