I am a VC at Armilar. In my free time, I write startup-related topics, including this newsletter (Yes, I agree, I am boring!). Content, opinions, and typos are my own!
Feedback is welcome.
- In a few days, I am going on vacation. So don’t be surprised if you don’t receive the July newsletter… I will be back in September with July and August information, with a few exceptions that are already covered in this newsletter
- 15 and 8 months after the $11M Seed and $35M Series A rounds, Remote raised $150M and reached Unicorn status!
- Iberia now counts with 10 unicorns, 3 of which were announced this year. Though Portugal’s ecosystem is 3-4x smaller, now it has the same number of Unicorns as Spain.
- Remote is the fastest startup reaching Unicorn status in Iberia, resulting in outstanding returns to initial Seed and Series A investors. Assuming a 25% dilution in each round, Seed investors have a >10x multiple and a >600% IRR, while Series A has >4x return and 1000% IRR… Funds have not (totally) liquidated but by all means impressive outcomes.
- Index Ventures now counts with 2 Unicorns in Iberia, the same number as Armilar Venture Partners (OutSystems and Feedzai – disclosure I work at Armilar) and Bonsai Venture Capital (Glovo and Idealista) and minus 1 versus Seaya Ventures (Cabify, Glovo, and Wallbox)
- My first investment at Armilar was recently announced, and I couldn’t be happier to share it with you. Casafari raised $15M, led by Prudence Holdings and with the participation of Armilar Venture Partners, HJM Holdings, 1Sharpe (founders of Roofstock), FJ Labs (Fabrice Grinda, founder of OLX Group), and Lakestar. Congrats Nils, Mila, and Rafa! Thanks, Francisco Ferreira Pinto!
- 15 and 8 months after the $11M Seed and $35M Series A rounds, Remote raised $150M and reached Unicorn status!
- 2021 Q2 activity
- During Q2, there were 168 rounds (of which 28 in Portugal and 140 in Spain) and €658M invested in Iberia (of which €114M in Portugal and €544M in Spain)
- Versus Q1, there were -20% rounds (168 vs. 209) and -63% money invested (€658M vs. €1,770M). The main driver for contraction was that Q1 2021 was an exceptional all-time high Quarter, particularly for series B and beyond, on both sides of the Peninsula. In addition, there was a contraction in the number of rounds in Portugal, due to lower participation from Portugal Ventures in Q2 (2 investments vs. 40)
- On the positive side, the number of Seed and Series A rounds increased by 25% and 20% in Portugal and Spain
- For Q3, I expect a hot summer (in line with Q2 2021)…
- During Q2 2021, Public SaaS valuation multiples continued at high values. On the private Series A markets in Iberia, I have seen the numbers going up, and matching public valuation multiples (15-20x) or sometimes even surpassing (30x+)…
- New funds in town
- SEPIDES, Airbus, Tikehau Capital and Indra launched a new €100M Venture Fund focused on SpaceTech
- Klima Energy Transition Fund, from Alantra, reached €80M on the first closing
- Nina Capital announced a €40M fund, dedicated to Medtech
- Antai Venture Builder and Riva y García launched a €35M Venture Debt fund, targetting Spanish Fintech, insurtech, Cleantech and Consumer goods startups
- Chamaeleon announced the first fund, targetting Europe and US seed to series A
- Spain announced a €2Bn fund of funds and co-investment vehicle
- What does a ‘standard’ term sheet look like in Europe? (Last year detailed report)
- Building the Spanish Deeptech Ecosystem part 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5
- Lisbon Startup Ecosystem by Made of Lisboa and Dealroom
- Spanish startups and scaleups to watch
- Spanish Insurtech Map
- Spanish VC diversity report
- Spanish crowdfunding report
- The State of European Insurtech by Mundi Ventures
- State of Venture Q2 2021 Report
- Top trends in tech by McKinsey & Company
- 2021 VC Tech stack
Click here for additional resources, including
Portugal
| Startup | Amount (‘000€) | Investors |
|---|---|---|
| Sword Health | 70,557 | General Catalyst, BOND, Highmark Ventures, BPEA, Khosla Ventures, Founders Fund, Transformation Capital, Green Innovations |
| Loqr | 8,000 | Iberis Capital, Semapa Next, EDP Ventures, BiG Start Ventures, HCapital |
| Ophiomics | 1,000 | EIC |
| Replai | 653 | Bright Pixel |
| Habit Analytics | 217 | Bright Pixel |
