Dealflow.es #463: The Hotels Network exit. Adsmurai draws M&A interest. Belvo raised €15M.
A weekly summary of everything that happened in the Spanish startup and tech investing ecosystem.
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Startup funding news 💸
Spanish and LatAm-based Belvo has secured $15M in new funding from investors including Quona Capital, Kaszek, Kibo, and Y Combinator. Belvo powers over 50M connected accounts and 2M monthly payments, leading open finance in the region. Co-founder Pablo Viguera wrote about the fundraise here
Valencia-based startup Kerionics has received €12.8M from the EU's NextGenerationEU funds to produce high-temperature electrolyzers. This funding will support the Zerohgreen project, aiming to establish Spain's first automated production line for SOEC electrolyzers, crucial for green hydrogen production
Inveready has increased its stake in Gigas to 32.27%. The move comes after Gigas completed a €6.3M capital increase to strengthen its financial position and support its acquisition strategy
Eoniq Fund has invested €500k in Sevilla-based Tutrocito to enhance its online furniture personalization platform
Spanish fund Next Tier Ventures announced its investment in Nilo Technologies, a Valencia-based game engine that allows the creation of 3D worlds in seconds
M&A 🎉
London-based Lighthouse acquired Barcelona-based The Hotels Network to enhance its hotel marketing capabilities. This move aims to boost direct bookings and revenue for hotels globally. Here’s The Hotels Network blog post, and here more from investor Jesus Monleon (4Founders). CEO Juanjo Rodriguez wrotte about the deal here. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. THN had raised more than $15M in funding from 4Founders, Seaya and Elaia
Barcelona-based Adsmurai is attracting strong interest from several PE funds and industrial groups, according to El Economista. Adsmurai reported €74M in revenue, with 48% generated internationally, and an EBITDA of over €4M. Valuation estimates suggest a potential €100M deal. Founders Marc Elena, Juan Antonio Robles, and Otto Wüst currently own 100% of the company after buying back stakes from Axon and Univisión.
Investor & accelerator news 🚀
CDTI has launched the INNTERCONECTA STEP call with €90M to fund collaborative R&D projects in Spain
Hyperion and Lauria Partners have acquired a majority stake in Gutmar, a Catalan engineering firm specializing in aerospace and defense. Gutmar, with over 70 years of history, collaborates on major international aerospace and defense projects
Madrid-based former CIA officer Eric Slesinger announced the launch of 201 Ventures, a new $22M firm focused on advancing freedom and autonomy in Europe (defense tech). More here
Batir a largo plazo al mercado es complicado, y poca gente lo consigue. Si además no tienes tiempo o conocimientos para invertir en bolsa, lo mejor que puedes hacer es utilizar Indexa Capital.
Startup news 💡
In January Habitissimo announced an ERE affecting 90% of its workforce. The company was acquired by HomeServe in 2017, which was then acquired by Brookfield in 2022. The decision was deemed disproportionate by employees. After negotiations, Habitissimo's workers accepted an agreement to lay off nearly 100 employees, with compensation exceeding economic dismissal terms. More details here
Colvin, the Barcelona-based online flower delivery startup, has laid off most of its staff and entered insolvency proceedings to avoid closure, according to El Periódico. Investor Claret Capital has taken control of the company’s assets after a failed restructuring attempt
New products and companies:
Romà Llambés, CEO of Loiale, announced the launch of 3PD Attribution, a tool for restaurants to identify delivery customers from platforms like Glovo and Uber Eats. This enables targeted campaigns via WhatsApp, SMS, and email, enhancing customer loyalty and increasing sales. Over 100 brands are on the waitlist, with 10 already using the service
Expansion published two market overviews:
Foodtech Transformation: Companies like Smileat and Innomy Biotech are leading with sustainable practices and new technologies, attracting investor interest
Telemedicine Revolution: Startups like Doctomatic and MediQuo are evolving telemedicine with AI, offering remote patient monitoring and personalized treatments
Startup profiles:
Madrid-based fintech TucanPay offers a peer-to-peer money transfer platform with lower fees than competitors like Wise and Revolut
Other news:
Jorge Araujo Muller discusses Colvin's journey from raising €60M to being sold for €1M in a creditor's meeting. Founded in 2016, Colvin expanded rapidly but faced financial challenges, leading to its acquisition by Claret Capital. The company now aims for profitability with a smaller team
Big company & policy news 🤓
The shit show continues: LaLiga has intensified its anti-piracy actions, pushing beyond ISPs to now target infrastructure providers. After previously affecting Cloudflare, a court order has led to Spanish ISPs blocking access to Vercel during matchdays. Vercel, a cloud platform widely used by developers, responded by affirming its anti-piracy stance but criticized the lack of transparency and proportionality of these measures. CEO Guillermo Rauch tweeted about it
Telefónica has exited Colombia, Argentina, and Peru, reducing its workforce by 20% and cutting €2B in losses
Interesting reads 🤓
Javi Santana (Tinybird) published “Lessons learned from 5 years operating huge ClickHouse® clusters: Part II”
Jose Ramon Perez Agüera (Mercadona Tech) published “Cómo elegir las métricas correctas para evaluar tus test A/B”