Ballou has landed in Spain! With 20+ years of experience, this pan-European PR agency helps startups and VCs build their brand, boost awareness, and manage reputations. Whether you’re raising a round, scaling across Europe, or handling a crisis, Ballou makes sure the right people are talking about you. ✨ Why Ballou?

If you’re a startup or VC looking to make waves, Ballou is your PR powerhouse. If you want an intro with the team, let me know and I’ll put you in touch.

Startup funding news 💸

• Sateliot, the Barcelona-based satellite startup focused on IoT connectivity, raised €70M to accelerate the deployment of its 5G-IoT constellation. The funding includes €36M from the Spanish government’s PERTE program and €34M in private investment. Sateliot aims to create a “Spanish Starlink for IoT,” enabling direct device-to-satellite connections for sectors like agriculture and logistics
• Neobank MyInvestor, backed by Andbank, El Corte Inglés and AXA, raised €30M through AT1 bonds. The move strengthens its capital base as it continues growing deposit volumes, now over €3.5B. With €6.5M net profit in 2024. More info here
• Deudafix, Madrid-based startup specialized in debt mediation under Spain’s Second Chance Law, secured €25M in funding from BBVA Spark
• Gaiarooms, the Salamanca-based digital hospitality chain, closed a €10M+ funding round led by Bonsai Partners. The company plans to manage 4,000 rooms by 2028 and expand across Spanish and international cities
• Rounds less than €500k:
• Barcelona-based Web2Wave, a web-to-app monetization platform helping developers bypass app store fees and keep control of their audience, secured €330k in pre-seed funding
• Supercubo, a Seville-based startup modernizing fitness training through its interactive punching bag and content platform, raised €147k

M&A activity 🎊

• Ebury Partners, the cross-border payments fintech, is reconsidering its planned IPO in London due to market volatility. Backed by Banco Santander, the company had targeted a £2.5B (€3B) valuation, but may postpone the listing originally expected for May–June
• US-based Buxton acquired Audiense, the Spanish consumer intelligence startup known for its social data insights, to expand its global analytics and segmentation capabilities. More here from Audiense co-founder Alfredo Artiles
• US startup Nash acquired Kosmo, a Spanish last-mile delivery platform. The move boosts Nash’s logistics and courier network across Europe and Latin America. Founder JJ Velaz wrote about it here. Kosmo was a Kfund portfolio co.
• Teknei, the Bilbao-based IT firm originally founded in Mexico, plans to continue its M&A strategy in 2025 with a focus on the U.S. market, particularly in cybersecurity, cloud, and AI. After entering the U.S. last year by acquiring Florida-based Key Technical, it has now integrated Madrid’s CTI Soluciones, which handles 15% of Spain’s payment traffic. Teknei aims to reach €150M in revenue this year

Investor & accelerator news 🚀

• Kibo Ventures launched a new deeptech-focused VC fund aimed at Spanish software startups working on AI, robotics, cybersecurity, and advanced engineering. Target size of the fund is €150M. The fund will primarily target late-seed and Series A rounds with initial investments of €2M–€8M and reserves 50% of its capital for follow-ons
• UK firm Oakley Capital closed Fund VI at €4.5B, its largest to date. The fund will invest in European founder-led companies valued between €100M–€1B. Spain remains a strategic market, where Oakley has backed firms like Idealista, Seedtag, and vLex
• CriteriaCaixa appointed Jordi Ros as the new CEO of Caixa Capital Risc
• Spanish investors active abroad:
• Acurio participated in the €5M round of Berlin-based startup ai|coustics
• Axon and Santander InnoEnergy Fund invested participated in the €10M round of Novatron Fusion, a Stockholm, Sweden-based nuclear fusion company
• Asabys participated in the €76M round of Belgian biotech Augustine Therapeutics
• Mouro Capital (formerly Santander InnoVentures) led a £5M round in British payments startup Burbank

