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Wallapop €600M price? Theker raised $21M. CoverManager exit.

July 21, 2025 • Issue #476

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Startup funding news 💸

  • Theker, a Barcelona-based robotics startup, has raised $21M. The round was led by Kibo Ventures with participation from Kfund, Inditex (Mundi) and previous investors. We wrote about the investment here. What sets Theker apart from competitors is its proprietary system that allows robots to adapt on the fly to dynamic industrial environments—without the need for reprogramming. Co-founders Jia and Carla appeared on the itnig podcast to talk about the round (starts at 43:30)
  • Murphy, a Barcelona-based startup, has raised €12.8M in pre-seed and seed funding to go after the debt servicing industry using fully autonomous AI agents. The round was led by Northzone, with backing from Lakestar, ElevenLabs, Seedcamp, and Enzo Ventures
  • HaloTech closed a €10M funding round at a €100M pre-money valuation. The industrial safety startup, founded by Manu Marín (ex-COO of Wallbox), develops AI and IoT-based workplace safety solutions
  • Internxt, the Valencia-based cloud storage startup, has added Prosegur and Andorra Telecom as new shareholders. The two companies participated in a recent €3M round
  • QualiBooth, a Barcelona-based startup specializing in digital accessibility, has raised €2M to accelerate its expansion across Europe. The round comes as new EU regulations on digital accessibility take effect
  • Pack2Earth closed a €1.6M funding round led by Swanlaab Venture Factory. Pack2Earth develops robust, bio-based materials that are compostable at room temperature, targeting plastic alternatives
  • Other rounds of funding:
  • Bioherent has closed a new funding round led by Axon Partners, with participation from existing investors Bullnet Capital and CDTI Innvierte. The biotech startup focuses on developing analytical tools for biopharmaceuticals

M&A activity 🎊

  • According to El Pais, Naver, the South Korean tech giant, has made a €600M offe r to acquire Wallapop, initiating exclusive negotiations for the Spanish secondhand marketplace. The bid, though below its 2023 valuation of €771M, has gained support from major shareholders like Accel and Insight. Naver, already indirectly invested in Wallapop via Korelya Capital, aims to expand Wallapop’s growth while maintaining its Barcelona HQ
  • CoverManager, the Spanish restaurant reservation software, has been acquired by U.S.-based PSG Equity, which will merge it with France’s Zenchef to create a European market leader. The combined group will manage 36,000 restaurants in 20+ countries, including 800 Michelin-starred venues. Terms of the deal were not discussed. CoverManager grew fully bootstrapped to more than €10M in ARR, before it received investment from GP Bullhound in 2022. CoverManager co-founder Carlos Perez wrote about the deal here
  • Namencis Education, a Spanish group of online business schools, has been acquired for approximately €23M by investors José Elías (Audax Renovables, La Sirena) and Yaiza Canosa (founder of GOI)
  • Keldai, a Galician startup focused on AI-driven image solutions, has acquired PhotoILike, a tool specialized in selecting the best photos using AI

Investor & accelerator news 🚀

  • After the success of their 1st fund, Max Ventures is launching Seed Two, raising €10M to co-invest in the best European startups being assessed by Pynn AI and published on AngelHive. Interested in investing? Book a call with David Franzen, Venture Partner here.
  • The Spanish government, through the SETT, has committed €20M to Armilar’s new fund, a fund focused on early-stage startups and scaleups in AI, software, medtech, and connectivity
  • In an article titled “The substackification of VC ”, Sifted highlights the case of Rubén Domínguez Ibar, a young Spaniard who started as an intern at Mundi Ventures. His newsletter, The VC Corner, now boasts over 87k subscribers — thousands of them paying — and serves not only as a media brand but also a dealflow engine and funding source. Rubén uses the income to pay freelancers and invest in startups
  • Clave Capital has exited its stake in AbanzaMed, a Basque medtech firm focused on regenerative solutions for musculoskeletal tissues. The investment, made in 2019 through its Bio & Tech Smart Capital fund, has generated a 3.2x return and a 31% IRR.
  • Spanish funds active abroad:
  • Yellow participated in the €4M seed round of Danish AI recruitment startup Kiku. More here

