Spain ecosystem

REPORT 2023

April 2023
Key takeaways
The Spanish tech ecosystem is now Spain experienced its second best year Latin American countries represent 3
worth €93B, up 3.6x since 2018. on record for VC investment, with €4B of the top 10 recipients of Spanish VC
raised in 2022. investment.
The combined value of the Spanish startup Spain ranks 6th in Europe and 16th globally 141+ funding rounds have been invested
ecosystem has reached €93B. for total investment raised in 2022. from Spanish investors into LatAm startups.

The growth in the nationʼs ecosystem value Spain showed stronger resilience than its Many Spanish investors such as Seaya and
has been driven by the emergence of four European counterparts, with VC Investment Wayra have been active in investing into
new homegrown unicorns: Factorial, Fever, dropping only 15% since 2021. Early stage LatAm-based startups and scaleups.
Domestika and TravelPerk. investment reached a record high of €1.8B.

Combined enterprise value of Spanish startups VC Investment in Spanish startups Number of rounds from Spanish investors
in foreign startups
▊ Value of public companies ▊ Value of private companies Cumulated number of rounds 2018-2022
€4.7B United States 250
€100B €93B €4B LatAm 141
€4B United Kingdom 130
€75B France 69
€3B
Germany 58
€50B €2B Mexico 49
Portugal 38
€25B €1B
Israel 34
Brazil 32
2016 2022 2017 2021 2022 Colombia 28

Page / 2 Source: Dealroom.co.

Table of content Co-authors

Nina Chaloum Alex Hamilton

Ecosystem Innovation Analyst Ecosystem Innovation
at dealroom.co Analyst at dealroom.co

1 The Spanish Tech Ecosystem

Jaime Novoa
Partner at Kfund

2 Investors & Funding landscape

Previous editions of the report.

1st 2nd
3 Spain & LatAm: cross-investment Download the
first report
Edition Edition
2021 2023
opportunities

Page / 3
1 The Spanish Tech Ecosystem
Spanish startups are now worth €93B, up 3.6x since 2018. The value of private companies
has been growing steadily and is up 1.3x year-on-year.

Combined enterprise value of Spanish startups (2016-2022) Enterprise value of selected European ecosystems
» view online Growth (2018-2022)
▊ Value of public companies ▊ Value of private companies
2018 Value growth 2022

€100B
€93B €225B
€86B
€37B
3.6x
€75B
4.2x €332B
3.8x
€93B
€50B 3.8x
3.6x
€448B
€26B Sweden €53B
€25B Portugal €10B
France €108B 2.9x
Spain €26B €44B
Germany €153B 2.5x
Italy €17B €326
2.4x
Netherlands €137B
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022

Source: Dealroom.co.
(1) Enterprise value consists of Spanish HQʼd and founded companies founded since 1990. Visit this link for more information.
Page / 5 (2)Sum of the valuations of all startups in the ecosystem. Using estimated valuations based on most recent VC rounds, public
markets and publicly disclosed valuations
Spain has welcomed four new unicorns in 2022.

Number of unicorns and $1B+ exits Spain founded Unicorns and $1B+ exits since 2022
▊ Total unicorns until 2021 ▊ New unicorns in 2022
>> view more

United Kingdom Unicorn HQ location Industry

130 +15
Germany 60 +6
Stockholm
Event Tech
France 38 +9 Founded in Madrid

Sweden 36 +7
Netherlands 27 +3 Barcelona Enterprise Software
Switzerland 25 +3

Spain 14 +4 Berkeley, USA

Education
Founded in Madrid

Denmark 16 –

Ireland 10 +4 Barcelona Travel

Norway 10 +2

Page / 6 Source: Dealroom.co.

 Basque Country
Spain breakout startups & rising stars.
Catalonia

Unicorns

Future Unicorns

Rising Stars Basque

Country

Catalonia

Rest of Spain Community of Madrid

Community of
Madrid

Valencian community

Valencian
Community

Andalusia
Andalusia

Page / 7 Source: Dealroom.co. The logos shown are not exhaustive but a discretionary selection of the companies of the category.
Discover the most
top 100 Spanish
startups using
predictive signals.

» Top 100 Spanish Startups to watch

Mature Spanish startups are providing the ideal environment for nurturing Spainʼs
entrepreneurial scene.

