So far, 2024 has been quite a success for Dealflow from a sponsorship and business point of view. I’ve had the privilege of booking all available slots months in advance, and that’s something that I don’t take for granted. I know that one day that might come to an end.

Switching the newsletter from Mailchimp to Substack has had good results. I wanted to switch for two main reasons: 1) Mailchimp’s price gets a bit ridiculous once you have more than 10k subscribers, and 2) I really wanted to see if Substack’s promise that it helps creators increase their audience was true. I think it is true, and in fact the number of subscribers of the newsletter has increased substantially since the switch.

Two other things that I have started playing with are cross-posting the newsletter to multiple channels and expanding to new geographies.

In terms of cross-posting, for each newsletter there’s now: 1) an email version that you receive if you subscribe on Substack, 2) on LinkedIn through its newsletter product (you can subscribe here) and then, 3) also on Dealflow.es. For a while I also published on Telegram, but I don’t have the time to take care of so many channels.

And when it comes to expanding Dealflow to new geos, I briefly launched the LatAm version but had to stop due to a lack of time. However, it’s now coming back thanks to the support and collaboration of Yoel Rodriguez. In fact, we have more ambitious plans to launch other geos and formats together. Stay tuned!

Let’s see how it all goes!

For now, I’ve started accepting sponsorships for 2025. These days we reach more than 14,000 people every Monday. CEOs, founders, C-level, VPs, investors and many other relevant people within the ecosystem. If you’re interested in exploring sponsorship opportunities, send me an email at jaime@dealflow.es

This week’s newsletter is sponsored by 2BOLD:

Redefiniendo espacios para organizaciones con visión de futuro.

En 2BOLD colaboramos con empresas para convertir sus espacios en herramientas estratégicas.

Somos un estudio de innovación y diseño espacial, y generamos espacios que catalizan el cambio, fomentan la creatividad y potencian las conexiones emocionales con sus usuarios.

Ya sea una oficina, un espacio de venta o una instalación efímera, creamos experiencias que inspiran y potencian el éxito de tu organización.

Hablemos para traducir tu visión en un espacio único.

Hace unos días grabé una pequeña conversación con Aída y Pablo, cofundadores de 2BOLD, sobre qué hacen y por qué lo hacen. Recomendable también ver el ejemplo de lo que han hecho con Kaleidos para diseñar su nueva sede: Kloud Manual Open Source

Listen now · 7:58

Startup funding news 💸

Tolerance Bio, a Philadelphia-based startup founded by Spaniard Francisco Leon, secured $17.2M in seed funding. The round was led by Columbus Venture Partners, based in Valencia. The company specializes in immune system-related diseases. More info here

V2C, a Valencia-based electric vehicle charging infrastructure company, raised €5M from SC Net Zero Ventures, a venture capital fund managed by Suma Capital and backed by Repsol

Barcelona-based Saigu Cosmetics closed a funding round of €1.5M led by Zamit Capital

Other rounds of funding:

• Zexel: €850k, payments platform for influencers and creators

• Corium Biotech: €500k, sustainable fashion, alternative materials
  

Investor & accelerator news 🚀

Real Ventures, a new VC based in Barcelona, will invest €30M in emerging consumer brands. The fund is co-founded by Inés Ures (formerly of Deliveroo), Josep Casas (founder of Naturitas), and Jonathan Vaisman (ex-EY investment banker)

Portuguese VC Armilar launched its fourth investment fund, AVP IV, with the aim of raising €250M. Armilar aims to make its first closing at €120M by the end of 2024 and hopes to invest in over 20 startups, with 50-60% based in Spain and Portugal

Zubi Capital is dissolving Zubi Wealth Management, a division that focused on advisory services to family offices and institutional investors

Corporate venture capital (CVC) is becoming a key tool for large companies to invest in startups, focusing on innovation that adds strategic value to their businesses. A report by BackFund highlights that 82% of Spanish corporations have invested in startups, often using dedicated CVC vehicles

Ignacio Arriaga (Acumbamail) published “Search Funds: la inversión a la que se ha ido el venture capital español que prefería ser un poco menos aventurero”

Spanish funds active abroad:

