I love it when the newsletter is sponsored by a company I've previously experienced. Several of our startups at K Fund have gone through Google for Startup's Growth Academy, and the feedback from them has always been very good. If you're a startup building products and services aimed at SMBs, take a look at this new edition of their program on the topic of Digital Transformation.

Google for Startups has just announced the launch of a new edition of its intensive online program, Growth Academy.

This time, aiming to support startups that are fostering the digitisation and recovery of the economy by equipping small and medium companies with the tools they need to adapt to new market demands and boost their businesses.

Whether your company is streamlining and digitising SMBs’ processes and finances, to automating repetitive tasks, innovating people management processes or reaching new clients, this program is for you!

Apply before October 6th, to access a 4 weeks 100% tailored program to help you tackle your most pressing challenges. Connect with more than 15 international analysts and experts from Google in over 20 online sessions and specific mentoring meetings, offering the best of Google’s expertise and network to support you with market analysis and trends, optimize your current internationalization strategies and continue promoting growth.

Access all info and apply here!

Startup funding news 💸

• We've got a new unicorn: Chicago and Madrid-based Copado, a DevOps platform built for multiple clouds, raised $140m in a series C round of funding at a $1.2b valuation
• Madrid-based Seedtag raised $40m in a Series B funding round led by Oakley Capital. Previous investor Adara Ventures wrote about the fundraising event and added that, despite COVID-19’s impact, Seedtag reached revenues of $50 million in 2020, and a further 60% growth is forecasted for 2021 ($80 million). Business Insider published the pitch deck used by Seedtag for the round, but it's behind a paywall
• Barcelona-based Housfy raised €10m from previous investors such as Seaya, Torch Capital, DN Capital, Cathay Capital and Aldea Ventures. According to El Confidencial ($), Banco Santander also invested €1.5m in this round, acquiring a 2% stake in the business, which implies a €75m post-money valuation for Housfy
• Madrid-based Bit2me raised €7.5m in an ICO
• Valladolid-based biotech firm 53Biologics raised €7m from Inveready and GAEA Inversion
• Barcelona-based logistics startup Vonzu raised €1.5m from Conexo
• Madrid-based Gurucall raised €1.2m, led by FJ Labs and business angels
• Donosti-based sustainability startup ScrapAd raised €1m
• Barcelona-based subscription management company Pulpo raised €550k + Other rounds of funding: Yakk, RawData

M&A activity 🎊

• Glovo acquired a couple of startups that will help the startup increase its dark store business: Madrid-based Lola Market and Portugal’s Mercadão. Glovo's Q-Commerce division is “on track” to reach an annual Gross Transaction Value (GTV) of more than €300 million this year, and could reach €1b in 2022. Lola Market had previously raised €3m in funding and years ago it merged with Valencia-based competitor Comprea
• Scoolinary is Jordi Ber's (Habitisimo) new company, an edtech platform focused on the hospitality and restaurant business. The company announced last week the acquisition of Latam business CocinaLab and also disclosed two relevant figures: that it has raised €1m to date from business angels and funds, and that it currently has 2,000 subscribers

Investor & accelerator news 🚀

• Beatriz Gonzalez (Seaya) has joined Wallabo'x board
• GoHub Ventures said that startups participating in its accelerator program will receive €250k each in funding
• Bewater Funds announced a €800k investment in Portuguese company DocDigitizer
• Analistas Financieros Internacionales (Afi) to launch a €15m fund to back 15 startups
• Spanish and Israeli investment firm Cardumen Capital led a $2.75m pre-seed round in Spinach, one of the first Zoom Apps partners aimed at helping distributed teams be more effective
• Barcelona-based venture builder Mutter Ventures, led by Christian Rodríguez (ByHours), plans to IPO on the Paris stock exchange

