January begins with an accumulated amount of decreasing investments, 61.5 million Euro, if we compare it with January of 2017 and 2018, where investment amounted to €183.21M and €214.236M respectively. A much lower figure because unlike the previous two years, no large public round was closed in December. In 2018 it was Cabify that announced a round of €130M and a year earlier, in 2017, it was Letgo that announced a round of €147.5M.
This is worth analyzing and considering in the short term, since the decreases may indicate a decline in public investments in Spanish technology. But there is good news as two companies consolidate in Spain and start looking overseas. This is the case of Badi, the Catalan Startup has closed a round of €30M from foreign funds: Goodwater Capital, Target Global, Mangrove Capital and Spark Capital; and MrJeff. The Valencian company closed a round of just over €10M where the fund of the ex-founders of Ticketbis, All Iron Ventures entered. Also, worth noting are the rounds closed by Sherpa thanks to the support of Mundi Ventures and the round by the promising fintech Goin, which closes a new round this time led by the American fund Anthemis, with the constant support of K fund. A total of 17 public operations have been announced, with a large majority occurring in the seed and early stage phases.
INVESTMENT ROUNDS IN JANUARY
Badi: the long-term room rental and roommate search app closed a Series B round of 30 million dollars (26 million Euro)led by Goodwater Capital, the first investment of the US fund in a Spanish company after financing companies like Spotify, Twitter and Facebook. With this new round, badi raises its financing to 45 million dollars. Also, the operation included participation from Target Global (portfolio that features companies such as Delivery Hero and Blue Apron), along with Mangrove Capital and Spark Capital.
Mr Jeff: the Spanish startup raised 12 million dollars (10.4 million Euro) in a round of Series A financing, led by All Iron Ventures. The startup, created in 2016 by Eloi Gómez, Adrián Lorenzo and Rubén Muñoz, aims to consolidate existing markets, develop Mr Jeff’s business in new markets and grow the team by incorporating international talent.
Sherpa: the application built with advanced voice recognition technology, raised 7.5 million Euro in a Series B round through Mundi Ventures, a fund based in Madrid, London and Seattle, the Basque fund Orza, which channels the investments of pension funds Geroa and Elkarkidetza, and business angels such as Alex Cruz, chairman and CEO of British Airways.
Demium Startups: the startup incubator announced the first investment round of 2019 which amounts to €2.6M. The idea is that the company led by Jorge Dobón raise another million Euro in the coming weeks and can allocate a total of €3.6M to the creation of 140 companies in a period of two years. The round has been capitalized by institutional investors, family offices and Demium partners, who have contributed 60% of the capital increase. The rest of the investment has been from private investors.
Goin: the first mobile application that allows users to achieve their goals through automatic savings and simplified investment, has raised 2.5 milliondollars in just one year. The startup will allocate the funds raised to consolidating the project in Spain, as well as to growing the team by betting on talent and expanding the business.
Nanogap: the company from Compostela that was born in the University of Santiago and today is a benchmark of advanced materials and nanotechnology, welcomed Repsol into its shareholding. A closed financing round has allowed the Repsol technology VC to acquire 9% of Nanogap’s shareholding. Antonio Brufau’s oil company of has allocated a total of 1.8 million Euro to the operation. This amount means 100% of the startup is valued at about 20 million Euro and allows the company to apply nanotechnology in the energy sector.
MyPoppins: the startup closed a €1 millionA Series in which investors from the likes of Brainstorm Ventures, Grupo Girbau (leading industrial laundry company that welcomes the application of its model to B2C with MyPoppins) and prestigious investors participated of ESADE, IESE and the College of Economists of Barcelona, which already participated in the first round of the startup.
Pridatect: The company has closed a financing round of one million Eurothat was backed by Encomenda Smart Capital, ESADE BAN and renowned German investment companies. The startup offers the most comprehensive and versatile solution for generating and maintaining all documents and processes in compliance with the new GDPR legal framework for processing agencies, consulting firms, lawyers and data protection experts. The investment of more than 1 million Euro will be used to expand the business to countries such as Germany, where it already has a subsidiary, and the UK. Meanwhile, the company intends to continue consolidating itself in the Spanish market, where it is already the solution that is most comprehensive and best rated by users.
Capaball: Capaball was born in February 2018 with the aim of training the workers of the future by, improving their knowledge and skills in areas related to digital transformation. Since its establishment, Capaball has carried out two investment rounds and closed 2018 with €500,000 thanks to investment partners such as: Carlos Blanco, through the venture capital fund Encomenda Smart Capital; Kike Sarasola, President Chairman of Room Mate Hotels; Marieta del Rivero, former CEO of Nokia Iberia and President Chairwoman of International Women’s Forum (IWF), Maylis Chevalier, CEO of Ligatus of the Bertelsmann Group, Javier Gayoso, former CEO of Spotify Iberia and Joan Jordi Vallverdú, CEO of Omnicom.
FlyKube: the surprise trips startup closed its first investment round of €400,000, thanks to ENISA, the public fund that supports entrepreneurship and the fund from the Canary Islands Archipiélago Next and Bbooster Ventures. The company founded by Sergi Vila, Albert Cuartiella and Paolo Della Pepa will use the investment for the development of the technology and the launch of new products during 2019, with the aim of becoming the market leader in Europe this year.
Pibisi: the project born during the month of January has an initial investment of more than 150,000 Euro, backed by three business angels with a long and recognized track record, both in digital business and in the fintech sector.The main investors were François Derbaix, and Unai Ansejo, founders and Advisors of Indexa Capital, who have supported the project as clients, and Fernando Cabello-Astolfi, entrepreneur, co-founder and CEO of Aplázame (acquired by WiZink Bank in 2018, and in which François Derbaix was also an investor).
Prottech: the round of crowdfunding of the startup, managed through SociosInversores.com, aimed at a round of €50,000 and in the end, it was over-financed by 117%. Thus, Prottech has raised a total of €58,500 through 18 investors, who were able to benefit from 30% tax incentives for investing in startups.
Play&Go: Grefusa, a company specializing in the preparation of snacks, through its new investment vehicle Grefusa Ventures, entered the board of investors of Play & go experience, a Valencian company that helps organizations in their digital transformation processes through gamification. Grefusa’s participation in the Valencian startup is a result of the company’s commitment and strategy to support and promote business initiatives.
Ivnosys: Capzanine has taken a minority stake in Ivnosys, a developer of solutions for the management of digital certificates and electronic signature. In this way, the company will continue its growth with Sergio Ruiz and Jaime Castelló, founders of Ivnosys, leading the project in this new stage of consolidation of its national leadership and the beginning of its international expansion in Europe and Latin America.