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What do these three questions have in common?

- 2005: "How can I apply big data to my business?" - 2015: "How can I apply Machine Learning in my company?" - 2023: "How can I apply AI in my organization?"

The answer’s easy: whoever ask them probably has terrible quality data.

The problem with following trends is that we act on inertia, without thinking, looking at what the neighbour does. Many efforts in machine learning and artificial intelligence will be meaningless without a good data structure and data quality.

There are no magic formulas. Make sure you have clean, integrated, and accessible information. Only then you can build AI models that really bring value to your business.

At zenital, we help you organize your data so you can adopt AI, in a reasonable way, without leaping into the void. Contact us today to discuss how we can help you.

Startup funding news 💸

• Madrid-based supply chain finance company Twinco Capital raised a €50m debt facility from BBVA Spark. More info here
• Madrid-based Crisalion Mobility raised €15m. The company specializes in in the design and development of sustainable electrical mobility solutions
• Donostia-based Myruns raised €7m, led by Aguila Capital. Myruns develops and sells RFID technology
• Crypto startup Atani raised $6m led by Mexican VC firm Cometa
• Barcelona-based sales tech startup Piper raised €3m, led by Seaya. Piper is a sales productivity and intelligence solution that puts AI to work for both sales reps and sales managers
• Valencia-based space tech startup Arkadia Space raised €2.8m, led by Draper B1. Former astronaut Pedro Duque also participated in the round. The company develops propulsion systems and services to enable mobility in space. More info here
• Donostia-based eye tracking technology company Irisbond raised €2m
• Madrid-based Galeneo raised €1m, led by Ship2b. Galeneo orchestrates on-demand and in-person delocalised medical services
• Startups looking for funding: Ability Pharma, Affirma Biotech, FrontWave Imaging
• Other rounds of funding: Uelz Pay, Vivra,

M&A activity 🎊

• Signalit, the new startup of Pedro Castillo (founder of Devo), announced the acquisition of Noister. Following the transaction, the company will be now called Onum. Pedro will serve as CEO of Onum, while Lucas Varela (former CEO of Noister) will become CTO of the new entity. The company aims to build an edge computing platform that will "allow companies to have absolute control over their data, including real-time observation and orchestration.” Signalit had previously raised around $11m from Insight Partners and Kibo

Investor & accelerator news 🚀

• ICF (Institut Català de Finances) said that it expects to close 2023 with €30m invested into Spanish VC firms, which would represent a 42% decrease compared to 2022. To put things in perspective, ICF's CEO Vanessa Servera, said: "Veníamos de dos años de récord del capital riesgo en España", apunta la directiva del ICF sobre este descenso. "Nosotros coinvertimos en los fondos, pero el sector del capital riesgo está ahora más a la espera y recibimos menos propuestas", explica Servera. "Se trata -añade- de una situación coyuntural de mercado: no sólo queremos seguir con esta actividad, sino ampliarla".
• CRB Inverbio announced a third fund for digital health projects in Spain and Europe. The fund target size is €40m
• El Español talked to several female investors and entrepreneurs to talk about what it is like to fundraise in Spain as a women CEO, what has improved in the past few years and what still needs to change
• Interview with Carlos Blanco (Nuclio, Encomenda ) about the current investing landscape

Startup news 💡

• Indexa Capital Group published its financials for the first half of 2023: revenues of €2.3m (+19% YoY) and net profit of €210k (+9% YoY). More details here. These results combine the activity of Indexa Capital, the roboadvisor, Bewater Funds, the investment vehicle, as well as its life insurance business in France. Indexa's roboadvisor business reached €1.7b in AUM (+27% YoY)
• Profile of Tuio, the Spanish insurtech specializing (for now) on home insurance. The company has more than 24,000 customers and €3.3m worth of annual policies. It recently acquired the portfolio of now defunct French insurtech Luko, and says that in the near future it plans to expand to life insurance, pet insurance and other products
• Jean-Christophe Taunay-Bucalo, up until now Travelperk's CRO, to become the company's COO. More info here
• Real estate crowdfunding platform Housers needs €1m before November 10th to be able to continue to operate in Europe
• Philips to team up with Valencia-based imaging biomarker specialist Quibim on AI-based imaging and reporting solutions for MR prostate exams. Also related to the startup, La Vanguardia talked to members of Telefonica/Wayra, Quibim and also Kfund about open innovation and how corporates and startups can work more and better together
• Cabify had sued Uber in Spanish courts due to claims of unfair competition, in the context of the agreement that Cabiy had with VTC fleet company Auro, which then went on to also work with Uber. A Spanish court has now ruled against Cabify, although the decision can be appealed in other courts
• El Referente put together a list of 15 relevant climate tech startups to follow
• What the city of Madrid is doing to become the "capital of videogames"

Big company news 🏦

• Inditex signed a three-year agreement to buy textile to textile recycled polyester from Los Angeles-based startup cycora for over €70m. More info here. Here's a longer analysis of the startup investments that Inditex has signed in the past few years, also in comparison to the activity of other fashion competitors such as H&M and others. Inditex also confirmed that it will launch its second-hand marketplace in Spain towards the end of this year
• According to Expansion, Telefonica is preparing a plan to cut as many as 5,000 employees in the next 3 years

El buen liderazgo es cuando se ejerce desde lo ético, lo racional y lo empático. El Instituto Tramontana ha creado el programa de Desarrollo Directivo y Liderazgo junto a Jaime Rodriguez de Santiago para que mejores tus habilidades directivas desde esa premisa. A Jaime puede que le conozcas por su podcast Kaizen, uno de los 50 más escuchados de España, o por su liderazgo en BlaBlaCar o FreeNow. Esta formación es bonificable por FUNDAE y empieza en enero.

Interesting reads 🤓

• Philippe Gelis, co-founder of Kantox (sold to BNP Paribas), wrote "Some thoughts on fundraisings and exits, beyond bull**it...": He writes: "As a founder, considering that the odds of success are very low and that founding start-ups is a very Darwinist process, there is another fundamental question that you should ask yourself in the context of your fundraising and exit strategy: do you prefer having a 1% chance of building a 100 million-dollar business or a 0.1% chance of building a 1 billion-dollar business?"
• Domenico Tulli, CTO and co-founder of quantum startup Quside, wrote "Startups in the semiconductor industry"
• Ignacio Arriaga, co-founder of Acumbamail, published "What is vendor lock-in?"
• Simon Muñoz, platform PM at Voicemod, published "Delivery is not enough"
• Victoriano Izquierdo, co-founder of Graphext, wrote "Los ingenieros 10x en la era de la IA"

Podcasts 🎧

• Life on Mars interviewed Franc Carreras to talk about async work, and also published an episode on "Riding out a crazy wave in the tech industry"
• Seedrocket interviewed Marc Momplet, co-founder of CBD company Hippy Collective
• Itnig interviewed Esteve Almirall, co-founder of proptech startup Node Living
• Product Hackers interviewed Adrián Heredia, founder and CEO of corporate venture builder Byld