Startup news 💡

• Sponsored
• Applications are open for a new edition of Google for Startups Growth Academy, focused on the topic of Digital Transformation. The program is amed at startups that are building products for SMBs
• Interactive video and adtech company PlayFilm said that it expects to close 2021 with €5m in sales. In the article, co-founder and CEO Raquel Valero says that "it took us 10 months to get to €100k in MRR, and in another 10 months we've gotten to €400k in MRR"
• Investment roboadvisor Indexa Capital said that it plans to launch in France in the short term, that an IPO in is in the horizon and that assets under management (AUM) have increased to more than €1.1b at a +120% growth rate in the past 12 months
• El Español published a long interview with Joaquin Cuenca, CEO of Freepik (acquired by EQT last year for €200 to €300m). The interview focuses on what the impact of EQT has been on the operations of the company, the impact that Freepik can have on Malaga and other interesting topics
• Here's another profile of a Malaga-based company: BeSoccer (previously known as Resultados Futbol). Manu Heredia, co-founder and CEO, says in the article that he expects to double sales this year, to €10m, and 9.6m of monthly active users
• Yaba, the aggregator of Amazon businesses, announced that it has acquired six companies to date that combine for €6m in sales
• La Informacion says that Cabify sold 800 cars in the first half of 2021 that belonged to one of its subsidiaries. The price of the transaction could have been around €10m. The move comes as Cabify needs to re-pay various loans to financial institutions in the near future, as well as pay back as much as €34m to Rakuten, one of its larger investors, as a result of a convertible debt agreement reached in the past between both parties
• UK company Deliveroo announced in July that it's exploring the possibility of leaving the Spanish market. The company is in negotiations with local labor unions about potential compensation to its Spain-based employees as well as the more than 3,500 riders it used to work with
• Carlos Beneyto, VP of Product at real estate company Edify, wrote about how they've reached €500k in sales in three months by using a variety of no-code tools, including Spanish startup Arengu
• Cinco Dias published a profile of fashion ecommerce brand Tropicfeel and talked to its co-founder, Alberto Espinos. The company did €6.6m sales in 2020 and expects to double the number in 2021
• EU-Startups published a list of 10 Barcelona-based startups worth following in 2021 and beyond
• Fintech startup Hubuc announced that it has joined Mastercard Fintech Express program fostering innovation in the fintech and B2B SaaS sectors in Europe
• Marta Echarri, head of German neobank N26 in Spain, said in an interview that it has 730k clients in Spain and that it's been the fastest growing market in 2021
• Startup profiles:
• Roams: comparison site for telco services
• Cobee: employee benefits platform
• Kaikoo: gaming learning platform

Big company news 🏦

• Vodafone to lay off as many as 515 employees in Spain
• Telefonica offered employees the possibility of working 4 days per week and reducing their salaries by 16%. Seems like most employees rejected the option and the company is ready to scrap the offer
• Microsoft plans to launch an AI centre in Barcelona and hire 30 employees

Interesting reads 🤓

• Madri+d and Dealroom published a report on the state of the Madrid Region startup ecosystem
• El Español published a profile of Nacho Ormeño, co-founder of equity crowdfunding platform Startupxplore. I had the pleasure of working with both Nacho and Javier Megias at the beginning of Startupxplore writing content for them. Great guy!
• Samuel Gil wrote about the role of the COO in Suma Positiva. Samuel Gil was also interviewed at Jotdown
• Enrique Colin, VP of Data at fintech company Ebury, wrote about "how and when to set up a proper Data Stack in an early stage startup"
• Javier De Toro (Angels), Jordi Vidal (Kibo) and Mario Brassesco (Encomenda) published a guide for startups on how to create an investor Q&A, which is often used in fundraising processes and helps ease the negotiation process between startups and investors

Podcasts 🎧

• K Fund interviewed Andres Blank, co-founder of Fetcher
• Itnig interviewed Sergi Bastardas, co-founder of Colvin
• Product Hackers published a round table about selling in ecommerce in 2021