Dealflow.es #434: Babel €350M exit. Acurio's new fund. Colvin restructuring.
Dealflow.es #434: Babel €350M exit. Acurio's new fund. Colvin restructuring.
Welcome to the #434 edition of the Dealflow.es: a weekly summary of everything that happened in the Spanish startup and tech investing ecosystem.
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Startup funding news 💸
Sateliot, a Barcelona-based nanosatellite telecommunications company extending connectivity where telecom operators lack coverage, received a €10M investment from Global Portfolio Investments, the family office of the Domínguez family, owners of Mayoral. More info here
Hotelverse, a Palma de Mallorca-based startup that developed a platform allowing hotel guests to select their exact room through digital twins, raised €5M in a Series A round led by GED Conexo Ventures
Homedoctor, a Madrid-based telemedicine provider, raised €4.5M in a funding round led by Q-Impact and Clave Capital. After the transaction, the founders of the company will own 25% of the company
XRF, a startup developing defense AI technology, secured €2.3M from JME Ventures, Kfund, and GoHub. We wrote about the investment here
Holaglow, a Barcelona-based beauty and wellness platform, raised €1.5M from business angels and family offices
Webel, a Madrid-based on-demand services app, secured €1.4M in funding from Goodwater Capital and Decelera
Danna, a Madrid-based pioneer in producing biomaterials as plastic substitutes, raised €800k from BeAble Capital
Colibid, a Valencia-based mortgage auction platform, closed a €400k funding round and announced the launch of Extracto.io
M&A news 🚀
Mubadala Investment Company, the financial arm of Abu Dhabi, to acquire a 70% stake in consultancy firm Babel, valuing the company at €350M. Babel, with 3,200 employees and a presence in 14 countries, specializes in technology services such as big data, AI, and cybersecurity. Babel has around €25M in EBITDA and grows at a 20% annual rate
RevenueCat acquired the audiobook app Dipsea in its first acquisition. Instead of a typical strategic acquisition, RevenueCat will use Dipsea as a testbed for new subscription tools and features. Dipsea, which focuses on romantic fiction, has 93,847 subscribers and an ARR of $6M
Investor & accelerator news 🚀
All Iron Ventures has rebranded as Acurio Ventures and closed a new €150 million fund to invest in European startups. Acurio will focus on early-stage companies across various sectors, planning to invest in around 50 startups. The firm wrote about the change here
Asabys Partners closed its second healthcare fund at €180 million with Sabadell as its anchor LP, to focus on biotech, medtech, and digital health startups in Spain and Europe
Angels Capital will reach €40 million in startup investments by the end of 2024. This investment firm, which has invested 50 companies, has already recovered €40 million through exits and dividends
Spanish investors active abroad:
Seaya Ventures led a €6 million round for French regtech startup Dotfile, which uses AI to help financial institutions with anti-money laundering compliance
Startup news 💡
Profile of Citibox and David Bernabeu: In 2023, the company generated €65 million in revenue and employs 300 people. After acquiring Celeritas for €21 million, Citibox expanded its footprint across Spain and Portugal, and aims to scale across Europe, starting with the UK
Four new product or company launches:
Nicolás Luca de Tena has launched Multimarkts (link), a marketplace where Instagram users can shop the styles of influencers. He’s invested €21 million in its development
Fintech startup Flanks announced Flanks LUME, an end-to-end wealth management solution aimed at simplifying the industry and reducing manual work to zero. This marks an for the company, transitioning from data aggregation to a more complete offering
Mar Pujadas, formerly of Crossmint, announced the launch of Omniloy, an AI SaaS that empowers every employee to analyze company data via chat
Daniel Espejo, former Klarnar general manager for Spain and Portugal, announced that he’s leaving the company after 7 years
“El informe concursal es demoledor: la quiebra de 8belts.com es culpa de sus dueños”: 8Belts.com, the language learning platform is facing bankruptcy. A report from the bankruptcy administrator blames the company’s owners for financial mismanagement, citing issues like questionable capital increases and a lack of proper financial documentation. The report highlights misused funds and loans between companies owned by the two parties, leading to the company’s insolvency. The administrator recommends legal consequences for both Pérez and Moreno for poor administration and calls for personal responsibility for the company’s debts
Colvin, the flower delivery startup, is negotiating a restructuring plan with creditors and shareholders to address its debt. The company has until December 2024 to reach an agreement, following a series of internal negotiations.
More about Odilo: Rodrigo Rodríguez, ex-CEO, attributes his removal from the company to a combination of internal shareholder disputes and accusations from former employees. He maintains that Odilo has always been highly audited and transparent, dismissing allegations of financial misconduct
The Spanish hyperloop, Zeleros, admitted that commercial results for its high-speed transportation system won’t be seen for at least another 10 years. In response, Zeleros has shifted its focus to electric mobility solutions like batteries
Overview of the Ontruck Mafia, featuring former employees of the company that went on to fund companies: Cobee, Idoven, Usizy, among others
Vivid Money, a German neobank, has launched 'Vivid Business' in Spain, an account that offers up to 5% annual interest for the first two months and then up to 3.5%
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Big company & policy news 🤓
Stellantis is finalizing plans to establish Spain’s largest battery gigafactory in Zaragoza, alongside partner CATL. The project hinges on securing public funding from Spain’s third Perte VEC program, with €300 million in subsidies needed to greenlight the factory
Google has partnered with the University of Málaga (UMA) to launch a cybersecurity training program funded with $1 million. Also related to Google, this interview with Pilar Manchón, senior director of AI research at Google, about the impact and potential of AI
Spaniard Soledad Antelada has been appointed deputy director of Information Security in Kamala Harris's presidential campaign. More here
KPMG Spain appointed Enrique Solbes as the new Chief Digital Officer to drive its digital transformation
According to Deloitte, Spain plans to double its data center capacity by 2026, with an investment of 2.5 billion euros
Globant, the Argentine tech company, has opened a new innovation and AI hub in Madrid, with plans to invest €250 million in Spain over the next five years
Inditex launched its Zara Streaming distribution channel in Spain on September 25, following the trend of live shopping
Interesting reads 🤓
Interesting exchange between Pau Ramon (former CTO of Factorial) and Miguel Carranza (RevenueCat) about “how to find a CTO if you’re a non-technical founder”
Ivan Landabaso (JME) wrote about “founder compensation”
Ignacio Arriaga wrote “Cómo matar a una empresa: el manual completo paso a paso”
Javier Escribano wrote “Lecciones clave del debate sobre el “Founder Mode”: Cómo encontrar el equilibrio entre delegar y controlar para liderar con éxito”