Spanish startup founder factories » view online

» View more online

Page / 9 Source: Dealroom.co.

 Provided by
Focus on: Spainʼs Startup Law. » Read more

Spainʼs Startup Law aims to facilitate the creation Benefits for startups
and development of startups in the country.
Up to 15% Tax Rate reduction, better tax treatment
The Law for the Promotion of the Startup Ecosystem, or Startup Law, of stock options
came into effect in January 2023. Conceived under the framework of the
Spain Entrepreneurial Nation strategy, to encourage the creation and Streamlining procedures and certifications
development of startups in the country, by recognizing their unique
status and risks: business model, potential for growth, need for high
Digital Nomad Visa
skills workers locally and abroad.

Definition of a Startup in Spainʼs Startup Law Benefits for investors

Less than 5 years old - except sectors such as Biotech, Energy, etc.
up to 7 years old Specific tax treatment for the ʻcarried interestʼ
Innovative project, scalable business model
non-resident investors no longer need to obtain a
Not a corporate spinout & not publicly listed foreignerʼs identification number

Does not exceed an annual turnover of €5M Increase in the maximum deduction base

Source: Dealroom.co, OpenInnovation.BBVAspark.com, Dobetter.Esade.edu

“ The Spanish Startup Law is The new regulatory framework aims to reduce red tape and
brings corporate and tax benefits. We encourage all parties
a step towards enhancing involved to finish the implementing regulations and
procedures, so that the beneficiaries can take advantage of
Spain's attractiveness for the incentives as soon as possible.
start-ups, founders and Having ENISA in charge of the start-up certification are very
investors. good news. They really know the sector."

Pedro Fernández
Partner
at Pérez-Llorca

Page / 11
3 Investors & Funding landscape
Spain showed stronger resilience than its global counterparts and experienced its second
best year on record for VC investment, with €4B raised in 2022.

VC Investment in Spanish startups » view online Change in VC Investment in selected countries, 2021-2022
▊ €0M-$1M (pre-seed) ▊ €1M-$4M (seed) ▊ €4M-$15M (series A)
▊ €15M-$40M (series B) ▊ €40–$100M (series C) ▊ €100–$250M ▊ €250M+
-11% European average
€4.7B

Switzerland 21%
€4B
€4B France 5%
Spain -15%
€3B United Kingdom -25%

€2.2B Canada -30%

€2B China -33%

€1.5B United States
€1.3B -33%
€879B Germany -44%
€1B
Netherlands -48%
Brazil -62%

2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022

Page / 13 Source: Dealroom.co.

Spain ranks 6th in Europe and 16th globally for total investment raised in 2022.

Top Hubs for VC Investment in 2022 » view online

Spain vs European counterparts Spain vs Global Counterparts

» view online » view online

UK (#1) €31B Sweden (#11) €5.8B

France (#2) €15.9B Switzerland (#12) €5.7B

Germany (#3) €12B Australia (#13) €5.4B

Sweden (#4) €5.8B Brazil (#14) €4.4B

Switzerland (#5) €5.7B Indonesia (#15) €4.3B

Spain (#6) €4B Spain (#16) €4B

Netherlands (#7) €3.8B Netherlands (#17) €3.8B

Ireland (#8) €2.3B Hong Kong (#18) €2.3B

Finland (#9) €2.1B UAE (#19) €2.3B

Norway (#10) €1.9B Ireland (#20) €2.3B

Source: Dealroom.co.
Page / 14 VC Investment included for companies founded and headquartered within the selected countries.
Spain had an especially strong start to 2022, with a record €1.5B raised in Q1, but a slower
rest of the year.

VC investment in Spanish startups » view online

€1.5B €1.5B

▊ $250m+
€1BM Growth
▊ $100–250m
€803M
▊ $40–100m (series C)
Breakout
▊ $15–40m (series B)
€0.5B ▊ $4–15m (series A)
▊ $1–4m (seed) Early
▊ $0–1m (pre-seed)

Q1 Q1 Q1 Q1 Q1 Q1 Q4 Q1
2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2022 2023

Page / 15 Source: Dealroom.co.

Early to mid stage funding has been steadily growing, reaching an all time high in 2022 of
€1.8B, up 2.4x from 2017.

