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Startup funding news 💸

• Fitnech comapny Boopos secured a new credit line of up to $175 million from Fortress. The company connects business sellers with buyers and offers financing options. Boopos has seen success in its marketplace model and plans to expand internationally. Boopos is a Kfund portfolio company and has offices in Madrid and Miami
• Not exactly a startup, but including it here since tech VCs invested in the company: Kings League, promoted by Gerard Piqué and Ibai Llanos, raised €60 million in funding led by Left Lane Capital and Fillip, aiming to expand into Europe, America, and Asia by 2026. More info here. Interesting data points in this post from Left Lane: “Kings League’s official Twitch channel is the second most watched Spanish-language channel in the world, and on TikTok, it is the most watched football league globally with larger audiences than La Liga or the Premier League”
• Insurama, an insurtech company offering insurance for mobiles and other tech products, completed a Series A funding round, raising €8 million led by All Iron Ventures. The investment includes a cash injection of €5.5 million and the conversion of €2.5 million in convertible notes from current investors
• Tecfys, a startup focused on the circular consumption of electronics and appliances through subscriptions, announced a €6 million venture debt round. The financing was provided by Zubi Capital and Inveready. More info here
• Wenalyze has secured over €1 million in funding, led by Athos Capital. Wenalyze specializes in data analysis for the banking and insurance sectors
• Other rounds of funding:
• Inversiva: €750k, real estate investing
• Check: €624k, QR-based Order&Pay technology
• GrowersGo: €300k, self-learning

M&A activity 🎊

• Expansion believes that investment firm General Atlantic could be preparing a €3 billion offer for idealista. This price would reflect over 20 times Idealista's EBITDA, which ranges between €120 and €140 million. EQT bought a majority stake in idealista in 2020 for €1.3 billion
• Two new relevant articles about Magnific AI’s exit to Freepik: an interview with Freepik’s CMO and this profile of Javi Lopez and Emilio Nicolas, founders of Magnific
• The State Industrial Holdings Corporation (SEPI) has reached 9% of Telefónica's capital, getting closer to the Spanish government's objectives. SEPI continues with its acquisition of Telefónica shares, following the government's mandate to acquire up to 10% of the company's capital. The average price paid by the State for each Telefónica share is €4.0177, representing an investment of almost €2.059 billion
• Asertia, the parent company of the real estate appraiser Tinsa, acquired the big data real estate subsidiary, urbanData Analytics, from Alantra. Alantra acquired uDA in 2019 for €3 million
• French technology consulting firm Scalian acquired the Spanish company Dulin Technologies to strengthen its presence in cybersecurity. With this acquisition, Scalian plans to double its workforce in Spain this year and triple its global business volume by 2028. The company will also open an office in Barcelona and expects to increase its staff in Spain from 600 to 1000 employees
• German vacation rental booking company, Holidu, acquired Clubrural to consolidate its presence in Spain

Investor & accelerator news 🚀

• Columbus VP has successfully closed its 4th investment fund, totaling €150 million. This fund is specifically targeted at startups in the biotechnology sector. Cheque sizes range from €3 to €20 million
• Italian firm DeA Capital Alternative Funds launched the DeA Liquidity Solutions IV fund, with a target size of €75 million, to provide liquidity to private equity and venture capital investors. The fund will focus on purchasing positions in European private equity funds, with a special focus on Spain and Italy
• Archipélago Next Ventures, supported by top Canary Islands businesses like Grupo Dinosol and Binter, has transitioned from a self-managed venture fund to an officially registered investment manager. Their new fund aims to raise €20 million to invest in early-stage startups, doubling the size of its predecessor. More info here
• American asset manager AMG acquired 25% of Suma Capital, a Barcelona-based tech investment firm. This partnership strengthens Suma Capital and marks AMG's entry into the Spanish market