• Wayra invested in US startup Perplexity, famous for its AI-powered search engine and ChatGPT competitor. Telefónica has also integrated Perplexity’s AI into Movistar Plus+ for a unique voice-controlled search experience

• Ship2B Ventures invested in the German startup ViViRA, which is developing a digital application to treat back pain
  

Startup news 💡

Swedish investment firm Kinnevik has significantly reduced its valuation of Jobandtalent, the Spanish temporary employment platform, by 25%. This is the second valuation cut of Jobandtalent that Kinnevik has done in the past few months. The firm now values Jobandtalent at €1B, half of its peak of €2B in 2021. In its report, Kinnevik says that “despite continuing profitability improvements in the quarter, our valuation decreases due to the ongoing slow-down in the underlying staffing market”

On other hand, Kinnevik considers Travelperk one of its six core investments. It also says that “the fair value of our investment in TravelPerk increased by 6% in the quarter, with our NTM revenue and gross profit multiples remaining relatively unchanged at a 25% discount to the peer group’s average on a gross profit basis. Our underlying valuation is slightly above the valuation in the funding round announced earlier this year. In 2023, the company grew revenues by 70% and gross profit by 90%”

PcComponentes returned to growth in 2023 after a post-COVID slump. The company saw a 2% increase in revenue, reaching €542M, and boosted its profit to over €9M. It has also paid a €2M dividend

Glovo is enhancing its food delivery app by integrating social features to improve food discoverability and assist users in making meal decisions. Video with the new features here. More info here. In a press event, the company also said that:

• It expects to reach positive adjusted EBITDA in the second half of this year

• GMV has grown by 50% over the past 2 years

• Its groceries business is growing at +50% YoY, currently at €280M in sales

Wired put together a list of the “hottest startups in Madrid”. The publication also highlighted that “Madrid has emerged as a leading startup hub, surpassing Barcelona in investments, with significant growth in transportation, mobility, and fintech sectors”

The Catalan government has paused a €10M rescue loan for Holaluz, an energy company facing financial difficulties. Holaluz, which needs to restructure its debt by December, is exploring various alternatives, including industrial and financial investors

Julio Martinez, co-founder of Abacum, said in a post that the company has grown 2x QoQ in the past 2 quarters and shared 3 learnings from the past three months. Abacum is a Kfund portfolio company

Profile of Deale, a Barcelona-based digital platform to assist in the process of buying and selling SMBs and other businesses. The company has assisted in more than 70 transactions, worth EV of €100M

Profile of Embat, a fintech startup founded in 2021 that offers a cloud-based treasury management solutions for medium and large companies.Embat has raised more than €20M in funding from Creandum, Samaipata, 4Founders Capital and others

El Referente put together a list of 15 startups related to the circular economy to keep an eye on in 2024

Crescenta es la primera gestora digital de Capital Privado para invertir en fondos exclusivos, con rentabilidades objetivo de +15%*. Hasta ahora estaban reservados a altos patrimonios, pero hemos democratizado esta inversión dándote acceso desde 10.000€ (a desembolsar gradualmente). EQT, Cinven, Insight... fondos de primer nivel a golpe de clic.

Invierte en Crescenta.com | Consulta los fondos

*Referencia a resultados históricos simulados. Rentabilidades pasadas no implican rentabilidades futuras. Más info sobre riesgos: crescenta.com/condiciones

Big company & policy news 🤓

CaixaBank signed a partnership with Apple to offer installment payments for e-commerce purchases made through Apple Pay, being the first agreement of this kind in Spain

Meta is about to begin construction of a data centre in Talavera de la Reina. At the same time, the company plans to establish another center in Aragón

UGT and Uber Eats have signed a memorandum to improve working conditions for digital platform workers in Spain

Interesting reads 🤓

Spain’s Ley Crea y Crece is going to introduce changes in the way Spanish companies and freelancers have to invoice their customers. Here are two useful guides from Docuten and Quaderno

Daniel Solis, former founder of Blueliv and now building a new cybersec startup, published “AI in Cybersecurity: Let’s Break the Hype“

Samuel Gil (JME) published “De wrappers a arquitecturas cognitivas. La increíble historia de cómo una IA creó una criptomoneda de 150 millones de dólares”