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Startup funding news 💸

• Case on IT raised €3.5 million, in a round led by Inveready
• Proptech startup Housfy raised €700,000

Startup exits 🎊

• Telefonica has acquired several startups over the past few years: where are they now? El Español takes a look at the company’s M&A strategy

Investor & accelerator news 🚀

• Kippel01 interviewed Diego Soro, founder of Fundera, to talk about public fundraising opportunities for startups
• Ignacio Vilela (Startcaps Ventures, Workday) to manage EBN Banco’s VC fund
• Telefonica’s Wayra and Iberostar to launch a program aimed at tourism and travel startups
• Prisa has a new venture arm, Prisa Ventures
• Juan Luis Hortelano wrote about what to expect from him after Plug and Play Spain: ‘New phase, new challenges’
• Vozpopuli looked at business angel activity in Spain

Startup news 💡

• Enrique Dubois (formerly of Mola.com) to launch a real estate blockchain startup, as well a small fund to invest in blockchain technology companies alongside Eneko Knorr
• Marcos Alves, El Tenedor’s CEO, was interviewed twice this week. Here on Kippel01 and here on El Confidencial
• Pompeii: the €50 shoe brand that’s taking the Spanish market by storm
• Expansion interviewed serial entrepreneur Diego Ballesteros (Sin Delantal Spain & Mexico, Miora)
• Last mile delivery company Stuart, which was recently acquired by LePoste (Correos), says it’s growing at a 7-10% monthly rate. The company has announced a managing director in Spain
• Vetos, exclusivity and sanctions: this his how Cabify and Uber’s contracts in Spain work. Uber was also in the news this week, because it announced a new €15 fee to drive you to the airport, instead of the traditional €30 charged by taxis
• Shoe manufacturer Muroexe has opened its first retail store, in Madrid
• Zero Latency, an Asturias-based company that operates virtual reality spaces, is expanding to Portugal
• Tiendeo to open an office in Chile where it expects to reach €500,000 in sales in 2018
• There’s a new development agency in Spain focused on chatbots, Chatbot Chocolate
• Paris-based payroll management startup PayFit raised $15 million and plans to launch in Spain this year

Big company news 🏢

• Ericsson and Nokia have won a €400 million contract from Movistar to change its mobile network infrastructure
• Spanish logistics companies are up in arms, accusing Amazon of driving down prices
• Car2go’s first fiscal year in Spain: loss of €1.4 million and €6 million spent in buying cars
• Carrefour to open its first innovation center in Spain in Madrid
• Kippel01 looked at some of the larger changes that have taken place at some of Spain’s top tech companies and subsidiaries in the first half of 2017
• Santander, BBVA and Caixa Bank account for 80% of Spain’s digital banking clients
• eDreams’ bet on the Japanese market continues
• Orange pushes forward with Orange Bank: it will open a subsidiary in Spain
• Kippel01 interviewed Jesus Rebollo, Just Eat’s country manager in Spain

Tech and policy 💂🏼

• The Spanish government passed a new ‘Canon Digital’ scheme
• Hacienda says that platforms such as Airbnb must identify hosts on its platform
• Spain’s regulator CNMV is moving forward with plans to launch a 'test bank’ to make it easier for fintech startups to test their products
• Aleix Valls to leave his role as managing director of Mobile World Capital

Interesting reads 🤓

• Rime developer talks about Spain’s struggle to grow in videogames
• Fantastic piece about the story of Terra and the first steps of the Internet in Spain in the 90s
• From Wallapop to Hawkers: what the brick and mortar sector has learned from the online world
• Ecommerce sales increased by more than 20% in 2016, reaching €24 billion
• Jaime Rodriguez de Santiago (BlaBlaCar’s country manager in Spain): ‘Mobility needs to be bold’. Jaime was also interviewed on El Pais this week
• How traditional Spanish furniture companies plan to compete against Amazon and big chains
• The Spanish NASA engineer that could make air control people obsolete
• Why not to set up a tech center in Barcelona
• The startup ecosystem in Barcelona
• Luis Cuende (Aragon Project): “I don’t know any good Ethereum developer that isn’t a millionaire — There’s a gold rush among developers to learn the coding language of money”
• Jordi Romero (Factorial): 'The five SaaS tools our SaaS startup can’t live without (+ full list)’

Podcasts of the week 🎧

• MasQueStartups interviewed Javier Escribano, VP of Product at OnTruck