The Startup Academy has just launched the 10th edition of Startup Finance, an online course designed to help you master funding strategies, craft investor-ready reports, and gain the financial insights you need to make smarter decisions for your startup.

To celebrate, they are giving away one spot completely free to the first person to complete the registration.

But don’t worry, if you miss the free spot you can still get 15% off this week by saying you come from Dealflow's newsletter.

Course begins next February, make sure you get a spot!

Startup funding news 💸

• Barcelona-based Hemav Technology, an agritech company, raised €8M in a round led by Dutch funds Future Food Fund and Pure Terra. Hemav’s SaaS platform, Layers, uses AI to optimize crop yields, reduce input costs, and enhance resource efficiency
• Madrid-based Jotelulu, a cloud services platform for SMEs, has raised €6.8M in a round led by Kibo Ventures. The funding will support its expansion across Europe and entry into Latin America. Jotelulu collaborates with over 1,000 IT partners in Spain, Portugal, and France, offering SMEs tailored cloud solutions that compete with giants like AWS and Microsoft Azure.
• Madrid-based Corify Care secured €6M to advance its ACORYS system, a non-invasive tool for cardiac arrhythmia diagnosis. The round includes a €3M grant and €3M in equity funding led by Clave-Mondragón
• Madrid-based Dcycle, which provides ESG management software, secured €6M in a round led by Samaipata. More info here
• Navarre-based company Beeplanet Factory, specializing in energy storage using electric vehicle batteries, has raised €5M. New investors Santander Climate Fund and Easo Ventures joined existing backers like Suma Capital
• Madrid-based Captoplastic, a spin-off from the Autonomous University of Madrid, secured a €3M investment to enhance its technology for detecting and removing microplastics from water
• Barcelona-based Tesai Care, a spin-off from the Parc Taulí Research and Innovation Institute and Vall d’Hebron Research Institute, raised €2.77M. The investment will advance clinical trials for heecap, a device aimed at preventing respiratory muscle atrophy in ICU patients

M&A activity 🎊

• US-based fund Ampersand has acquired a 52% stake in Gipuzkoa’s biotech company Vivebiotech for €40M, replacing Inveready as a shareholder. The Basque Government, also a shareholder, has reserved veto rights over any relocation of the company’s headquarters and ensured that future expansions occur within the region. Specialized in lentiviral vectors, Vivebiotech plans to invest €25M in cell and gene therapy development with Ampersand’s support
• Tradeinn, the Spanish online sports equipment retailer, has declined Decathlon’s offer to acquire the 30% stake held by Suma Capital. CEO David Martín, who owns 70% of Tradeinn, confirmed that the deal is no longer under consideration. The company is now exploring other investment opportunities with similar funds. Founded in 2008 and based in Celrà (Girona), Tradeinn anticipates closing this fiscal year with a revenue of €580M, +15% YoY
• Cinven has finalized the acquisition of Idealista for €2.93B, slightly above the previously agreed price of €2.9B, reflecting the company’s recent operational performance. Cinven now holds a 70% stake, with EQT retaining 18%, and the management team owning the remainder
• Carlos and Mario Brüggemann, co-founders of Acierto.com, have reached an agreement to reacquire the insurance comparison platform from Bauer Media, to whom they sold it four years ago

Investor & accelerator news 🚀

• Patricio Hunt, founder of Intelectium, and investor Urs Rothmayr have launched ALX Firstech Ventures, a European venture capital fund targeting €20M
• Kira Ventures partnered with Kfund to launch K Green Tech Ventures, a VC fund focused on ecological transition. The fund, pending CNMV approval, aims to invest in renewable energy and sustainable technologies
• Spanish investors active abroad:
• At Kfund we announced that we recently led a $13.5M round in Mexican health and insurance company Sofia Salud. This is our first investment in Mexico and our third in LatAm in the last 12 months. We wrote about the deal here
• Axon announced investments in Swedish energy company Powercell, as well as in French AI startup LightOn
• Mouro Capital, backed by Santander, announced that it has led a $9M round in Chilean debt collection company Colektia
• Luis Llorens (Plug and Play Tech Center) published data on European VC salaries, broken down by country. Useful for people in -or wanting to join- the industry

