Dealflow.es is the best way to keep up with Spain’s startup ecosystem, manually curated by Jaime Novoa.
Dealflow is a side project. I spend the vast majority of my time investing in early stage startups as part of Kfund. We make investments of €100k to €10m. If you want to chat, drop me an email at jaime@kfund.vc
🚀 En Upbizor, uno de nuestros propósitos es proporcionar contenido de valor a los emprendedores para que puedan aplicarlo a su día a día, por esa razón dentro de este newsletter queremos compartirte nuestro último Ebook.
Las Principales Fintech para financiar tu empresa
📕 Hoy en día, las Fintechs se han erigido como socios esenciales para emprendedores y empresas que buscan desafiar las convenciones del financiamiento tradicional. Estas innovadoras plataformas no solo proporcionan soluciones ágiles, sino que también desencadenan una nueva forma de acceder al capital. 💰
En este Ebook encontrarás el listado de empresas fintech, en donde entenderás sus tipos de financiamiento, el proceso para lograrlo y su contacto.💼
It’s the time of year were annual funding reviews are published. El Referente came out with a report stating that 2023 closed with a total investment of over €1.5b across 332 deals, representing a 50% YoY. The decline was mainly due to the lack of mega-rounds of investment, with only one deal surpassing €100m. Catalonia topped the ranking in terms of both the number of rounds and total investment, closely followed by the Community of Madrid. On the topic of megarounds, Expansion put together a list of 2023’s largest startup rounds, led by Denodo’s €313m round
Investment in the foodtech sector in Spain decreased by 16% in 2023, to €226m across 420 deals, despite the country having fared better than other European countries in terms of investment slowdown. Despite the decrease in investment, pre-seed and seed rounds remain stable, and continue to show interest in the Spanish ecosystem. Full report available here
Madrid-based neobank MyInvestor, the neobank backed by Andbank, AXA, El Corte Inglés, among others, raised €45m in capital in the last year. Over €20m was been contributed in a round closed last month
Ebury, fintech controlled by Banco Santander, paid €100m for Brazilian fintech Bexs. The deal was closed in October but the price was now revealed. This purchase is part of Ebury's strategy to expand in LatAm, with Bexs specializing in international payments and currency management
Overactive Media, the Canadian owner of eSports team Mad Lions, acquired eSports teams Movistar Riders and Koi, with plans to merge them both. The latter was founded by streamer Ibai Llanos and footballer Gerard Piqué. The transaction, worth over €7m, involves payment in shares and cash for services to Llanos and Piqué
Swiss software and cloud solutions company SoftwareOne acquired Spanish SAP and cloud services provider Novis Euforia
HANNUNclosed the purchase of 51% of We do Wood, a Danish company specialized in the design and production of minimalist furniture. This acquisition will expand HANNUN’s presence in the Scandinavian region
Consolidation in the equity management space: Sekondary acquired Capboard. Sekondary specializes in providing liquidity to shareholders by connecting startups with investors, while Capboard focused on equity management. Alex Bisbe (former CEO at Whisbi and founder of Sekondary) stepping in as the new CEO of Capboard
Investor & accelerator news 🚀
Tresmares Capital is launching three new funds totaling up to €390m to expand across Europe and diversify its market presence, with Banco Santander as a key but reduced contributor. The first fund, Tresmares Growth Fund, focused on Spain and Portugal, has already exceeded its €200m capacity in pre-commercialization (€100m will be provided by Santander). The subsequent funds include a €100m preferred stock fund (€50m provided by Santander) and a Luxembourg-based €90m private debt co-investment fund targeting broader European investments
In 2024, Portuguese VC firm 3XP Globalplans to initiate its operations in Spain, focusing on impact investments. They will launch a €25m social impact fund jointly in Spain and Portugal. 3XP Global operates in three main areas: health and life sciences, responsible AI, and impact investments
Startup news 💡
Last week there were several articles published with the predictions of entrepreneurs and investors about what’s to come in the tech sector in 2024. This one featured Oriol Juncosa (Encomenda), Laura Urquizu (RedPoints), Javier de la Torre (CARTO) and Enrique Linares (Letgo). Here’s another one with a list of the most promising startups founded in 2023. And last but not least, this one features Carina Szpilka (Kfund), Sonia Fernandez (Kibo Ventures), Marcos Alves (Luda Partners) and others
In 2022, Cabify's main Spanish subsidiary saw a 15% increase in sales, reaching €121m. However, the company also experienced significant losses, amounting to €5.8m. The revenue growth indicates a recovery to pre-pandemic levels.
