September set a new record for investment in the Spanish startup ecosystem, the month ending with €316M invested in startups, bringing the cumulative annual figure for 2021 to €3,002M, a figure that triples the cumulative figure obtained in the last two years (2020 and 2019), which ended with €985.75M and €999.08M invested in Spanish technology companies. It will also soon triple the record year in terms of investment (2018), which closed with a cumulative €1,106.17m, a new record for the Spanish startup sector.
September ended with a total of 36 public operations, achieving a monthly cumulative of €312.72M, the third best month of the year in number of operations after July (47) and April (36) and fifth best month in terms of cumulative capital. The most important rounds of the month were Copado, which closed a new investment round, this time for €120 million, and the Factorial round, which managed to raise €67 million, stand out. Other significant rounds were also closed by startups such as Seedtag (€34m), Bit2me (€17.5m), Genially (€17m) and Housfy (€10m).
With regard to the cumulative figures by sector and Autonomous Community, the picture changes little. The fintech sector is the sector with the most deals in 2021 (32), followed by the Health sector (26) and the Biotech and Mobility sectors (17). By Autonomous Community, Catalonia leads the ranking with 103 deals and the cumulative annual amount (€1,464.70), followed by Madrid with 82 deals and €1,301.78m. In third place is Valencia with 30 deals and a cumulative €65.87m invested in startups.
Copado: DevOps development operations platform Copado has raised €120m in a Series C funding round. This was led by Insight Partners, with the collaboration of new investors such as SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Declaration Partners and DG Ventures, among other existing investors.
Factorial: the Spanish HR startup has closed a €67 million Series B investment round led by investment fund Tiger Global. Previous investors CRV, Creandum, Point Nine Capital, Columbia Lake Partners and K Fund have also participated, bringing the funding figure to around €85 million. The technology company will use the funds for its expansion plan in Spain and international markets.
Seedtag: the leading contextual advertising company has raised €34 million in a Series B funding round led by Oakley Capital, with participation from Adara Ventures and All Iron Ventures. This follows on from the Series A round the company closed in 2017.
Bit2Me: the Spanish company that offers technological financial services based on cryptocurrencies closed the third phase of its ICO (Initial Coin Offering) in 38 seconds, which means a total of €17.5 million in less than three minutes between the three phases of public sale that took place throughout the month of September.
Genially: the technological platform for the creation of interactive content has closed a funding round of €17 million. This Series B was led by US funds Owl Ventures and 645 Ventures. European firms DN Capital and Brighteye Ventures also joined, along with successful entrepreneurs such as the founders of s16VC and Kahoot.
Housfy: the digital real estate and home services platform has closed a €10 million financing round. The main objective is to invest in the development of the platform and to reinforce the international expansion of the company. The funds Seaya Ventures, Torch Capital, DN Capital and Cathay Capital, through C. Entrepreneurs, which already participated in previous rounds, participated in the new round. They are joined by Aldea Ventures and CDTI as new investors.
Ukio: The real estate technology startup has raised €7.6 million in an initial funding round led by Breega, with participation from Heartcore and Partech and additional support from business angels Iñaki Berenguer, founder of Coverwallet and Avi Meir, founder of Travelperk.
53Biologics: GAEA Inversión formalized a joint investment with Inveready Biotech in Biotechnology Developments for Industry (BDI) worth €7 million.
The main purpose is to enhance the growth of its biopharmaceutical subsidiary.
ICF: the Institut Català de Finances has invested nearly €5.2 million in 10 Catalan startups from different sectors, including Aquí tu Reforma, iVoox and Kubbo, among others. It has done so through the IFEM Innovation line and the ICF Venture Tech II fund.
Seqera Labs: the software provider closed a €4.69 million seed round. The deal was co-led by European venture capital firms Talis Capital and Speedinvest, with the participation of BoxOne Ventures and a grant from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.
Frenetic: the Madrid-based company signed a new investment round of €4.5 million. The new shareholders are Bonsai Partners (Spain) and Join Capital (Germany). They join 42Cap (Germany), Big Sur Ventures (Spain) and Bankinter (Spain), who already backed the startup in 2019.
Gamestry: the video platform secured a €4.2 million seed investment led by Goodwater Capital, Target Global and Kibo Ventures.
The Breach Studios: the video game developer received an investment of €3.5 million from the investment fund MY.GAMES Venture Capital (MGVC). The capital will go towards the development of the company’s new product, a PvPvE shooter.
Vonzu Tech: the logistics and delivery software company has received a €1.5 million investment from Conexo Ventures to continue driving the company’s operational growth, as well as to develop new functionalities.
GoKoan: Spanish edtech GoKoan closed a €1.2 million seed investment round. The deal was led by Sabadell Venture Capital, with the participation of investors such as Athos Capital, Draper B1 and the Instituto Valenciano de Finanzas (IVF).
RepScan: the company that works on improving online reputation for individuals and companies by removing negative content, has closed a first round of funding for €1.2 million.
GuruCall: the advisory marketplace has announced the closing of a €1.2 million pre-seed funding round. The platform focuses on professionals who want to have 15 to 60-minute advisory sessions, mentoring, coaching with successful professionals, C-Levels, Founders, World Champions, etc.
Ixorigue: the agrotech startup, created in the Aragonese Pyrenees (Benasque) and based in Madrid, has closed a €1 million investment round. Dedicated to the sensorization of extensive livestock using smart collars and big data, the startup aims to lead a potential market of 350 million cattle between Europe and Latin America.
Getlife: the new insurtech, which aims to revolutionize life insurance by selling accessible, fair, and easy products across Europe, has raised €1 million in a pre-seed funding round. The deal was backed by UK business angel Chris Adelsbach.
Jotelulu: the startup has created a platform for small IT companies to sell cloud services to micro and small businesses in a competitive way. The company closed its first round worth €1 million, reinforcing its structure with partners such as Big Sur Ventures and Bankinter.
ScrapAd: specializing in connecting buyers and sellers of recyclable materials, the startup is consolidating its key role in the digitization of the sector by raising its first round of funding, amounting to €1 million.
Prestalo: Prestalo.com has raised €1 million in an investment round. The Barcelona-based company has been one of the leaders in helping to choose the best loan on the market since 2018.
The remaining operations, under one million euros, were:
Laboratorios Beemine (€900K); Rand (€800K); FrontWave Imaging (€750K); Celtarys Research (€650K); Pulpo (€550K); tugesto (€350K); Beseif (€300K); Yakk (€249K); Bersity (€240K); Cash The Closet (€215K); RawData (€200K); TradEAsy (€125K) and InVerbis Analytics (€100K).