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Startup funding news 💸

In February 2025, Spanish startups secured over €476M across 35 deals, marking a 70% increase compared to February 2024

Multiverse Computing, a San Sebastián-based startup specializing in quantum computing software, received a €67M investment from the Spanish government through the SETT. Their flagship product, CompactifAI, leverages quantum-inspired algorithms to compress large AI language models to 10% of their original size without sacrificing performance

Barcelona-based VEGA Chargers, a company specializing in smart chargers for electric vehicles, secured a €5M round led by Orbis, with participation from Suma Capital

Other rounds of funding: D-ONA (€400k)

M&A 🎉

Bilbao-based personal shopping startup Lookiero has merged with German competitor Outfittery to form Europe’s leading online personal shopping platform. The new entity generates €130M in sales and is expected to reach a double-digit million EBITDA after integration. Oier Urrutia, CEO of Lookiero, will serve as chief executive of the resulting entity. He wrote about it here. Lookiero had raised around $53M, while Outfittery a bit more at almost $60M

Banco Santander is preparing the IPO of its subsidiary Ebury, the British/Spanish fintech specializing in currency management for SMEs. The listing, expected in late May or June in London, aims for a valuation of £2.5B (€3B). In 2024, Ebury generated £220.6M in revenue and an EBITDA of £9M. Santander holds a 66.5% economic stake (54% voting rights) in Ebury. Initially planned as a capital increase, some investors, including Vitruvian Partners, 83North, and Angel CoFund, may also sell shares. Santander first invested in Ebury in 2019, increasing its stake over the years to reach a total investment of €616M

Indra is in advanced talks to sell its tech subsidiary Minsait to UK-based Apax Partners for over €1.5B. The deal may include Minsait Payments and aims to fund Indra’s expansion in defense

MioGroup, the consulting firm led by the Arbeloa brothers, acquired the remaining 24.95% of Firma Brand Communication for €3.12M, bringing its stake to 100%. The total deal value could reach €12M. Since MioGroup’s 2022 investment, Firma’s EBITDA grew 84% in 2023, to €2.5M

Madrid-based pharma company Rovi acquired a 94.99% stake in Cells IA Technologies, a startup specializing in AI-assisted diagnostics, for around €4M

HBX, the parent company of Hotelbeds, has been publicly traded for three weeks, with its stock fluctuating between €10.3 and €11.5, down 4.5%. CEO Nicolas Huss remains optimistic about 2025 and is considering increasing the company’s free float in the medium term. The firm aims for a 60% EBITDA margin and plans to distribute dividends in 2026

Investor & accelerator news 🚀

Nazca Capital launched a €400M aerospace and defense fund, with a potential cap of €500M. The fund aims for a first closing before summer. It will acquire stakes in European companies with at least €5M EBITDA, focusing on dual-use technologies

Spanish investors active abroad:

• Epoch Biodesign, a UK-based startup specializing in next-generation materials, has secured an $18.3M funding round. Inditex participated in this round and established a joint development agreement for future projects. The CEO of Epoch wrote about the investment here

• Alantra’s Klima fund led a €19.6M round in Swedish battery systems provider Echandi

Startup news 💡

New companies and product launches:

• Latitude launched on Product Hunt its last iteration: Latitude AI Agents, an end-to-end platform for designing, evaluating, and refining autonomous AI agents. Cesar also wrote about the launch here

• Daniel Espejo, former MD of Klarna in Spain, announced that he’s working on Omnia, “a SaaS product to help brands improve their visibility in AI”

• Krea, the San Francisco-based startup founded by Spaniards, launched Krea Chat, “a brand new way of creating images and videos with AI”

• TravelPerk partnered with Airbnb to enhance its corporate travel accommodation offerings. This collaboration provides TravelPerk customers with Managed Access to Airbnb’s extensive inventory of over 8 million active listings

Company financials:

• Destinia aims to reach €300M in revenue and 2M customers by 2027, focusing on growth in the Mediterranean. The online travel agency, founded in 2001, closed 2024 with €240M in revenue and 1.6M customers. It plans acquisitions and is open to external investors

• Smartick, the Madrid-based edtech, has integrated generative AI to enhance personalized learning and expand globally. The company, which has never raised external funding, achieved €11M in revenue and serves 47,000 students in 100 countries. It is now entering Indonesia, aiming to double or triple its revenue in three years

• Pummba, the Barcelona-based modular sofa startup, doubled its revenue to €1M in 2024 and is planning expansion into France. Originally an online-only brand, it is now opening physical showrooms in Spain, including in Barcelona, Madrid, Valencia, and A Coruña, to enhance customer experience

• Cristobal Viedma, CEO of Lingokids, appeared on CNN to talk about the company’s evolution. He writes that “fast forward, and today, 168 million families around the world are learning with us”

Other news:

• Profile of Crescenta, the platform that brings PE and VC to retail investors. Crescenta is launching two new fund-of-funds with a €10,000 minimum investment. Crescenta is a Kfund portfolio company

• 12 Spanish SMEs were featured in the FT 1000 ranking of Europe’s fastest-growing companies (2020-2023). Travel Compositor leads the Spanish list at position 197 with 111.2% growth, followed by Sabor a España (205) and Inte-QT (267). Other notable companies include fintech Indexa Capital, software firm Tecalis, and marketing platform Tappx

• Factorial is moving its headquarters to a newly renovated 8,000 m² office space in the 22@ district. The unicorn startup, which employs over 1,000 people, plans to grow its workforce by 30% in 2025

Hirings and other personnel moves:

• Urbanitae, the Spanish real estate crowdfunding platform, appointed Alicia Hinojosa as an independent expert on its investment committee. In 2024, Urbanitae’s committee analyzed €1B in projects, financing €180M
  

Big company & policy news 🤓

Telefónica has undergone a significant leadership restructuring under President Marc Murtra, resulting in the departure of key executives from the previous administration. Notably, Chema Alonso, Chief Digital Officer, and José Cerdán, CEO of Telefónica Tech, have been relieved of their duties. Alonso’s responsibilities will transition to Sebas Muriel, who rejoins Telefónica after leading GroupM Spain

As of December 2024, TikTok reported approximately 20.3 million MAUs in Spain

Bizum is exploring partnerships to expand beyond national borders and become a pan-European payment player

RootedCon, a major cybersecurity event in Spain, is preparing legal action against LaLiga over IP blocking practices

Interesting reads 🤓

Samuel Gil (JME) wrote “Software B2B en la era de la IA”

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