Did you know that you could start building quickly and for free on AWS?

With AWS Activate Founders, startups can build and scale with $1,000 in credits*, free tools, expert support and training. The program was designed for startups to help you succeed with AWS while optimizing performance, managing risk, and keeping costs under control.

Apply here and unlock all the benefits de AWS Activate Program offers.

Startup funding news 💸

• Barcelona-based DTC brand Freshly Cosmetics raised $22m, led by UK VC firm Blossom Capital. I believe this is Blossom's first investment in Spain. Freshly expects to close 2021 with €50m in sales
• Barcelona-based travel tech startup Amenitiz raised a $7.5m seed round led by Point Nine. Backed, Otium and several business angels, such as Avi Meier (TravelPerk) also participated in the round
• Barcelona-based insurtech startup Cleverea raised a €5m round, led by UK firm Stride
• Barcelona-based biotech firm Kintsugi raised €1m
• Barcelona-based ecommerce startup Blaine Box raised €720k, led by Draper B1 and Archipelago Next
• Barcelona-based notifications-as-a-service startup MagicBell raised an extension of its seed round, led by UK firm Connect Ventures
• Other rounds of funding: Delitbee, KBOX SalesTools, JoinHome

M&A activity 🎊

• Madrid-based adtech company Tap Tap Digital got acquired by UK firm bd Capital. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, by Expansion believes the price of the transaction to be €75m. Tap Tap Digital had previously raised funding from Nauta Capital and had sales of €20m
• Sngular published its IPO prospectus, which contains relevant information on the company business. The company expects to reach a valuation of €160m on the BME Growth. Last week it was also disclosed that Mayoral acquired a 3.6% stake in the company prior to the IPO
• Lleida.net acquired Valencia-based tech consulting firm inDenova for €7.1m. Sisco Sapena, CEO of Lleida.net, was interviewed as a result of the transaction, where he talked about the company's recent developments, which includes an appreciation of 4X times of its stock since March 2020
• US gaming giant Take Two (developers of Grand Theft Auto) acquired Valencia-based gaming studio elite3d. La Informacion published an overview of M&A activity in the Spanish gaming sector over the years

Investor & accelerator news 🚀

• We have two new colleagues at K Fund. Borja Santos, who was previously the country manager of Stripe in Spain and Portugal, and Nacho Puell, who joins us as Head of Research
• TheVentureCity led a $6m seed investment in Berlin-based company Beams, which aims to become the "reddit of audio"
• Nauta Capital led a $6m round in German startup Kubermatic, creator of Kubermatic Kubernetes Platform
• Mundi Ventures invested in French insurtech startup Shift Technologies

Startup news 💡

• Sponsored
  AWS Activate Founders is a startup program designed to help startups build and grow their business. With AWS credits, free tools, resources and expert support, it enables startups to quickly get started on AWS, go to market faster, and lower costs. Apply today here.
• DTC fashion brand Muroexe went into liquidation last week. Days later, the company was acquired by Mascaró for €50k
• Wallbox says that it has secured components and chips until 2022
• In 2017, Cabify led a round in VTC company Auro, in order to secure availability of supply on its platform. That deal included an exclusivity clause so that Auro could not work with other competitors, which it tried to do by signing an agreement with Uber. A Madrid court has now said that the exclusivity clause remains and that Auro can only work with Cabify, which is a significant win for the latter
• According to El Español, Jeff is going through a tough time financially, which has resulted in debt with Hacienda (which has now been paid back, according to the article) and delays in the payments to employees who were affected by the company's ERE
• Virtual Voyagers is a Madrid-based company that has collaborated with Facebook 's recently announced metaverse plans, to launch a platform for interactive and live concerts
• Foodtech startup Wetaca announced a B2B service to provide meals to companies
• Durcal launched a smart watch to keep an eye on your family and loved ones, which includes an integration with the alarm system of Movistar Prosegur in order to notify family members when emergencies occur. Durcal is a K Fund portfolio company
• Expansion published an overview of revenue-based financing startups, featuring the likes of Capchase, Ritmo and Younited. These firms provide financing to other startups that gets paid back as they generate revenues
• Fintech startup Monei has made a request to the Spanish Central Bank sandbox to launch its own digital euro token, EURM
• Aliexpress signed a partnership with Lola Market to integrate grocery shopping in its app
• Kintxo Cortes, previously the country manager of Shopify in Spain, is now the Spanish head of Trade Republic, a German fintech startup that has developed a mobile securities broker
• If you live in Madrid and Barcelona, most likely you've seen the motorbikes of quick commerce startups Getir, Dija and Gorillas, who are now competing with Glovo in the grocery delivery space ($ - paywalled article)
• Startup profiles:
• Flit2go: mobility
• Taxdown: fintech
• Shakers: services marketplace
• Quanvia: quantum computing

Podcasts 🎧

• Landbot has launched its own podcast, which is quite an interesting one if you're interested in the topics of digital marketing and growth
• K Fund interviewed Juanjo Mostazo, co-founder of gaming and adtech startup Homa Games
• Itnig interviewed Sara Serantes, co-founder and CEO of Freshperts
• Masquestartups interviewed Diego Ballesteros of Bewe and Ancla.life
• Novicap interviewed Carlos Otermin, COO of Lazada