Investment under €40M in Spanish startups » view online

Key Takeaways
▊€0-1M (pre-seed) ▊ €1-4M (seed) ▊ €4-15M (series A) ▊ €15-40M (series B)

€1.8B
€1.7B Early Stage funding into Spanish startups is up by 2.4x
since 2017

$1.5B

€1.2B Over 5k early stage rounds have been raised since 2017
€1B
€1B
€0.7B €0.8B
Domestic and European sources make up on average over
60% of early stage funding rounds into Spain since 2017*
€0.5B

2021 was a record setting year for number of early stage

rounds raised with over 1k rounds raised in the period

2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022

Source: Dealroom.co.
Page / 16 Early stage rounds are defined as round sizes with an upper limit of €40M.
* [excl. ]
2022 saw a record number of megarounds ($100M+) in Spain, greater than 2020
and 2021 combined.

Spanish megrounds in 2022

Number of rounds over $100M+ » view online
Company Investment size Location and date

€250M Growth Equity Madrid, Aug 2022

11
€206M Growth Equity Madrid, Aug 2022
8
€200M Series D Barcelona, Jan 2022

€122M Series C Barcelona, Mar 2022

€113M Series B Barcelona, Jul 2022

€109M Series C Barcelona, Oct 2022

€101M Series E Barcelona, Jan 2022

1
€100M Growth Equity Madrid, Apr 2022

2020 2021 2022 €100M Series D Madrid, Jan 2022

Page / 17 Source: Dealroom.co.

Unlocking Spain's startup potential: bridging the early-stage and later-stage funding divide.

Venture Capital Private Equity Corporate Investors Global Investors

active in Spain

Series C+
(Growth)

Series A/B
(Early)

(Pre)
Seed

Source: Dealroom.co.
Page / 18 The logo shown are not exhaustive but a discretionary selection of the investors off the category.
“ After series A, 68% of growth
funding comes from abroad and
As proven elsewhere in Europe, local growth funds play an
essential role in the maturation of entrepreneurial
ecosystems. Alongside this, local corporate support via direct
as a result, more than 20% of investments (CVCs) or as limited partners in funds is a key
differentiator in boosting scale ups' revenue generation and
scale ups in the region move broader international market growth. This challenge is now
their headquarters to other being tackled with the first local early growth funds, like our
markets when they scale. This own Leadwind fund with support from corporates such as
Telefonica, BBVA, Proeduca or Go-Hub among others, or
leads to loss of local wealth and Andromeda by Seaya.
job creation that could be
captured. We still have to further improve the exposure to European and
international investors, establishing long term relationships
and providing a sufficient track record. This is a must if we
Miguel Arias want to be able to create funds with equivalent sizes and
General Partner
scopes to our counterparts in Europe and the United States.”
at Kfund

Page / 19
Number of rounds with participation from Corporate investors reached
an all-time high in 2022.

Number of rounds with Corporate/CVFs investor participation in Largest Corporate/CFVS rounds Spanish startups in 2022
Spanish startups» view online
Company Investment size Location and date

357 €227M Growth Equity Madrid, Aug 2022

300 €135M Series C Barcelona, Mar 2022

300
€113M Series B Barcelona, Jul 2022

€78M Late VC Madrid, Feb 2022

200
€50M Series A Barcelona, Feb 2022

€31M Series E Derio, Mar 2022

100
€30M Series B Barcelona, May 2022

€26M Series B Aragon, Oct 2022

2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022

Page / 20 Source: Dealroom.co.

Corporate VC investment in Spanish startups is on an upward trend, but remains
proportionally lower than other European countries.

VC Investment in Spain per investor type % VC Investment raised by Corporates/CVFs (2022)

▊ Venture Capital ▊ Corporate & Corporate Venture Fund ▊ Other

€5B
Sweden 23%

€4B Switzerland 23%

Germany 21%
€3B
United Kingdom 20%
€2B
France 18%

€1B Netherlands 16%

Spain 15%

2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022

Page / 21 Source: Dealroom.co.

An increasing number of Corporates invest in Spanish funds as LPs or direct affiliates.

