Moonwalkers, el programa de incubación y aceleración para startups del ámbito de la creatividad y el sector experiencial

Moonwalkers, el programa de incubación y aceleración para startups de MKTG Spain y RPM Sports en colaboración con Impact Hub Madrid, busca proyectos de emprendimiento disruptivos e innovadores para revolucionar el ámbito de la creatividad y el sector experiencial (eventos).

El proyecto se dirige a startups en cualquier fase de maduración que desarrollen su actividad en líneas de negocio como el metaverso (NFT y tokens), 360 realidad virtual, realidad aumentada, inteligencia artificial enfocada a eventos experienciales, producción y organización de eventos/activación, eventos de turismo y gaming deportivo, fan/consumer engagement y retail experience, entre otros.

Se ofrece a los proyectos participantes un programa de mentoring, formación especializada y participar en sesiones individualizadas de asesoramiento por parte de expertos de MKTG Spain y RPM Sports, además de formar parte del ecosistema de emprendimiento de Impact Hub. Las startups seleccionadas podrán seguir el programa y desarrollar su actividad en el Living Lab de MKTG Spain y RPM Sports (Móstoles, Madrid) y optarán a ser partners y proveedores, así como obtener inversión o participación de MKTG Spain y RPM Sports.

El plazo de inscripción finaliza el 19 de septiembre. En la web https://moonwalkers.es/ está disponible la información del programa.

Startup funding news 💸

• Barcelona-based travel company Exoticca raised €20M in debt financing from Claret Capital Partners and Sabadell Venture Capital. The company expects to close 2022 with €120M in revenues
• Barcelona-based Good News Cafe raised €11M, led by Thomas Meyer, founder of Desigual. The company operates 21 cafes in Barcelona, Madrid and Paris
• Madrid-based customer success startup Velaris raised €4.7M, led by Octopus Ventures
• Barcelona-based Deale raised €1.5M from Nortia Capital and Tekpolio. The company helps SMEs connect with investors and/or advisors
• Other rounds of funding: The Smart Lollipop,

M&A activity 🎊

• Barcelona-based legaltech company vLex sold a majority stake to PE firm Oakley Capital. The startup's founders will continue to have a 25% stake in the business, and the company says that this year it plans to hit more than €20M in sales. I believe this is Oakley's Capital second investment in Spain (Seedtag)
• More details about Glovo's acquisition by Delivery Hero. As it's been said in the press numerous times in the past few months, the total price paid by DH was heavily affected by the performance of the latter in the stock market. It was an all-stock deal

Investor & accelerator news 🚀

• Sponsored
  Moonwalkers is a new acceleration program created by MKTG Spain, RPM Sports and Impact Hub Madrid, aimed at companies in the entertainment, creativity and events space. For more info, visit their website. Applications are open until September 19th
• Iker Marcaide launched Zubi Capital Asset Management, a management firm to launch new investment vehicles. Zubi currently focuses on sustainability-related investments
• Lanzadera announced the name of 100 new startups that will participate in its various accelerator and incubation programs. You can find the full list of companies here
• The portfolio of startups that falls under Telefonica's Open Innovation division were valued by the company at €105M
• Spanish TV personality David Broncano unveiled as an LP in Enzo Ventures

Startup news 💡

• Fitness and nutrition company EMfit reached €3.1M in sales in just three years since being founded. The company also posted positive EBITDA last year
• Fintech and edtech startup StudentFinance said that in 2022 it aims to give out more than 3,000 loans valued at €15M. The company operates in the Income Share Agreement (ISA) space
• David Okuniev, co-founder and Head of R&D at Typeform, wrote a post on his journey as co-founder of the company, the highs and lows, the decision to step down as co-CEO and about his personal struggles with being CEO of such a rapidly growing organization
• "The Spanish strategy and other key aspects of the race to win the space business": an overview by Forbes of the Spanish aerospace sector and the work certain companies are doing to make it cheaper to launch rockets and satellites, as well as what to do once they're up there
• Journalist Esther Paniagua wrote "Why Spain needs more deep tech companies?"
• Fintech startup Bnext announced the launch of an utility token, B3X, to reward users for certain behavior
• Tech and product consulting business Sngular named Sarah Harmon as its new global CEO. Sarah was previously country manager of LinkedIn in Portugal and Spain, and had also been at Microsoft
• PC Componentes and telco company Eurona to launch a internet satellite service under the name of PCC
• British car marketplace Cazoo announced plans to leave all EU markets, including Spain. The company was not only one of the sponsors of football clubs such as Real Sociedad and Valencia, but it had also acquired Spanish startup Swipcar in November of last year. In 2022, Cazoo has laid off 1,500 employees, 30% of its workforce
• Adrian Perez (Cint) and Alejandro Camara (Inetum) launched Interviewed With, a site place to read first hand reviews about job interviews
• Crypto company Bit2Me launched a consulting service to help companies build customized solutions with blockchain technology as a basis.
• Startup profiles:
• Eleva: ecommerce of standing desks
• Nash21: crypto applied to real estate rentals
• Rungie: crypto and NFTs
• Startup interviews:
• Marta Echarri: head of Spain at N26
• Crowmie: tokenized investments in renewable energy

Big company news 🏦

• Banco Santander hired Cristina Ruiz to lead its transformation efforts. Previously she was CEO of Indra for more than 10 years. When she left the company in April of last year, she received a severance package of €3.6M. Part of it was a non-compete, which could come under scrutiny now given the fact that both Indra and Santander compete in some areas
• The title of the article says it all: "Madrid desborda la M-40 con un barrio tecnológico: viviendas inteligentes, laboratorio de startups y el concepto de 'ciudad de 15 minutos'"

Interesting reads 🤓

• Victor Rodado, co-founder of Minimalism, published a list of ways in which digital marketing has changed in the past two years
• David Bonilla, founder of Manfred, wrote "To lie to work"
• Fran Ortiz, software engineer at Audience, wrote "Iterative and Incremental Development: we need both"
• Javi Santana, co-founder of Tinybird, wrote "Customer Success": "Por eso cuando veo que alguien define una oferta de trabajo por lo que hay que hacer y no por el título, incluso si la descripción es vaga, me da sensación de “esta gente sabe lo que se hace”
• Javi Lopez, co-founder of Erasmusu, authored this week's edition of Suma Positiva, to talk about generative AI

Podcasts 🎧

• K Fund interviewed Ivan de Prado, head of AI at Freepik
• Asi Empecé interviewed Juan Urdiales, co-founder of Jobandtalent
• Itnig interviewed Martín Urrutia, co-CEO of Auronix
• Product Hackers interviewed Emilio Froján of Velca