Not just Sand, Sea and Sangria
Sometimes a start-up does not have the most original idea, yet its implementation of that idea is so good that users rave about it. This is a fascinating site that allows you to look at Newspaper front pages around the world. It's not the first aggregator...
We mentioned in an earlier entry that Whisbi, the video-conferencing start-up, had gained major funding from BDMI (the Bertelsmann group). Well they seem to be going from strength to strength, having reached already 100 staff spread across Barcelona,...
For obvious reasons we hear less about a start-up when it ceases trading, but the demise of Doocuments ( a start-up that provided secure ways of sharing documents on the cloud) has left us with some essential and valuable feedback. The statement that...
Gowex, the global leader in smart city wi-fi provision, has this week announced it's purchasing IdeUp!, a leader in digital B2B mobile marketing services. The price has been kept confidential, although some have speculated that a 5 million price tag may...
ByHours.com has closed a funding round with "La Caixa" bank to the value of 300,000 euros, to enable it to continue expanding its booking system of hotel rooms by hourly chunks. The start-up is the first platform that allows booking of hotel accommodation...
This site has been neglected in September, but the same cannot be said for the Spanish start-up scene, where various investments and acquisitions have taken place. In due course I hope to summarise most of these, but this article will concentrate today...
We've heard of footballers investing in bars, clubs and even fashion brands, but an interesting article published recently in ElConfidencial has highlighted the growing tendency for top footballers in La Liga to invest in start-ups. A good example is...
The fashion company El Ganso (described by some as having a British style with a Spanish twist) has consolidated its expansion in Spain with the opening of stores in Gijón and Pamplona in May. It has also opened its fourth store in Paris. Created in 2004...
It's not often that a new eCommerce venture gets to be successful so soon, but it appears to be the case with The Fab shoes, who launched a curated social fashion e-shop earlier in 2012, and have now gained major funding. The eFashion site The Fab Shoes...
When people in the future look back over the "Spanish economic miracle 2013-17" they will ask, how did (nearly) everyone miss the signs? Everyone concentrated on the bad news, of which there certainly was plenty – of high unemployment figures, a depressed...
Promoted as the world's number 1 cloud desktop, EyeOS is a full range of desktop facilities usable from a web browser, including an office suite and other applications. There is also a full framework to develop new web apps as if they were desktop apps....
ArtTroop is a web marketplace for artworks, founded in October 2011 by Aitziber Irisarri and Raquel Bernal. The aim was to democratize the buying and selling of art, and within a few months the idea has gained traction - with 400 vendors and more than...
One of many funding investments this Spring on the Spanish start-up scene was for a venture called Ibercheck. Their service will not find favour with every entrepreneur, as they provide the facility to retrieve people's credit history, particularly their...
Billed as the place to share the coolest stuff you find everyday, Favmonster is shaping up to be the tool that Digg should have been. It incorporates a visual display a-la Pinterest when browsing suggestions, but perhaps the biggest attraction is its...
Last year I wrote an article on 5 Spanish start-ups to look out for in 2012 for EU_startups and it became quite popular. It's always hard to make 100% accurate predictions, and the first one on that list, Youzee, didn't quite succeed as planned - although...
We read on the Spanish start-up news site Loogic, that the investment angels Kibo Ventures, have led a funding round of 1.5 million euros in PromocionesFarma. PromocionesFarma offers heavily discounted products on their website, but which customers arrange...
María Gómez del Pozuelo, CEO of Womenalia was the first speaker on Inspiration Day 2013 a conference held for 1,200 female and male professionals, entrepreneurs and managers, and hosted by journalist María Escario. The event took place on June 13, and...
The network group for women, Womenalia, recently in March held a start-up competition in Barcelona at the eShow feria. They've produced a video that includes interviews of the top ten taking part, and for those who speak Spanish, it's very interesting...
The Canary Islands Regional Government have implemented new computer systems, that will save 70% of license costs over three years, through the use of open source software and cloud virtualization. This is the feedback from Roberto Moreno, the DG of Telecomms...
One of the snags of visiting or travelling to a new city, is the cost of getting connected to a WiFi service. Indeed I had to fork out some precious pounds lately when travelling by train to Glasgow. Often hotels will charge for the privilege, and other...
He probably didn't realise it at the time, in 1998, but when the entrepreneur from León, Mateo Ferrero, opened a restaurant called Lizarran in Sitges, he started something that would later help to spread Spanish tavernas selling pinchos all over the world....
A recruitment start-up that uses linguistic analysis to alert candidates of suitables vacancies, jobandtalent.com , has raised $3.3 million in a funding round. The round was led by investors such as Kibo Ventures, Felix Ruiz (a co-founder of Spanish social...
The html5 games development platform Ludei, founded by entrepreneur and angel investor Eneko Knorr, has raised 1.5 million dollars in investment to expand its engineering team and engage on further expansion. Ludei is banking on its platform for games...
Since forming in 2008 Social Point has gone from strength to strength as a major developer of games on Facebook and other social networks.They have continued to expand to the point where they now have over 15 million active monthly users. Some of their...
On the second day (8th June) more pitches were made by emerging Spanish start-ups at the summit. I again found the quality of presentation to be high and often hit the Wow! factor. The editing of the video is also better on this second day. Although property...