Spain-based Corporate… Invests in Fund as direct affiliate Spain-based Corporate… Invests in Fund as LP

Telefónica Wayra BBVA Kfund(Leadwind)

Santander
Mouro Capital Enagás Klima Energy
Group

Global
GoHub Ventures Repsol SC Net Zero Tech
Omnium

Cemex Cemex Ventures Telefónica Kfund(Leadwind)

Mutua
Enagás Enagás Emprende Kibo Ventures
Madrileña

Page / 22 Source: Dealroom.co.

4 Spain & LatAm: cross-investment opportunities
Bridging the Atlantic: how LatAm startups are expanding into Spain, and vice versa.

Selected LatAm startups with offices in Spain Selected Spain startups with offices in LatAm

LATAM Startups Unicorn HQ location Secondary offices

Across Spain

KAVAK Mexico City, São Paulo,

Factorial Barcelona Dominican Republic

Mexico City, Mexico Bogota, Buenos Aires,

Mexico City, Lima,
Cabify Madrid Montevideo, Quito and
Santiago
Aivo

Cobee Madrid Mexico City

Cordoba, Argentina

Betterfly

Read more about Spanish

Santiago, Chile
startups in LatAm

Provided by

Page / 24 Source: Dealroom.co.

LatAm countries represent 3 of the US

top 10 recipients of Spanish VC

investment, though the US
remains the most attractive to
Spanish investors.
Number of rounds from Spanish investors in foreign startups Mexico

Cumulated number of rounds 2018-2022

United States 250
LatAm 141
United Kingdom 130
France 69
Germany 58 Colombia Brazil

Mexico 49
Portugal 38
Israel 34
Brazil 32
Colombia 28

Page / 25 Source: Dealroom.co. Includes rounds in companies founded in Spain which relocated their HQ abroad.
Selected investment rounds from Spanish investors into LatAm startups.

Selected investment rounds from Spain to LatAm in the last 18 months

Spain based Investor… … participated in round… …raised by a LatAm startup

BBVA €300M Series D Neon

Bilbao Feb 2022 Brazil

Mundi
€125M Series C Betterfly
Ventures
Feb 2022 Chile
Madrid

Copernion €27M Series B MUNCHER

Madrid Nov 2022 Colombia

Kalonia Venture
€22M Series A Koibanx
Partners
Aug 2022 Mexico
Barcelona

Besant Capital $10M Early VC Minu

Madrid Feb 2023 Mexico

Page / 26 Source: Dealroom.co.

Spanish investors are backing prominent LatAm startups, and vice versa.

Madrid Madrid Santiago Mexico City

Spain* Spain Chile Mexico

Docket Addi Gupy Voll Mercadoni Instaleap Busqo Uptime Fracttal Cabify Glamping Filmijob Wallapop Cabify BNext Atani
Analytics Hub

SEE MORE SEE MORE SEE MORE SEE MORE

Madrid Barcelona Mexico City Buenos Aires

Spain Spain Mexico Argentina

Coru MUY Robinfood SinDelantal Flink Belvo Dapp Cabify Bewe.io CornerJob MIORA Gear Tutum Flipter Mascota
Prometeo
Translations Nube

SEE MORE SEE MORE SEE MORE SEE MORE

Spanish investors with LatAm investors with

Explore list Explore list
investment in LatAm startups investment in Spanish startups

Page / 27 Source: Dealroom.co. *Current HQ, considers itself as local to the cities it operates in.
LatAm startups still gather more interest from US investors however, while
European investors are the biggest contributors of VC investment in Spain.

VC investment in LatAm startups » view online VC investment in Spanish startups » view online
Investment per location of investors Investment per location of investors

7% Rest of World Rest of World 2.8% 3% Asia

9% 11%
Asia
Undisclosed

11% 41% 37%

19%
Europe USA Europe
USA

14%

Undisclosed
16% Domestic 27% Domestic

Source: Dealroom.co.
Page / 28 Undisclosed investors include any investors in which their original HQ location has not been disclosed publicly.
5 Methodology & Acknowledgements.
 Methodology and definitions

