If I had kids, I'd definitely rely on Lingokids to help them learn while playing. Here's why:

Lingokids' mission is to break down language barriers and help provide equal opportunities for all kids around the world. In order to achieve that, we are building a platform that offers safe and fun English learning for +11M families around the world.

We’re an app. We teach English to kids ages 2-8. We believe learning through play is the best way. Our approach is game-based and interactive. We’re also a resource for parents to learn alongside their children.

Our curriculum is vocabulary-based and introduces topics such as Creativity and using imagination, Caring for the environment, Critical thinking, Collaboration, Diversity and equality. We’re proud to teach what truly matters.

Lingokids is more than just a learning tool. It's an experience that brings families together.

Startup funding news 💸

• Malaga-based ecommerce company Tiendanimal raised €12.5 million from Miura Private Equity, Muzinich and LGT
• Basque biotech startup Vivebiotech raised €3.5 million from Inveready and Easo Ventures
• Barcelona-based biotech startup Ability Pharmaceuticals raised €3.5 million from Inveready, Everis and Capital Cell
• Barcelona-based fintech startup Quipu announced new CEO and €2 million in additional funding
• Valencia-based networking data intelligence startup Kenmei Technologies raised €1 million from GoHub Ventures and R2 Seed Investments
• Barcelona-based biotech company Vytrus Biotech raised €500,000 from ICF
• Madrid-based fintech company Taxdown disclosed a €200,000 investment by business angels
• Barcelona-based fintech startup Flanks also disclosed a €200,000 round
• Madrid-based real estate startup Arex announced €100,000 in funding and the participation in Techstars's Toronto proptech accelerator program
• Barcelona-based Smartfincas raised an undisclosed round of funding

M&A activity 🎊

• SumaCRM has received an acquisition offer from a French tech company. Nothing new here until you read Tomas Santoro's blog post detailing the process. The offer is for €2.1 million and Santoro promises to write about the process going forward

Investor & accelerator news 🚀

• Galdana Ventures and Altamar Capital Partners are putting the final touches on a new €400 million fund of fund s to invest in US, Asian and European venture capital firms
• Banco Santander's venture arm, InnoVentures, has increased the value of its portfolio to €135 million. The fund made €9 million a few months ago with iZettle's exit
• ENISA says that it has received 1,132 requests for a combined €255 million, up 35% compared to the same year ago period
• Banc Sabadell's venture arm, InnoCells, and Madrid-based fund Alma Mundi Ventures participated in $5.5 million round in Israeli cybersecurity startup Kovrr

Startup news 💡

• Sponsored
  Lingokids serves more than 11 million families from across the world from their headquarters in Madrid. If you're a parent, you should try their apps with your kids. And if you're looking to change jobs, you should definitely consider applying to any of their job openings.
• Wallapop's valuation has been cut to €200 million
• Sales of cars are down significantly in Spain. However, Madrid-based Bipi, which offers a subscription car service, says that it has grown significantly at the same time. The company aims to have 10,000 subscriptions in the next 18 months
• BNP Paribas announced a strategic partnership with Kantox, the Barcelona-based FX software provider
• Madrid-based HR startup Circular launched Recruiter Messaging and becomes invite-only to provide an even more curated experience
• Spendesk is a French spend management platform for SMBs. The company announced last week a €35 million round and plans to launch its product in Spain
• El País wrote about Madrid-based ecommerce startup La Fabrica de Camisas. The profitable company employs 11 people and has annual revenues of €1 million
• Barcelona-based i nsurtech startup Brokoli is shutting down
• Madrid's blockchain startup Aragon announced the launch of 0.8 Camino
• Casafari is a Lisbon-based real estate data startup. The company was first founded in Mallorca but moved headquarters to Portugal. The company announced last week a big €12 million funding round and expansion plans in Spain
• Madrid-based gaming studio Tequila Networks is the only local studio building games for Google's Stadia service. El Pais talked to the company about their relationship with Google and plans for new games
• Deliveroo says that its B2B offering, Deliveroo Business, has more than 1,000 clients in Spain
• Startup profiles: Kuex, Architechtures, Iomed, Flanks, Lisa Seguros

We are 60 passionate Lingoers in our Madrid HQ, building a subscription based service for 11M families around the world. We come from 16 different nationalities, English is our working language. In our management team 50% of our leaders are women (Total company is 45% women). Transparency, diversity, ownership and flexibility are not just written in our walls.

We have a solid product and a dream to get +100M families helping their kids have equal opportunities. We are hiring across our engineering, marketing and content development teams, so If you are looking for a career with a purpose along a group of global talented individuals, check out our open positions.

Big company news 🏦

• Various MasMovil executives bought €31 million worth of shares of the company as the stock hit its lowest point in August
• Telefonica to offer early retirement plans to more than 5,000 employees
• Amazon is changing its real estate play and has started selling several distribution centres it owns across Europe, including the ones in Barcelona and Sevilla

Tech and policy 💂🏼‍♂️

• El Mundo looked at the Spanish government plans of imposing a tech tax on Google, Facebook, Amazon and other giants. Seems as if the tax could hurt more than help the local digital market
• Rodrigo Garcia de la Cruz, president of the Spanish fintech association, published an op-ed in Cinco Dias requesting more support for Spanish fintech startups and the launch of the sandbox regulation

Interesting reads 🤓

• Barcelona is the gateway to Latin America for Europe’s startups: fintech companies based in Barcelona are making use of linguistic and cultural ties to break into the Latin American market
• Very interesting post our good friend Alex Barredo of mixx.io, detailing how much money he makes from his podcast business
• Christoph Janz of Point Nine Capital published an article on freemium SaaS, focusing on the case of Typeform. The article includes several interesting data points about Typeform's business model
• According to a study from Madrid-based startup Billin, 'digital freelancers' in Spain make as much as three times the amount than its 'offline' counterparts
• Alfredo Artiles (Audiense CTO): 'The role of architecture in the speed of software delivery'

Podcasts of the week 🎧

• The Venture City interviewed Andy Areitio
• SeedRocket interviewed Carlos de Otto (Rockola, Senda)
• Digital Health Today interviewed Marta Zanchi, founder of Barcelona-based health tech fund Nina Capital
• Itnig interviewed Dan Kragt, new CEO at Quipu
• K Fund interviewed Javier Escribano, co-founder and CPO of OnTruck
• En.digital interviewed Pepita Marin of We Are Knitters