Spanish startup and tech ecosystem.

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Startup funding news 💸

• NYC-based insurtech startup Coverwallet announced a $18.5 million round led by Foundation Capital. Kibo Ventures also participated in the deal. The company has an office in Madrid with 20 (mostly technical) employees
• Money saving app Saveboost raised €150,000 from PaoCapital
• Concert platform Acqustic raised €100,000 from business angels

Investor & accelerator news 🚀

• Interesting interview with Francisco Marin Perez, director of CDTI, where he shares relevant numbers about the performance of CDTI
• Interview with K Fund’s Pablo Venture about the crypto market and the potential of ICOs
• What is ‘La Locomotora’? Walter Kobylanski explains his latest venture
• Impact Connected Car has €2.1 million in fresh money to hand out to startups. And it’s equity free
• What can crowdfunding do for the videogame industry?
• Impulsa Vision, the startup accelerator program associated to RTVE, is looking for startups for its 3rd batch
• Companies that buy VTC licenses continue to drive capital from investors. First it was Kibo Ventures or Bernardo Hernandez (e.ventures). Now it’s Zaryn Dentzel (Tuenti), Félix Ruiz (Jobandtalent) or Hugo Arévalo (Hawkers)

Startup news 💡

• Carto’s co-founder Sergio Alvarez Leiva has left the company. El Español has the story
• Xataka profiled Malaga-based Freepik. Bootstrapped, €7.7 million in revenue in 2016, €4.2 million profit, 70 employees. Expects €15 million revenue in 2017
• According to El Confidencial, apartment aggregator and metasearch Hundredrooms is going through tough times and has had to lay off staff
• Wallapop has postponed its plans to expand internationally, will continue instead to focus in the Spanish market and in the platform’s monetisation strategy
• Cabify’s subsidiary that controls the company’s VTC licenses posted revenues of €11 million in 2016
• German fintech startup N26 wants to reach more than 1 million customers in Spain by 2019
• Startup profile(s): Linknovate (scientific research)

Big (local) company news 🏢

• After rumours that Mobile World Congress could move as a result of political instability in Catalunya, GSMA came out to confirm that the 2018 edition will indeed take place in Barcelona. After that, it seems like a question mark
• eDreams, Cellnex or Lleida.net, among others, have moved its fiscal domicile outside of Cataluña
• EVO Banco and Uber have a signed a partnership. Clients of the former will be able to hail cars directly from their banking app
• BBVA says that more than 40% of its clients mostly operate with the bank through its banking app
• The Economist wrote a profile of BBVA: ’BBVA, a Spanish bank, reinvents itself as a digital business’

Big (foreign) company news 🏦

• WeWork and Spaces plan to open several coworking spaces in Madrid and Barcelona in the next few months. Is the market big enough?
• Tesla has poached Desigual’s head of sales for southern Europe to lead its car delivery operations in the region
• HBO posted €563,000 in revenue in 2016 and a profit of €59,000

Tech and policy 💂🏼

• El Confidencial argues that Cataluña’s instability and potential independence could harm the local startup ecosystem

Interesting reads 🤓

• El Confidencial talked to several Spanish entrepreneurs and freelancers that have adopted Estonian e-residency
• Justo Hidalgo (24symbols): ’A successful partnership between a startup and academia - a case on data science’
• How Valencia is trying to build a strong tech ecosystem

Podcasts of the week 🎧

• Video interview with Nacho Gonzalez Barros, co-founder of Mailtrack