Startup news 💡

• Profile of Teldat, a Spanish company specializing in router manufacturing that produces high-value-added products domestically. Over half of its 300 employees work in R&D, focusing on innovative designs and tailored solutions for clients like Telefónica and BBVA. The company reported €60M in revenue for 2024
• Bit2Me has launched Bit2Me Loan, a service offering instant loans of up to €1M using digital assets as collateral. The platform allows users to secure liquidity without selling their cryptocurrency holdings. More info here. Interest rates start at 17% annually for euros (15% for dollars), with reductions available through its loyalty program
• Finizens achieved profitability after 7 years. The roboadvisor said that it has attained positive cash flow ahead of schedule, reporting over €475M in assets under management and projecting to close the year near €500M
• In the mobility sector:
• Oscar Pierre, CEO of Glovo, said that the company recently delivered its 1 billion order. In “El ‘delivery’ afronta con incertidumbre el cambio de modelo laboral de Glovo”, La Vanguardia writes about the uncertainty the delivery sector faces as Glovo shifts its labor model, employing its 15,000 riders in compliance with Spain’s Rider Law. Also, attention has turned to Uber Eats, which operates a hybrid model using both employed and self-employed riders. Uber Eats claims compliance with Spain’s Rider Law, allowing freelancers to set their own rates and reject orders
• Daniel Georges, Bolt’s General Manager for Spain, talked in an interview about regulatory hurdles as the main challenge for the VTC, micromobility, and delivery sectors in Spain. Bolt said it plans to invest €100M locally over three years. Georges advocates for increasing VTC licenses
• On the topic of VTC licenses… Auro has won a significant legal battle against Cabify after Spain’s Constitutional Court ruled in its favor, freeing Auro from its exclusivity agreement with Cabify. This decision allows Auro to partner with competitors Uber or Bolt and gives it control over 1,100 VTC licenses valued at approximately €110M
• New chapter in the Odilo turmoil. Rodrigo Rodríguez, founder of Odilo, wants the investors —Bregal Milestone, Active Venture Partners, and Swanlaab Venture Factory— to sell their shares back to him at their nominal value. He accuses them of breaching the shareholder agreement by undermining his leadership, blocking board participation, and making unauthorized strategic decisions. In October, Rodríguez was removed from his role as CEO following investor-driven allegations of accounting fraud and tax issues
• Forbes published a profile of Maisa, the AI startup that recently unveiled Vinci KPU, “the latest evolution of our AI Operating System, built to tackle multi-action resolutions”
• Voicemod introduced ‘Key’, a hardware device that alters users’ voices in real-time. Compatible with gaming consoles like Xbox, PS5, and Switch, as well as PCs
• Tuyo, a self-custodial banking alternative launched by Jorge Izquierdo, came out of beta and is now available on the app store
• Numu, a Spanish-Australian startup founded in 2019, has rebranded as Lua Group to focus on consolidating the fragmented influencer marketing sector. It has acquired two agencies, Target34 and Bite, and plans further acquisitions to streamline processes and reduce intermediaries

Big company news 🏦

• Inditex published its latest earnings report last week. Also, the company announced its 4th investment in the sustainability startup sector, backing Epoc Biodesign, a startup specializing in developing new materials through biotechnological processes
• Indra has received lower-than-expected offers for its profitable Payments division. Cinven’s bid fell from €650M to just over €500M, citing a deeper financial review, while Evertec’s proposal raised concerns about potential staff cuts. Indra’s board, meeting later this month, may reject these offers if they remain below €600M
• Banco Santander has appointed Nitin Prabhu, a former PayPal executive, as the new head of its Digital Consumer Bank (DCB). Prabhu will oversee Santander’s consumer financing and Openbank, its digital banking arm
• Epic Games is teaming up with Telefónica and Samsung to preinstall its Epic Games Store app on select devices across Europe and Latin America starting in 2025
• The Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC) has been chosen as one of the seven European “AI factories” under the EU’s Horizon Europe program. With a €500M budget, the initiative aims to develop large-scale generative AI models. The BSC will focus on creating AI models tailored to European languages and cultures, with applications across healthcare, climate science, and more

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Interesting reads 🤓

• Mauricio Prieto, co-founder of travel tech company eDreams, published a long an in-depth post about the history of the company: “From Zero to IPO: Building eDreams Before the Playbooks”
• Ignacio Arriaga (formerly of Acumbamail) published “24 Acciones de marketing baratas, rápidas y que te van a generar beneficios a lo largo del tiempo.”
• Manfred published a post on “How AI is Reshaping Recruiting”
• Luis Garicano, the politician and former member of Ciudadanos, published “Is GDPR undermining innovation in Europe?”