Barcelona Weekly Tech & Startup News – February 20, 2017 – Barcinno

Hello and Happy Monday! I hope you all had a great weekend!  We’re officially 1-week away from the 2017 Mobile World Congress. By day, Barcinno will be leading innovation talks with SEAT in Hall 3. By night, you’ll find us at these great off-MWC events:

First, it just wouldn’t be the MWC without MOBILE SUNDAY kicking things off! Join us Sunday evening at Fabrica Estrella Damm for an evening of inspiring speakers and networking. There are a couple free passes left with the code: BARCINNO (first come, first serve)

On Monday, we’ll be at IoT Stars – the official Internet of Things networking event @MWC. Same place, same promo code: BARCINNO (first come, first serve)

#TECHICONS TUESDAY

On Tuesday, we’re hosting the 1st annual TechIcons Party @MWC! Join us for an evening of music, tech and super-yachts at Barcinno’s new home in Port Vell!

February 28 (Tuesday) – Only 21 tickets remaining tickets for the #techicons event. Loyal Barcinno readers get 20% off with discount code #barcinno20off

On Wednesday, we’ll be playing it by ear, but the Mobile Apps Party and MLOVE are high on the list. See you out there!

Before all the MWC madness kicks in, join us tomorrow night, February 21st, for the official launch of the HardwareXchange – Barcelona’s new hardware-focused community. Get your tickets here.

Last but not least, if you haven’t picked up your 4YFN 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 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

• Barcelona fintech startup ID Finance received $50M to accelerate growth in Latin America
• The holiday apartment comparison site from Barcelona, Apartum, raised a €2M funding
• Cebiotex, a biotech company from Barcelona, closed a €1,8M impact investment round
• Car rental comparison platform MyTripCar secured €1,2M to disrupt the industry
• Ec2ec raised €1M to expand its agriculture AI and Big Data solutions into the USA
• Barcelona’s Mr Noow received €500k investment to launch app for restaurant menu cards
• Catalan beer startup La Brava has closed a €264k investment round on Crowdcube
• Barcelona’s Fred cold brew raised €100k to expand its ice coffee and tea business
• Game developer Playpspace has reached a media for equity agreement with Ad4ventures
• Multinational giant ABB has acquired Nube3d, a 3D printing tech company from Barcelona
• Hawkers are set two become the 3rd biggest sunglass vendor in the world this year
• Spain’s real estate startup Housers crowdfunded €1,8M to acquire property in the capital
• Alantra raised €450M for its fund that aims to invest into Spanish and Portguese startups
• Kautic40 opened the call for the IV edition of its incubation program for startups
• Barcelona’s correYvuela launched first chatbot to sell flight tickets via instant messaging
• Institut Català de Finances has invested €57M into almost 200 social projects in 5 years

Tech News

• Seat invests €150M in production plant in Barcelona, 100 jobs to be created until 2019
• Catalan Government opens six new worldwide foreign Trade & Investment Offices in 2017
• L’Hospitalet launched the first 5G network probation in Europe, 10GB/s download speed
• And Spanish Telcos call for clear regulation to facilitate the deployment of 5G networks
• Synergic Partners’ CEO & Co-Founder Carme Artigas elected for Insights Success award
• Spanish companies to increase vaccancies for digital profiles by almost 10% until 2020
• 40% of Spanish firms won’t exist by 2021 as Digital Transformation disrupts playing field
• Spanish industry responds to the trending debate “Will robots take my job in the future”
• What will the big players present at the Mobile World Congress 2017 next week?
• For the first time there will be over 100 Catalan firms at the Mobile World Congress
• MWC visitors can relax, employees of Barcelona’s Metro lines discard strike threats
• Mobile World Congress 2017 creates 13.000 well-paid temporary jobs in Barcelona
• New digital transformation event Mobile Week Barcelona set to eclipse 1.500 participants
• Association for real estate consultancies prepares ‘Brexit’ plan to lure firms to Spain
• The app Vida rolled out in Spain & let’s you consult a medic via your smartphone for 20€
• 160.000 people marched for “refugees” in Barcelona, showing the cities cosmopolitanism
• Barcelona is set to launch a “Bicycle Hub “after this summer thanks to Biciclot
• Is it better to pay in cash or by card in Spain? – Spanish populations owns 74 million cards

Good Reads

• GOOD READ #1: Roger Yee Thinks Spanish Entrepreneurs Should Focus On Europe, Not The US
• GOOD READ #2: The first day of our startup (Factorial)
• GOOD READ #3: What app to build in 2017? Native, Hybrid or Progressive Web Apps?
• GOOD READ #4: Reflecting on one very, very strange year at Uber

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GREAT EVENTS THIS WEEK

• Tue, 21 Feb @ 18:30: FREE Pitching Masterclass with Startupbootcamp IoT & Data Tech
• Tue, 21 Feb @ 19:00: HardwareXchange
• Thu, 23 Feb @ 09:00: ECONOMÍA COLABORATIVA ¿DÓNDE ESTÁN LOS LÍMITES?
• Thu, 23 Feb @ 19:00: Presencia: conecta contigo y con los demás 
• Thu, 23 Feb @ 19:00: WooCommerce Security
• Thu, 23 Feb @ 19:15: [RE]-diseña tu propuesta de valor
• Fri, 24 Feb @ 19:30: Flylancer Digital Nomad & Freelancer Networking Meetup
• Sun, 26 Feb @ 16:30: Innovation on the Fringe

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STARTUP JOBS IN BARCELONA