Startup news 💡

New startups and products

  • Mozart AI, a music creation platform built by and for musicians, launched its public beta after raising a pre-seed round recently. Developed in just six weeks, the tool enables creators to co-produce tracks using natural language prompts. Mozart is co-founded by Spaniard Pascual Merita
  • Indexa Capital has launched a new interest-bearing savings accoun t in partnership with A&G Banco, offering a variable rate tied to the ECB deposit rate minus 0.50%—currently yielding 1.50% TAE

Startup financials

  • RevenueCat, co-founded by Spaniard Miguel Carranza, turned down a $500M acquisition offer, opting to stay independent amid strong growth. The US-based mobile subscription infrastructure startup surpassed $28M in ARR last year, and expects to reach $50M in 2025. To mitigate M&A pressure, its last $50M Series C round included a secondary transaction of $20M
  • PLD Space has invested €50M between 2024 and mid-2025 to strengthen the supply chain for its Miura 5 launcher, set to debut in early 2026. The Elche-based company aims to produce 32 Miura 5 units annually by 2030 and is already preparing for Miura Next, a larger launcher with 13-ton capacity

Other news

  • Scopely has reaffirmed its commitment to Barcelona as a key hub in its global strategy, where it currently employs 500 people and plans further investment. In a recent interview, co-CEO Javier Ferreira revealed the company is developing a new “powerful, ambitious, and interesting” game from its Barcelona studio. The city is now Scopely’s second-largest global office, behind LA
  • Freepik has removed credit limits for AI image generation in its Premium+ and Pro plans, becoming one of the first major design platforms to do so. The Malaga-based company expects a manageable 25% cost increase—thanks to improved GPU deals—and aims to boost user retention and long-term subscription growth, even at the expense of short-term revenue
  • Barkibu, the digital-first pet insurer, has surpassed 100,000 active pet health policies, doubling from 50,000 in just 12 months—a sign of accelerating growth. Now operating in seven countries, including newly launched Greece and Finland
  • Quibim, the Valencia-based medtech startup, has secured a €3M contract with the UK’s NHS to deploy its AI tool QP-Prostate across seven hospitals. The project will support early detection of prostate cancer in 3,000 patients
  • Tucuvi has become the first medical voice-based AI to receive Class IIb medical device certification in Europe. The Spanish startup’s technology enables automated, clinically validated phone follow-ups with patients
  • Is Barcelona becoming the EU’s neobank capital? BCN Fintech argues that Barcelona is fast emerging as a neobank hotspot in the EU. Foreign companies such as N26, Qonto, Revolut, and now Monzo have all set up key hubs in the city

Big company news 🏦

  • Ibex 35 & startups: more investment, but still few acquisitions. Spain’s top-listed companies are increasing their exposure to startups, mostly by backing VC funds like Leadwind (Telefónica), Andromeda (Iberdrola), or the new Inditex–Mundi Ventures fund. Some, like Repsol, Redeia, and Enagás, have launched or backed vertical-specific vehicles. Others—like Telefónica, Amadeus, and BBVA—also invest directly. But when it comes to M&A, activity remains limited. Amadeus, Santander, Telefónica, and Indra are rare exceptions, while most Ibex firms remain cautious, even as VC-backed exits dry up. Source (Ecotechers).
  • Spain’s CNMV is set to approve mass-market crypto sales before the end of July, allowing major banks to offer bitcoin and ethereum trading to their customers. BBVA already does, while CaixaBank, Kutxabank, and Unicaja are expected to follow, using white-label infrastructure provided by Cecabank and powered by Spanish crypto firm Bit2Me
  • Amazon’s renewable energy pilot in Catalonia faces political uncertainty. Amazon is developing a pioneering wind-powered logistics hub in Girona, its first globally. But the withdrawal of Catalonia’s renewables decree has created regulatory uncertainty

Interesting reads 🤓

  • David Bonilla (Petalo) wrote “La Ley de Doncic“
  • Jordi Noguera (JME) wrote “Rauda, el caso InPost, mercado y otras novedades | H1 2025”

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