Startup news 💡

• New startups, products and personnel news:
• ツSupercut, the new screen recording startup launched by Daniel Okuniev (also founder of Typeform), came out of beta and launched on Product Hunt
• A list of the 6 startups co-founded by Spaniards that participated in Y Combinator’s most recent batch
• Fintonic appointed Armando Baquero—former CEO of Santander Insurance Holding—as its new CEO, aiming to reach break-even in 2025
• Crescenta launched its fifth fund, Private Equity Buyouts Top Performers II, targeting €100M to invest in global private equity funds
• Startup financials:
• Indexa Capital closed 2024 with €3.03B in assets under management (+51%) and surpassed 100,000 clients. The company posted €6.6M in revenue and €760k in profit, mostly from its core advisory business. The company is exploring strategic acquisitions across Europe
• Mundicars, the used car platform founded in 2021, reported €9M in revenue in 2024 and expects to reach €15M this year
• Nunsys, the Spanish IT services firm, reached nearly €260M in revenue and EBITDA of almost €18M in 2024 and improved its profitability by 28%, despite not making any acquisitions during the year
• Startup profiles and market overviews:
• Matteco, a Valencia-based startup co-founded by Iker Marcaide and Gonzalo Abellán that spun out of the Institute of Chemical Technology (ITQ), is developing innovative catalysts that reduce the cost and energy demand of green hydrogen production
• Flanks, the Barcelona-based wealthtech startup that uses AI to help financial advisors and brokers analyze and interpret portfolio data from multiple banks
• Several Spanish startups are innovating in the growing silver economy, targeting the needs of an aging but increasingly active population. Qida offers personalized in-home senior care, Jubenial provides equity release solutions, Maximiliana simplifies smartphones for older users, Domma supports women through menopause with tech and coaching, and Envita uses digital tools to integrate personal histories into elderly care
• Spain’s spacetech ecosystem is thriving, with startups like Arkadia Space, PLD Space, Pangea Aerospace, Sateliot, and Aistech leading advances in reusable rockets, green propulsion, satellite IoT, and Earth observation
• Other news:
• Dersu, the Spanish mountaineering-focused startup, is shutting down after failing to secure financing
• Foreign startups active in Spain:
• Revolut launched its first payroll account in Spain, offering a 2.25% interest rate to attract salaried customers and challenge traditional banks

Big company news 🏦

• This is terrible. LaLiga and major Spanish telecoms have won a final court ruling against Cloudflare, requiring the CDN provider to block access to illegal football streaming sites
• eDreams ODIGEO shares fell over 10% after its main investor, Permira, sold 4.6M shares—about 4.1% of the company—for €29.5M

Interesting reads 🤓

• Endeavor published “Founder Pathways in Spain”, a study analyzing the backgrounds of the founders behind Spain’s 100 largest startups. Key findings: 94% have university degrees, 60% studied at public universities, and 44% are serial entrepreneurs. The trend shows a shift from consultants to engineers, and growing international experience before launching ventures
• Interesting tweet from Javi Lopez (Magnific, Freepik): “La nueva release de ChatGPT es un pasito más en la dirección que llevo un par de años "evangelizando": la idea de que nos encaminamos hacia un mundo en el que podremos crear cualquier cosa utilizando mero lenguaje natural y gestos. CUALQUIER cosa”
• Rafael Casuso, CEO of CalliopeStartup, published “La inevitable caída del Ingeniero de Software”
• Manfred, inspired by a thread from Xoel Lopez (TheirStack), published “Qué preguntas debes hacer en una entrevista”
• Long interview with Cristina Carrascosa, CEO of legal boutique ATH21. She says Spain is well-positioned in crypto thanks to MiCa and the CNMV’s proactive stance. She views bitcoin as a form of digital civil disobedience and a hedge against inflation, but not as anti-state
• Javi Santana, co-founder of Tinybird, shared on Twitter how he spun off 15% of the team into a small, autonomous unit—completely separate from the main product org—and focused entirely on it himself. The goal: move fast, make bold decisions without endless debate, and prioritize team chemistry over perfect ideas. In just 3 months, they shipped a new product iteration. While it created some internal “chaos,” he sees it as necessary to avoid corporate stagnation