What is a startup? Underlying Data Scope of the report

Companies designed to grow fast. Generally, such Dealroomʼs proprietary database and software aggregate While many startups founded in Spain relocate beyond its
companies are VC-investable businesses. data from multiple sources: harvesting public information, the borders, most maintain business-critical ties to their
user-submitted data verified by Dealroom, data homelands.
When startups are successful, they develop into scaleups engineering. All data is verified and curated with an
(>50 people), grownups (>500 people) and result in big extensive manual process. In order to take this reality into account, this report
companies. Only companies founded since 1990 are includes both Spain-based startups, which maintain their
The data on which this report builds is available via
included in this report. main center of business (HQ) in their country of origin, and
app.dealroom.co. For more info please visit dealroom.co
Spain-founded startups, with their HQ relocated outside of
or contact [email protected].
Spain.
What is a startup?
By Dealroom.co Venture Capital, Investors Latin America refers to the region comprising of all the
countries located in Central and South America, including
Domestic investors refer to Spanish investors. Europe those situated south of Mexico in the Americas continent.
investors includes the entire European continent, the UK
What is a unicorn?
and Russia, but excludes Turkey and Spain.
Unicorns are (former) startups that reached US$ 1B
Investment are referred to by their round labels such as
valuation or exit at one point in time.
Seed, Series A, B, C, … late stage, and growth equity. VC
investments exclude debt, non-equity funding, lending
capital and grants.

Page / 30 Source: Dealroom.co

 Leading global community
Helps innovative and VC fund of Global Omnium,
National startup of, by, and for High-Impact Global startup & venture
technological companies investing in B2B deep tech
ecosystem facilitator Entrepreneurs — those who capital intelligence platform
grow startups with disruptive
dream bigger, scale faster,
solutions.
and pay it forward.

Kfund is a family of funds with BBVA Spark is BBVA's Today, Endeavorʼs network GoHub Ventures is a €60M Dealroom.co is the foremost
more than €450m in AUM that comprehensive proposal of spans more than 40 countries fund focused on B2B SaaS data provider on startup,
invests €100k to €10M across financial services to support and supports more than 2,400 startups with a strong early-stage and growth
company ecosystems in
Southern Europe and LatAm innovative companies in their entrepreneurs, whose technological component as
Europe and around the globe.
in entrepreneurs with the different growth stages. companies generate differentiation.
capacity to create combined revenues of over Founded in Amsterdam in
differentiated Spark allows these companies $42B, have created more than GoHub Ventures invests from 2013, we now work with many
technology-based products to cover all their financial 3.4M jobs, and, in 2021, raised Seed to Series A stages with of the world's most prominent
and services. needs in one place, as well as over $12.3B in capital. ticket sizes ranging from €1M investors, entrepreneurs and
provides them with to €5M in Europe, the United government organizations to
provide transparency, analysis
We invest €100K to €10M in sophisticated financing Endeavorʼs unique States, and Hispam (Spanish
and insights on venture
entrepreneurs with the products such as venture debt entrepreneur-first model and speaking countries) capital activity.
capacity to create or growth loans. network of trust provide a
differentiated platform for founders to Our offerings include data
technology-based products To do this, BBVA Spark offers a dream big, scale up, and pay it sets via SaaS and API as well
and services. All through differential relationship model forward to the next generation as custom reports and
bespoke ecosystem platforms.
simple and easy to with a team of specialists who of entrepreneurs..
understand terms. speak the same language of
high growth companies.

Page / 31
Knowledge partners

Brings together Venture Capital & Private

Empowering European tech entrepreneurs Transform society through innovation
Equity firms in Spain

Since 2012, Kibo Ventures has built one of the largest VC SPAINCAP is the association that brings together Venture The Bankinter Innovation Foundation mission is to
teams in Southern Europe. Kibo Ventureʼs team and Capital & Private Equity firms in Spain, as well as their foster innovation and entrepreneurship in Spain. As part
investors are committed to impact, diversity and believe investors, including insurance companies and pension of its Startups program, the Foundation provides the
in driving global positive impact while achieving top funds. The members of SPAINCAP make mid- to Spanish Startups Observatory, an interactive open tool
returns. They include social and environmental criteria long-term investments in unlisted companies, from start which tracks investment in startups since 2018.
in our investments. ups to consolidated companies, providing not only
stable financing through equity, but also innovation and
Recently Kibo Ventures launched Nzyme, a new €200m management support.
technology private equity fund focused on the big
untapped opportunity of transforming highly The Associationʼs mission is to connect the players in the
fragmented and under-innovated industries where industry in Spain, representing their interests before the
technology can play a key role. Government, media and public opinion, both nationally
. and internationally, through alliances and synergies in
Europe and Latin America.

Page / 32