I am a VC at Armilar, covering Enterprise Software/B2B SaaS and Blockchain/Fintech.
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.
End of Year Note
- This is my last newsletter this year. And what a year!
- On a personal side
- I did my last new investment as an Angel and invested in Apres.io together with Adara Ventures and Faber Ventures. Replai, one of my Angel portfolio companies, raised a new round led by Hoxton Ventures.
- In March, I joined Armilar Venture Partners and I was fortunate to be involved in 3 investments (Casafari and other 2 investments, to be announced)
- I also started to cover Spain in this newsletter. Unlike Portugal, there are already plenty of great information sources (https://dealflow.es/, https://www.barcinno.com/, https://elreferente.es/, Fundación Innovación Bankinter, among others). So it has been hard to add value. Nevertheless, I am learning a lot about Spain. I believe (and I hope) that Portugal and Spain can progressively be one ecosystem.
- On the startup scene, 2021 was a record year!
- Startups with Iberian roots raised ~€5Bn in >700 rounds. I estimate that Iberia now represents around ~4-5% of the capital invested in Europe
- Spain is now the 6th largest ecosystem in Europe, after UK, Germany, France, Sweeden and Netherlands and is one of the fastest growing regions
- Portugal surpassed €1Bn investment and have now 7 unicorns!
- I will be back next year with additional insights on the region. I wish you all a Happy New Year!
Others
- Anchorage reached Unicorn status and raised $350M led by KKR
- Spanish government published the “Ley de Start Up”, with several improvements, including in employee stock options and VC fund managers carried interest
- New funds announcements
- Seaya Ventures closed fund III with €165M
- Samaipata closed a €107M fund
- Iris Ventures announced a €100M fund, focused on consumer brands startups
- Mundi Ventures announced the closing of a €100M insurtech fund
- Ship2B announced the closing of a €55M fund, focused on impact startups
- Extension Fund announced the second closing of a debt fund with €35M
- Real Madrid announced a startup incubator and a fund to invest €4.5M in 30 startups in the next 3 years
- Barcelona City Council announced a new initiative – Barcelona Accelera – with an initial €10M fund and a partnership with 6 local VC funds, targetting €50M investment in 150 startups
- Data Venture, a Spanish Venture Studio for DeFI and Blockchain startups, raised €500k
- In total over €500M were raised by Spanish VC funds
- ICO announced €250M investment in 10 funds: Alter, Athos, Bonsai, Bullnet, Swanlaab, Antai, Axon, Faraday, Finaves and Nara
- State of European tech 2021 by Atomico
- 100 most active Spanish Business Angels in 2021 by El Referente
- Top 100 Spanish startups in 2021 by El Referente
- Crypto Take Over in Lisbon by Isomer Capital
- Scaleup Portugal 2021 by BGI
- 2021 Portugal Startup Outlook by BGI
- Scaleups impact on the Spanish Economy by Scaleup Spain Network
- Malaga Startup Ecosystem by Dealroom
- VC in Southern Europe by Pitchbook
- Supercharging the European tech ecosystem by Dealroom
Click here for additional resources, including
August
Portugal
| Startup | Amount (‘000€) | Investors |
|---|---|---|
| SWORD Health https://swordhealth.com/ | 145,000 | Sapphire, Green Innovations, Bond, Sozo Ventures, General Catalyst, Willoughby Capital, ADQ, Localglobe, General Catalyst, Khosla Ventures, Founders Fund, Bond, Transformation Capital, Green Innovations |
| Stratio stratioautomotive.com/ | 12,000 | Forestay Capital, Crane Venture Partners |
| Knok https://www.knokcare.com/ | 4,400 | Armilar Venture Partners, Triple Point, Mustard Seed Maze, Fundo para a Inovação Social |
| Casafari https://pt.casafari.com/ | 4,310 | Starwood Capital Group |
| Chemitek https://chemitek.pt/ | 1,200 | Ganexa Capital, Statusmaneuver, EDP Ventures |
| Criam https://www.criamtech.com/ | 948 | SOSV, Artesian, Fundo para a Inovação Social |
| 360hyper 360hyper.pt/ | 750 | Indico Capital Partners, Lince Capital, New Zone |
| Clynx https://www.clynx.io/ | 150 | Think Bigger Capital |
| AssetFlow https://www.assetfloow.com/ | 100 | AI Startup Incubator |
| Indie https://www.indie.pt/ | Unknown | Olisipo Way |
Spain
| Startup | Amount (‘000€) | Investors |
|---|---|---|
| Abacum https://www.abacum.io/ | 22,000 | Atomico, Creandum, FJ Labs, S16VC , entre otros inversores, Ingo Uytdehaage (Adyen), Carmine Visconti (Infarm), Felipe Navío (JobandTalent), Juan Urdiales (JobandTalent), Zac Prince (Blockfi) |
| Freshly Cosmetics freshlycosmetics.com/ | 18,900 | Blossom Capital |
| Satlantis https://satlantis.com/ | 16,500 | Enagás Emprende, Sepi, Orza, Axis-Ico |
| Amenitiz amenitiz.com/ | 6,500 | Point Nine, BACKED VC, Otium, Avi Meier, Matt Robinson, Carlos Gonzales |
