SeedRocket’s most important event of the year is less than 4 weeks away and entrepreneurs who want to be considered for the investment strategy crash course only have 3 days left to apply. The SeedRocket Campus has evolved over the years and has now partnered with Bertelsmann to offer seed round investments of up to €150k to the most promising Spanish startups in the ICT … [Read more...]
Barcelona Startup Marfeel Raises $2 Million Series A
Marfeel, the Catalonia startup optimizing online publications on mobile devices, announced today the closing of their Series A round of $2 million led by Nauta Capital. Also included in the fundraising round are BDMI (Bertelsmann), Elaia Partners, and existing investor Wayra (Telefonica). Marfeel, founded in 2011 by Xavi Beumala and Juan Margenat, changes the way we … [Read more...]
Spanish Startups Left Money On The Table In 2012
Last Friday, Webcapitalriesgo.com released their annual report highlighting the details of venture capital activity in Spain. In total, all of Spain’s 2012 venture capital investment amounted to €230.6 million dispersed over 1,063 transactions. These figures represent a decrease of 18% in total investment and an 8% fall from the number of deals recorded in 2011. It’s … [Read more...]
5 Tips To Avoid The Series A Crunch In Europe
For the last few months, a reappearing storyline has been flashing on the front pages of our beloved tech blogs. All the usual suspects, TechCrunch, The Next Web, Forbes, Inc, and others have published articles about the possibility of a startup bubble about to burst. Some groups, CrunchBase I’m looking at you, are even seeking to capitalize on the Series A gap by selling … [Read more...]
Bihoop Announces Its First Success Story With Cuentis
Cuentis, an online publisher specializing in customizing illustrated books for both children and adults, has closed a €70.000 seed round using Bihoop’s equity crowdfunding platform. This is a major milestone for all parties involved as it marks the first successful exit on Bihoop and comes during a peak investment period for crowdfunding platforms worldwide. Bihoop was … [Read more...]
Never Alone Is Building Barcelona ‘Happy Startups Factory’
Something is rumbling on Vilamarí and Gran Via. It’s 11:30am and as I approach the frosted glass doors, I hear shouting, laughter and the Soca Boys ‘Follow the Leader blasting from within. My first visit to Never Alone, a new spin on a startup accelerator, is not going to be my typical morning meeting. Now before you roll your eyes and sigh, “Seriously, please don’t tell … [Read more...]
IE Venture Network Enters The Barcelona Ecosystem
The IE Venture Network is a forum for early stage entrepreneurs to engage with the local startup ecosystem, test their projects, and introduce themselves to local investors and advisors. At Venture Lab’s headquarters, in the basement of the IE Business School in Madrid, this translates into a weekly pitch slam held every Thursday night. They have created a welcoming and … [Read more...]
Wayra Barcelona Announces The Newest Startups For 2013
Wayra has quickly developed into the most sought-after incubator in Spain. Each year their admission process becomes more competitive and as a result they are producing higher quality startups. Attesting to this is the most recent fundraising completed by Wayra Barcelona’s 2012 class of startups. The class of 2013 is no different. After pouring over hundreds of … [Read more...]
Calling Barcelona’s Next Entrepreneurs: The Founder Institute Wants YOU!
In the last 4 years, the Founder Institute has helped launch more than 650 companies in over 40 cities to become the largest incubator in the world. Their mission is to “globalize” the Silicon Valley ecosystem to successfully launch 1.000 companies per year in 75 cities worldwide. After a successful first round in Spain, they are currently accepting applications into the 2nd … [Read more...]
Investor Heads Up: SeedRocket Hosts Their 6th Investors Day On March 19th
Since 2008, SeedRocket has been incubating some of the most successful startups in the Spanish Ecosystem. Co-founded by Vicente Arias and Jesus Monleón and run by the talented Jane-of-all-trades, Pamela de la Munoza, SeedRocket follows the proven accelerator model akin to Y-Combinator and TechStars in the US. The entrepreneurs accepted into the program have access to one of … [Read more...]