| GoParity | 200 | Mustard Seed Maze, Critical Software |
| Pupil up | 114 | Pausa Ventures |
| Actif | 100 | Think Bigger Capital |
| Oscar | Unknown | Olisipo Way, Melom |
| Criam | Unknown | SOSV, HAX |
Spain
| Startup | Amount (‘000€) | Investors |
|---|---|---|
| Belvo | 35,694 | Biz Stone’s fund Future Positive, Kibo Ventures, FJL Labs, Harsh Sinha (Wise), Sebastián Mejía (Rappi.), Kaszek, MAYA Capital, VentureFriends, David Vélez (Nubank) |
| Lingokids | 33,203 | HV Capital, GP Bullhound, Ravensburger |
| Cooltra | 20,000 | Francisco Riberas |
| Heura | 16,000 | Impact Fooding, Unovis, Lever VC, Capital V, Green Monday, Crowdcube |
| Insurama | 5,000 | Inveready |
| bound4blue | 5,000 | Aciturri Aeronáutica, CDTI, EIT Climate KIC, Ocean Born Foundation, ARCANO PARTNERS |
| Fracttal | 4,350 | Seaya Ventures |
| Perfecta Energia | 3,500 | Creas |
| MESbook | 2,000 | Bewater |
| Energy Solar tech | 2,000 | SEPIDES |
| Smileat | 1,800 | Creas, Quadia, Clave Capital |
| Cuyna | 1,500 | Unidata |
| Fuell | 1,000 | K Fund, Wayra, TheVentureCity, FJ Labs |
| Internxt | 1,000 | Angels Capital, The Venture City, Juan Roig |
| Jump Into Reality | 1,000 | WA4STEAM, Seedrs, Runway Investments, Aderis |
| Marsi Bionics | 943 | Fellow Funders |
| StadioPlus | 700 | Chromia |
| LavanApp | 700 | Unknown |
| Idoneo.com | 550 | DraperB1 |
| Watchity | 500 | Wayra, Enisa, K-LAGAN |
| SmartMonkey | 425 | Jesús Majem (Abbrain), Xavier Herce, Frederic Horta (Nemeda.io), EIT Innoenergy |
| Kleta | 400 | Marc-André ter Stegen, Holger Sprengel (Cooltra), Miguel Andrés (Simplr.io), Levels up Ventures |
| Vitaance | 370 | Antai Venture Builder |
| Copernic | 350 | 4founders capital |
| OREKA TRAINING | 270 | CDTI, Easo Ventures, ITZARRI EPSV |
| HarBest Market | 250 | Dozen |
| CLEB | 225 | BAHIA, Kairós Solutions |
| Vegaffinity | 200 | Dacsa, Bamboo Venture Capital |
| Capchase | Unknown | QED Investors, Bling Capital, SciFi VC, Caffeinated Capital |
| Trovant | Unknown | FACSA, Enagás Emprende |
| Libelium | Unknown | Axon Partners Group |
Iberian investors, investing abroad
| Investor country | Investor | Amount invested (000’€) | Startup |
|---|---|---|---|
| ES | Mundi Ventures | 540,000 | Wefox |
| ES | Seaya Ventures | 50,000 | Flexcar |
| ES | Adara Ventures | 23,186 | XYZ Reality |
| ES | Inveready | 20,000 | Habyt |
| ES | All Iron Ventures | 10,376 | Microverse |
| ES | Mundi Ventures | 9,463 | Urban Jungle |
| ES | Telefonica | 9,131 | Monogoto |
| ES | Nauta Capital | 4,150 | Airfocus |
| ES | Adara Ventures | 3,600 | Cyber Guru |
| PT | Mustard Seed Maze | 3,594 | KETS Quantum Security |
| PT | Mustard Seed Maze | 3,000 | IconoClass |
| ES | Adara Ventures | 2,900 | Intelex Vision |
| ES | Inveready | 2,900 | Intelex Vision |
| ES | GoHub Ventures | 1,600 | Auravant |
| ES | JME Ventures | Unknown | Vital |
- July 2: Portugal Ventures Open day
- July 8: Ayudas Neotec 2021
- July 11: S2B Tech for Climate application deadline
- July 11: S2B Health&Care application deadline
- July 12: Cuatrecasas Acelera application deadline
- July 12: Cuatrecasas Fast Track application deadline
- July 14: Scale4Impact application deadline
- July 26: BlueBioValue Acceleration application deadline
- July 26: BlueBioValue Ideation application deadline
- July 30: ABANCA Innova application deadline
- July 31: Tech Transfer Agrifood application deadline
- August 29: João Vasconcelos Entrepreneur of the Year Award application deadline
- August 31: Farol application deadline
- September 17: Demium Madrid, Malaga, Barcelona, Valencia & Lisboa application deadline
- September 17: BCN Health Booster application deadline
- September 19: Portugal Virtual 2021
- September 20: SeedRocket 26th Entrepreneur Campus application deadline
- October 8: Portugal Ventures Call Fostering Innovation in Tourism application deadline
- November 2: ESA Business Application Calls deadline
- Open: Wayra Blockchain Activation Programme application
- Always open: Made of Lisboa perks – Lisbon Growth program; Startup Lisboa incubation; CTT 1520 startup program; Gohub; Ufounders; Lanzadera Decks and Docks, Nauta Labs
Country | Startup | Type of transaction | Value of the transaction
- ES | Deporvillage | M&A | €140M
- ES | Holded | M&A | €120M
- ES | Marmota | M&A | Unknown
- PT | BladeInsight | M&A | Unknown
Activity report
See also