| Cleverea cleverea.com/ | 5,000 | Stride.vc, TA Ventures, Inveready, FJ Labs, Bonsai Partners |
| EGoGames egogames.com/ | 5,000 | Donato Gonzalez, Jaime Martín Laborda, Francisco Jose Riberas Mera |
| Quibim quibim.com/ | 5,000 | Amadeus Capital Partners, Adara Ventures, APEX Ventures, Partech, Crista Galli Ventures, TechTransfer UPV, Angels Capital |
| 480 cuatroochenta.com/ | 4,000 | Inveready |
| Triditive triditive.com/ | 3,000 | Gohub |
| Luca https://www.lucaedu.com/ | 2,586 | HeartCore Capital, Shilling Capital Partners, Vasco Pedro, Diogo Monica, Hugo Arevalo, Brian Requarth |
| Zazume es.zazume.com/ | 2,500 | Nordstar, Plug and Play Tech Center, Picus Capital |
| Luda Partners ludapartners.com/ | 2,500 | François Nuyts, Bertrand Jelensperger, Hugo Arevalo, Yago Arbeloa |
| Picker picker.me/ | 2,100 | Luxor capital, btov Partners |
| Champion Games championgames.com/ | 2,000 | Ath21, Polygon,Play Ventures, DeFiance Capital, ParaFi Capital, DAO Maker, Kyros Ventures, Metrix Capital |
| SolarMente solarmente.es/ | 1,800 | Global Founders Capital, Soma Capital, Unknown business angels |
| iF Lastmile iflastmile.com/ | 1,500 | K Fund, Lanai Partners |
| BCN3D https://www.bcn3d.com/es/ | 1,035 | CDTI, Mundi Ventures, Fides Capital, Mondragón |
| SEGO FINANCE segofinance.com/ | 1,000 | Picaval, Angels Capital, GVC Gaesco Group |
| Deep Detection https://www.deepdetection.tech/ | 1,000 | VIGO Ventures, Clave Capital, ESOM |
| Amphora Logistics https://www.amphoralogistics.com/ | 1,000 | Encomenda, JME Ventures, Kapita, Abac Nest, Sabadell Venture Capital (BStartup), ENISA, ICF |
| Kintsugi kintsugitx.com/ | 986 | Capital Cell |
| Biointaxis biointaxis.com/ | 880 | Capital Cell |
| CubicUp cubicup.com/ | 830 | Dozen Investments, ENISA, Unitatea, Reus Capital Partners |
| Blaine Box https://blainebox.com/ | 720 | Draper B1, Archipelago Next, ENISA |
| Twin & Chic twinandchic.com/ | 611 | La Bolsa Social |
| Singerfy singerfy.com/ | 500 | Red de inversores de Harvard Business School Angels Spain, Juan Carlos Chaves |
| Unibo Neobank holaunibo.com/ | 500 | Draper B1, Cafur, Serra Inmobiliaria, Organ, Sisquella Grup, BCN-Tradis, Novadmin Property Management, Unknown Business Angels |
| Ordatic ordatic.com/ | 500 | Inveready, Backfund |
| Delitbee https://delitbee.com/ | 400 | TheVentureCity |
| Focus360 https://focus360.eu/ | 300 | IVACE, LABORA, Cámara de Comercio, Unknown business angels |
| Webel appwebel.com/ | 225 | Unknown Business Angels |
| KBOX SalesTools kboxsalestools.com/ | 200 | Oryon Universal |
| Prospera Biotech prosperabiotech.com/ | 200 | Unknown |
| JoinHome joinhome.es/ | 120 | RED Labs |
| Iteralix https://www.iteralix.com/ | 100 | Think Bigger Capital |
| Quota Rent quotarent.com/ | 100 | Think Bigger Capital |
| Nymiz https://nymiz.com/es/ | Unknown | Kalonia Venture Partners |
| Kenmei https://www.kenmei.ai/ | Unknown | Bewater |
| CineLenses https://www.cinelenses.com/ | Unknown | Fondo Asturias Startup |
| HolaPlace https://holaplace.com/ | Unknown | Fondo Asturias Startup |
| i4life https://www.i4life.es/ | Unknown | Fondo Asturias Startup |
| Sponsorit https://sponsorit.live/ | Unknown | Fondo Asturias Startup |
| Motoreto https://www.motoreto.com/ | Unknown | Core Angels |
| Fragua https://atlas-reanalytics.com/fragua/ | Unknown | Core Angels |
| Do Good Peope www.dogoodpeople.com | Unknown | Core Angels |
| Competize https://www.competize.com/ | Unknown | Core Angels |
| Transkriptorium www.transkriptorium.com | Unknown | Core Angels |
| Trustiu https://www.trustiu.com/ | Unknown | Abac Nest |
| PangaGo https://pandago.eco/ | Unknown | Big Sur Ventures |
| Plazah https://plazah.com/ | Unknown | Big Sur Ventures |
| Master Me Up https://mastermeup.com/ | Unknown | K Fund, Cristian Arens |
| Trackingplan https://www.trackingplan.com/ | Unknown | K Fund |
Iberian investors, investing abroad
| Country of the investor | Investor | Amount invested (000’€) | Startup |
|---|---|---|---|
| ES | Mundi Ventures | 189,639 | Shift Technology |
| PT | Sonae IM | 46,117 | SafeBreach |
| PT | Sonae IM | 34,480 | Ometria |
| PT | EDP Ventures | 11,206 | Yotta Energy |
| ES | Nauta Capital | 5,200 | Kubermatic |
| PT | Shilling Capital Partners | 2,241 | Canal Dstak |
| PT | Mustard Seed Maze | 1,100 | Clear |
| ES | Wayra | Unknown | Unmanned Life |
- January 31: Desafios 5.0 Call for acceleration application deadline
- February 22: Demium accelerator programs (Lisbon, Barcelona, Madrid, Valencia, Malaga) application deadline
- March 15-17: Launch in Lisbon
- 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 | Sanifit | M&A | €205M
- ES | Asti | M&A | €163M
- ES | TAPTAP | M&A | €100M
- ES | Aura Biosciences | IPO | $75.6M
- ES | Swipcar | M&A | €30M
- PT | Matera | M&A | Unknown
Activity report
See also
Great content! Keep up the good work!