Digital55 es una empresa especializada en desarrollo de software y plataformas digitales innovadoras. Trabajamos con una cultura de desarrollo ágil y un enfoque lean en el diseño de productos digitales. Desde hace más de diez años colaboramos con grandes empresas y startups en fase avanzadas de crecimiento.

Apoyamos a las grandes empresas en su proceso de transformación digital. Nuestros desarrolladores son especialistas en programación web y móvil usando frameworks de Javascript: Angular, React o Node y otras tecnologías web. Aportamos personal formado en las últimas tecnologías a los departamentos de tecnología e innovación de las grandes empresas: Project managers, lead developers, ingenieros de sistemas y programadores con diferentes niveles de experiencia.

Nuestros técnicos también refuerzan el área de tecnología de las startups más avanzadas que necesitan evolucionar su producto rápidamente. Hacemos posible lo que parecía imposible.

Startup funding news 💸

• Madrid-based biotech company Algenex raised €7.4 million, led by Masterlux
• Barcelona-based roboadvisor inbestMe raised €1 million
• Cadiz-based football and hardware startup Humanox raised €1 million
• Navarra-based startup Ikan Biotech raised €750,000 via Fellow Funders

M&A activity 🎊

• Biggest news of the week was by far the acquisition of idealista by PE firm EQT for €1.3 billion, the largest acquisition ever in the Spanish startup ecosystem. Apax acquired an 80% stake in idealista in 2015 for €235 million, a 4X outcome in less than 5 years. The founders of the company, Jesus Encinar, Fernando Encinar and Cesar Oteiza continue to own 20% after the Apax deal, which means this was obviously a great outcome for them. La Informacion wrote a profile of Jesus Encinar here. idealista had revenues of €78 million in Spain in 2019, as well as €23.3 million in profit
• El Referente put together a list of the 25 most relevant Spanish exits to date
• Pardon me, but in August I forgot to highlight the acquisition of Madrid-based Undefined Labs by Datadog. Undefined Labs is a testing and observability company for developer workflows, led by Borja Brujos and Fernando Mayo, who have now become Director of Product and Director of Engineering at Datadog, respectively
• Barcelona-based Wallbox, an energy management company that manufactures smart charging solutions for electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles, announced the acquisition of Electromaps and the latter’s platform for accessing free and paid-for electric charging points across southern Europe
• Telefonica announced the acquisition of iHackLabs, its second cybersecurity acquisition in the past few months

Investor & accelerator news 🚀

• Banco Santander unveiled changes at its venture arm, InnoVentures. The bank will launch instead Mouro Capital, which will have €200 million of additional capital (on top of InnoVentures' current €200 million portfolio) to make investments in the fintech space. Santander says that one of the reasons to create this structure, similar to BBVA's, is to be more agile and independent
• SIX, the Switzerland company owner of BME (Bolsas y Mercados Españoles) announced that it will be establishing its fintech incubator and accelerator F10 in Spain, enabling an enhanced mobility of high-quality startups between Spain, Switzerland and Singapore
• BBVA participated in the $300 million Series C round raised by Neon Pagamentos, a Brazilian company, through the investment vehicle Propel Venture Partners

Startup news 💡

• Sponsored
• Digital55 has helped a ton of companies build and maintain great Javascript products. Whether your company uses Angular, React, Vue, Node or Ionic, Digital55 can help you build great software solutions by using agile methodologies and prototyping techniques to achieve quick results and maintain permanent customer contact. Learn more about what they have to offer here.
• Cabify has appointed a new CTO who will oversee the mobility outfit’s development of new products and data strategies. Carlos Herrera previously headed up Cabify’s data science and research units, first joining the company in 2017
• Expansion published an article (paywalled) about the increasing number of gaming companies in Barcelona, both local and foreign, and how that's affecting available talent as well as salaries
• Nico Bour to join edtech startup Codely as CEO. He wrote a blog post explaining the decision and what Codely is up to
• Colombian newspaper La Republica interviewed Evaristo Babé, co-founder and CEO of fleet management startup Pulpomatic. In the interview, Varis says that companies currently manage more than 220,000 cars through the platform and that they expect to close this year with 100 clients in Colombia
• French health insurance company Alan to launch its services in Spain, its first country outside of France. The expansion will be led by Manel Pujol, former country manager of Uber Eats in Spain
• Danish fintech companies Anyday and Clearhaus have teamed up to deliver Spanish online stores an alternative payments solution to those offered by major European players such as Klarna, Stripe and PayPal
• Jeff opened its first Jeff Fit centre in Valencia, as it continues to expand its services in Spain and abroad
• US beauty ecommerce startup Birchbox to choose Barcelona as its main European office. The company has had an office in the Catalan city for years, but made the decision when it named Alex Vallbona, Spain's MD, head of Europe
• Forocoches experienced in 2019 its first drop in revenues in the last 7 years, which decreased by 27% to €1.1 million
• Startup profiles: Frenetic, Tiko, TokApp

Big company news 🏦

• El Mundo interviewed Mariangela Marseglia, head of Amazon in Spain and Italy. In the interview she talks about Amazon's development in Spain, near future projects and other topics. She says Amazon currently has 9,000 full time employees in Spain

Tech and policy 💂🏼‍♂️

• The Spanish government wants companies that offer telco like services (voice, texting, etc) without a phone number to pay a similar tax that telcos have to pay in Spain, which could affect products such as Whatsapp, Telegram or Facebook Messenger

Interesting reads 🤓

• Javier Escribano, co-founder and CPO of Ontruck, interviewed José Pérez-Agüera, Mercadona Tech CPO, on the analytical knowledge and tools product managers must know
• Aquilino Peña (Kibo Ventures) wrote 'Venture Capital, from its teens to adulthood'
• The Nuevo Sector newsletter interviewed Joaquin Mencia, head of EMEA at Tillster, to talk about the food tech and food delivery industries
• Jordi Altimira (Lanzame Capital) wrote about the reasons why VCs might say no to your company

Podcasts 🎧

• K Fund interviewed Angel Carrillo of Seabird Capital
• Itnig interviewed Pau Sabria of Olapic
• Loogic interviewed Enrique Penichet of Bbooster
• Jordi Altimira interviewed members of VC firms Creandum, Crane and Breega. Topics include investment trends and their view on the Spanish ecosystem