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Startup funding news 💸

• La Informacion published a long piece about energy startup HolaLuz. The company says that it’s raising €60 million and that it reached last year €180 million in sales
• Barcelona-based proptech startup Housell raised €12 million from Cerberus and Axel Springer
• Basque cybersecurity robotics startup Alias Robotics raised €750,000 from Baron Capital and business angels
• Barcelona-based Enlightning Technologies raised €450,000 from BeAble Capital
• Barcelona-based eSports training platform Gamestry raised €300,000 from various business angels
• Valencia-based ecommerce startup Flamingueo raised €250,000 from Angels Capital and Grupo Zriser

M&A activity 🎊

• Spanish health company ATRYS intends to lead the smart/big data field in the health sector with the acquisition of also Spanish startup Real Life Data. Real Life Data had positive EBITDA of €1.4 million in 2018 and had raised funding from Inveready
• Spanish company Tinsa acquired local data startup Datacentric

Investor & accelerator news 🚀

• La Informacion talked to GP Bullhound’s Miguel Kindelán, who oversees the activity of the company in Spain and Portugal. In the interview, Kindelán talks about Spanish startup valuations, potential growth, exits and more
• Spanish telco MasMovil announced the name of the five companies that will participate in its first accelerator batch: Cubbit, Predictiva, Satya Insights, Schaman and Teamnet
• Inveready closed its new €54 million fund to invest in tech companies
• Enisa has €214 million of fresh money to support Spanish tech startups and other entrepreneurial endeavors
• Cupido Capital is a new Spanish VC firm to invest in pre-seed companies
• Madrid’s local government to support various investment firms with up to €30 million. All firms tend to invest in projects with a social component
• Banc Sabadell’s InnoCells participated in the $3 million round completed by Israeli startup Active.AI
• Estrella Galicia announced that it will launch the second batch of its startup accelerator The Hop

Startup news 💡

• Cinco Dias profiled Airhopping, a Valencia-based travel startup that’s the equivalent of ‘interrail’ for flights. The company claims to have had sales of €1.6 million in 2018, up 140% year-on-year
• Carto launched new plans and pricing today, making their platform more accessible than ever for developers & data scientists
• Indexa Capital announced that it now has €200 million of assets under management (AUM), up 100% year-on-year
• Expansion talked to Diego Bestard, CEO and co-founder of proptech and investment platform Urbanitae. The company recently received green light from Spain’s CNMV and expects to launch this week
• MasMovil joins the Ibex 35
• Xataka interviewed Spaniard Susana Voces, Global Vice President of Restaurants in Deliveroo
• El Español profiled Bringg, an Israeli startup that powers the technology behind Mercadona’s last mile efforts
• Cinco Dias interviewed Josep Call, founder and former director of anti-piracy startup RedPoints
• Startup profiles: Opositatest, Beprevent, Talentoo, Taxdown

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Big company news 🏦

• Mercadona launched its ecommerce store in Barcelona, the second city in Spain after Valencia
• Telefonica announced IoT Activation Programme, a program focused on supporting projects that aim to bring connectivity to rural areas
• Orange might have to pay up to €300 million if it wants to offer football content to its subscribers
• Vodafone is the first Spanish telco to offer 5G to a limited number of its customers
• El Confidencial tried Movistar Car, Telefonica’s new service to bring connectivity to cars

Tech and policy 💂🏼

• Spain’s data protection agency fined the country’s soccer league, LaLiga, €250,000 for allegedly violating EU data privacy and transparency laws
• Spain’s sandbox for fintech startups is still just a project, with no certain launch date. El Pais talked to various fintech startups and associations about it
• El Español looked into the potential impact of Spain’s tax on digital services, which could be approved this year
• Spanish regulator CNMC on the verge of forcing Amazon to operate its delivery business according to local regulation that controls postal services companies

Interesting reads 🤓

• Miguel Arias (former COO of Carto, head of Wayra): ’Juntos pero no revueltos’
• David Z (Spotahome): ’QA at Spotahome part 1: Testing our frontend platform’

Podcasts of the week 🎧

• K Fund interviewed Fernando Piquer, director of Movistar Riders
• Itnig interviewed Oriol Marimon, CEO of eCooltra
• Lunes Inspiradores interviewed Alejandro Saez of Egogames
• En.digital talked to Tomasa Rodrigo (BBVA Research), Jorge Valhondo (Aplazame), Ignacio Gilart (WhiteBearSolutions) and Philippe Lardy (Open Expo Europe) about data driven companies
• SeedRocket interviewed Joel Vicient of Captio