Startup news 💡

• Online sports retailer Tradeinn projects a record turnover of €600 million for 2024, driven by a 21% growth in the first four months of the year compared to the same period last year. CEO David Martín highlighted significant sales increases in specific sports categories and noted the strong international performance, with exports accounting for 82% of total sales. Tradeinn plans to expand further by inaugurating a new logistics warehouse in Germany in July to enhance its delivery capabilities in Europe
• There were a bunch of articles published last week on the travel sector and some specific companies:
• Mónica Casañas, former general director of Airbnb in Spain and Portugal, announced her departure from the company after five years in the position
• Destinia is expecting record revenues in 2024, surpassing €250 million. The travel company showed a 29% increase in sales in the first four months of 2024. Destinia has recently opened an office in Mexico City to expand its presence in America. The company has reduced its dependency on the Spanish market from 61% to 33% of its sales
• Travel platform Stayforlong experienced a 61% increase in gross sales in 2023, surpassing €230.2 million. They expect a 30% increase in 2024
• Expansion published an overview of the sector, which has good expectations for the remaining of the year
• Creditas, the Sao Paulo-based fintech startup launched by Spaniard Sergio Furio, A Creditas, a Brazilian fintech, achieved its first profit in the first quarter of 2024, reaching €250,000, compared to losses of $23 million in the same period the previous year
• Real estate investment platform Brickbro has closed transactions worth €30 million euros in the first quarter of 2024, 80% more than the previous year. The company has plans for expansion in France and other European countries in the next 24 months.
• More articles about Holaluz’s difficult situation. This one focuses on the mistakes that Holaluz made in the past few years that have led to the current situation. The article focuses too much on Carlota Pi, but I thought it was interesting in terms of analyzing what the company might have done wrong. It says that, first, in October 2022, Holaluz stopped marketing natural gas, resulting in a loss of 70,000 customers. Second, their focus on solar self-consumption proved financially unsustainable due to market changes. Lastly, without prior notice, Holaluz significantly raised its electric rates, which led to the loss of over 40,000 customers in one year
• Basque company Wavegarden, a company specializing in artificial wave installations, launched its seventh surf park in Sydney, Australia. This park is Wavegarden's second in Australia, following their first in Melbourne. Wavegarden was in the news a few years ago because Wework paid €12 million to acquire a 41% stake in the company. Years later, Wework had to sell its stake in Wavegarden
• Bit2Me has reorganized its cryptocurrency offerings to attract high net worth individuals and institutions. The new service, called Bit2Me Wealth, offers management of large volumes, customized cryptocurrency loans, and privileged staking opportunities
• Cabify carried out around 20 layoffs in Spain. Not exactly sure if this news, taking into account that Cabify has hundreds of employees, both in Spain and in other international locations

Big company news 🏦

• There’s been a lot of news in the data centre industry in the past few months. Two new relevant articles last week:
• Banco Santander is considering launching a new data center business entity in which it would have a controlling interest without diluting its stake in Merlin Properties. Santander aims to own 51% of the new entity, with Merlin controlling the remaining 49% and providing the land for the data centers
• Aragón wants to become a leading player in the data centre sector, with significant investments from tech giants like Amazon Web Services and Microsoft. These companies are setting up data centers in the region, contributing to a substantial economic boost and job creation. This initiative, supported by the regional government, leverages Aragón's vast land, renewable energy infrastructure, and strategic location to attract further tech investments
• Related to Aragon… Spain's new data center regulation, spearheaded by Minister José Luis Escrivá, may lead to disputes with Madrid due to a strategic shift towards distributing data centers based on renewable energy production. This approach favors regions like Aragón, which already excel in renewable energy, over Madrid, where the electricity network is strained
• The battle for control of travel in Europe between Ryanair and eDreams is intensifying, with accusations of fraudulent sales and misleading advertising. Ryanair has launched a unilateral offensive against Edreams, accusing it of being a "pirate agency" and calling for the illegalization of its Prime program. The Irish airline seeks to boost direct sales and reduce sales through third parties

Interesting reads 🤓

• Two presentations:
• Dani Latorre (Genially) published a presentation on “Desarrollo de producto en una scale-up”
• Philippe Gelis (Kantox) published “Managing talent, from hiring to coaching, 13 years of mistakes and learnings at Kantox“

Podcasts 🎧

• Itnig interviewed Ángel Alberich, co-founder of biotech company Quibim
• SeedRocket interviewed Javi de la Torre (Lean Finance): “11 consejos financieros que necesitas escuchar si tienes una startup”
• Product Hackers interviewed Jorge Moreno, CEO and co-founder of Twenix
• Historias de Crecimiento interviewed Oriol Iborra, co-founder of Nimble