Roboadvisor Indexa Capital reached €2b in assets under management (graph below). 97% of its customers are in Spain. This milestone should allow them to continue lowering their fees
Fintech and lending startup Ritmoannounced that it’s shutting down via an email to its clients. Founded in late 2020, Ritmo offered financing to digital businesses based on their revenue projections. According to crunchbase, the company had raised €16.8m in equity and $200m in debt
Voxel, a Barcelona-based technology firm specializing in electronic invoicing and business-to-business payment solutions, achieved a record revenue of €18m in 2023, marking a 22% YoY growth
Hugo Meana, CEO of doctorSIM, published an “anatomy of a pivot”, explaining how the company changed to adapt to market circumstances and find new avenues of growth. “The aftermath of Covid and a shrinking industry heavily reliant on travel had hit us hard". doctorSIM grew revenues to nearly €7m in 2023, from €3.4m in 2022 and €1.6m in 2021
Real estate crowdfunding platform Urbanitae is expanding to France and Portugal. The company has hired José María Carpio and Simão Cruz to lead operations in France and Portugal, respectively. This expansion marks Urbanitae's first international venture, following its success in the Spanish market where it has funded over 120 projects with a total volume of more than €200m euros through retail client investments.
Óscar Pérez Benito has been promoted as the new COO of Cobee, the European digital platform for managing employee benefits plans. Pérez will lead the execution of the go-to-market strategy in Spain, Mexico, and Portugal
Ismael Canal, product designer at Cabify, wrote a thread sharing some learnings on building his side project, Listy. Isma writes that implementing a “lifetime” price option increased sales significantly while not canibalising the company’s monthly and annual plans
Long interview with Joaquín Cuenca, CEO of Freepik. He talks about possibility of AI taking control at some point and how that wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing. Cuenca emphasizes that machines lack individual and unique experiences, which sets them apart from humans in the ability to create art and convey underlying messages. Regarding the future of Málaga as a technological hub, Cuenca sees significant potential for industry growth and development
Another long interview with Alister Moreno, CEO and co-founder of proptech Clikalia. He’s led the company to become one of Spain's largest proptech firms in just five years. Clikalia sells about 1,600 homes annually and aims to become Spain's next unicorn
Interview with Eduardo Riera, co-founder and CEO of Zrive. Zrive describes itself as "a space for individuals to explore careers, gain skills & build a network, outside traditional educational institutions."
Profile of David Sanmartín, the Spanish co-founder of hardware company Nothing. David was previously at OnePlus. Nothing presents itself as the major rival to Apple in the Android market
Change of leadership at Vizzuality: David Gonzalez takes over as CEO following the departure of Craig Mills to lead Land & Carbon Lab. Also kind of related to Vizzuality, interesting graph of the CARTO mafia (former employees of the company that have gone on to become entrepreneurs or investors)
Wired put together its annual list of Madrid's hottest startups. The list features Playtomic, Idoven, Foundspot, Bdeo, Devengo, Samara, TaxDown, Beemine Lab, Velca, and Clikalia
French invoicing and accounting startup Regate has launched in Spain, marking its expansion as its first international market. The arrival of electronic invoicing in Spain is one of the reasons for their landing, as they see business opportunities in the digitization and automation of financial processes
The Spanish Government has certified 604 startups in the first year of the new Startup Law. Although the certification process has been slow due to the late implementation of the system, it is expected that the pace will increase and more than 1,000 certified startups will be reached by the middle of next year. Certified startups will have access to several benefits. After one year of the implementation of the law, there have been opposing opinions about its effectiveness and necessary improvements. While some praise the tax treatment and investment conditions, others criticize the lack of attention to other key factors
From now on, secondhand marketplaces such as Wallapop, Vinted, and eBay are required to report to Hacienda about the activity of sellers due to the new European directive DAC7. Bank details, quarterly earnings, number of sales, and paid commissions must be provided. Sellers residing in the EU who earn more than €2k or make more than 30 sales will be notified and must complete the legal information within 60 days
The Spanish government assigned Minister José Luis Escrivá the task of modernizing the public administration. This involves leveraging digitalization and AI to improve efficiency and service quality, especially in light of the largest wave of public sector retirements in history. This initiative opens new business avenues for tech companies and Big Four consultancy firms
The Government introduced a last-minute surprise in a Real Decreto, allowing the Treasury to require individuals to file their Income Tax return exclusively through electronic means. Although it is not clear if it will be applied in the next Tax campaign, it is expected to be so
Big company & government news 🏦
Bain Capital and Cinven have expressed interest in acquiringMinsait from Indra for a value of €1.8b. Both funds have contacted Indra's management to communicate their intention to bid for Minsait when the board of directors puts the subsidiary on the market. The sale would be part of Indra's strategic plan to finance its growth in the defense sector
