zenital partners with startups and larger companies to streamline their data processes, offering tailored solutions like data warehouse implementation, process automation, and comprehensive data assessments.

Not only are they good at what they do, but they’re also very nice people. If you need help to navigate the data landscape, reach out to them!

Startup funding news 💸

• Malaga Hub put together a list of some of the rounds closed by Malaga-based startups last year, featuring RavenPack and others
• Expansion published a list of startups they believe are well positioned to become unicorns. I personally don’t like these rankings too much, but here’s the list anyway
• https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fac4a8b6c-e41e-4542-b582-2e12e89d4c3f_766x1254.png
• The Sociedad Española para la Transformación Tecnológica (SETT), known as ‘SEPI Digital’, has made its first direct investment in a Spanish startup by committing €4M to Wooptix, a Canary Islands-based company specializing in semiconductor metrology equipment. This investment is part of a funding round exceeding €10M, with the remaining capital contributed by international investors
• Galician digital services company RedeGal has raised €3.8M in a capital increase led by Axon Partners. The funds will support the company’s international expansion and its plans to go public
• Other rounds of funding:
• Orga AI

M&A activity 🎊

• Palma de Mallorca-based travel tech company HBX Group (formerly Hotelbeds) plans to go public in early 2025 with an estimated valuation of €5B. The IPO seeks to raise €750M–€1.25B, primarily to reduce debt. In FY 2023, HBX reported €656M in revenue (+51%) and €356M in EBITDA (+121%)
• HBX Group operates across three main business lines:
• Hotelbeds: The core “bed bank” business, offering bulk hotel room bookings at discounted rates to 50,000 travel agencies, 3,500 tour operators, 1,000 airlines, and online travel platforms.
• Bedsonline: A booking engine tailored for travel agents, simplifying hotel room distribution with over 40 years of industry presence.
• Roiback: A booking solution provider for the hotel industry, focusing on technology-driven reservation systems.
• HBX is majority owned by PE firms Cinven and EQT, as well as the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board.
• Banco Santander is advancing plans for the IPO of Ebury, its fintech subsidiary, in 2025. Santander acquired 50.01% of Ebury in 2020 for €400M, with the IPO expected on the London Stock Exchange. In 2023, Ebury processed £25B in transactions and reported £204M in revenue, with £25M in EBITDA

Investor & accelerator news 🚀

• Two new fund closings announced:
• Switzerland-based White Summit Capital raised €350M in the first close of its Decarbonisation Infrastructure Fund II (WDIF-II). WDIF-II plans 8–10 acquisitions focused on renewables integration, electric mobility, and industrial decarbonisation
• Cybersecurity Hyperion Fund, co-founded by former PP leader Pablo Casado and Ricardo Gómez-Acebo Botín, closed its fundraising at €150M, reaching its target. Key investors include Nortia Investment Holding and major defense companies
• Spanish investors active abroad:
• Invivo Partners led a €20M Series A round in Neumirna Therapeutics, a Danish biotech company developing RNA-based therapies. Columbus
• LifeX (Iñaki Berenguer) participated in the $4.9M round of US health startup Grove
• Elewit (Red Electrica) invested in US-based Splight, a company specializing in software solutions for electricity grid optimization
• Profile of María Echávarri, now at Fondo Bonda Social and previously at JME

Startup news 💡

• Antai Ventures has partnered with Jesús Rebollo (Just Eat, Uber, Jobandtalent, among others) to launch Balance, a digital clinic for obesity treatment offering holistic care. Balance leverages technology and GLP-1 drugs for long-term, multi-factorial care, challenging ineffective traditional solutions
• Holaluz employees have announced an indefinite strike starting January 14, 2025, in response to the company’s decision to end remote work and mandate full-time office presence
• Ángel Cano, former BBVA CEO, has launched Silbo Money, a fintech enabling payments through WhatsApp, after securing authorization from the Banco de España as an electronic money institution. Silbo raised €1.5M for its initial rollout
• Embat has expanded internationally its treasury management solutions to Germany and the UK, opening offices in these markets
• Playtomic has reduced its board of directors from seven to four members to streamline decision-making during its international expansion. Co-founder Pedro Clavería steps down but remains as CSO, focusing on long-term strategy
• German startup Trade Republic, one of Europe’s largest stock brokers, plans to secure a banking license in Spain by mid-2025. This will allow services like salary and bill management through local IBAN accounts, competing with traditional banks
• Startup profiles:
• Profile of Qamarero, founded by former basketball player Antonio Bustamante, a tech platform for the digitalization of bars and restaurants. With 1,200 clients, adding 160 new bars monthly
• Profile of Directo, a travel tech startup that helps users find cheaper hotel deals and vacation rentals without relying on platforms like Booking or Airbnb. Its Chrome extension highlights direct booking options. Founded by Pierre Becerril, Marina Guastavino, and Julián Toledo, Directo has 170,000 users across 180 countries
• Profile of Maite.ai, an AI startup that enhances legal productivity by using multiple language models (OpenAI, Anthropic, Llama) tailored for each case
• Other profiles:
• Localboss: software to help restaurants manage and analyze customer reviews from various platforms
• Maisa: an AI company that has developed a pioneering AI agent to make generative AI decision-making fully transparent. Its Knowledge Processing Unit (KPU) traces and documents every step in algorithmic reasoning, addressing “black box” concerns, especially in critical sectors like finance and healthcare
• Vitaance: flexible employee benefits

Big company news 🏦

• Profile of Jaime Rodríguez de Santiago, who recently joined Airbnb as head of Spain and Portugal
• BBVA and Bankinter have made online instant transfers free for all customers following new EU regulations mandating that instant transfer fees cannot exceed those for standard transfers. Devengo is a relevant player in the space. The startup offers an API and infra to help companies streamline account-to-account and instant payments

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Interesting reads 🤓

• Alvaro Higes, co-founder of AI startup Luzia, published “Will Scaling Laws Hold? 2025 and the Future of AI”
• Jose Ramon Perez Agüera (Mercadona Tech) published “El Lado B del Micromanagement: Cuando la Supervisión Cercana se Vuelve una Necesidad Estratégica”
• The Economist published “Spain shows Europe how to keep up with America’s economy. Reforms a decade ago are bearing fruit with high-tech success”
• Cristina Lara published “Telefónica, Blackberry y las Stock Options: Stock Options, opciones sobre acciones o ESOP.“
• Miguel Arias (Kfund) published “Off course and correct - Fight inefficiencies”
• Lluis Ingles published “Shaking things up: My key takeaways from a year at Stay”. Ingles is the CTO of the company