The success of Wayra Spain
The Wayra Spain startups have already attracted more than 6.1 million Euros
Start-ups that have participated in Wayra Spain over the last 2 years (Barcelona is currently on its second edition, while Madrid is on its third) have closed substantial investment rounds with international investors. In fact, since the Madrid Academy opened its doors at the end of 2011, 27 start-ups have “graduated” from the Spanish academies, with an additional 20 companies scheduled to “graduate” on 26 February 2014, the next DemoDay, which will take place during the Mobile World Congress. (Save the date!)
In particular, Spanish start-ups from both cities have raised, to date, €6.1M from third parties – that is, €4.6M from private investors and €1.5M from public funds. Wayra Barcelona’s first batch of start-ups have proven to be particularly attractive, having raised €3.6M, almost all from private investors. B2B companies seem to be more in-demand, as the largest rounds were rounds raised by Marfeel, Cognicor, Social&Beyond and CL3VR. Marfeel, for example, raised €1.5M from Spain’s Nauta Capital, Germany’s Bertelsmann Digital Media Investment (BDMI) and France’s Elaia Partners. Cognicor, which won the 2012 Tech AllStars competition as the best start-up in the European Union, opted instead to raise a smaller round of €500K from a pool of business angels. Social&Beyond has likewise closed a round of €400K, and CL3VR (the company formerly known as Bevelity) has raised €300K.
Wayra Madrid’s start-ups, however, were not too far behind, having raised €2.5M with about one-third of that amount coming from public funds. Tedcas has raised €450K, while Coquétame has attracted €440K, and Mirubee has closed an investment from €350K from the Italian energy giant, Enel.
Nonetheless, Wayra Madrid looks as if it should soon close the gap. After their recent move to Silicon Valley, the team behind Invoost has already closed a round of $150K from a local U.S. investor, with various of their “classmates” from the second batch of Wayra Madrid start-ups similarly in the process of closing important rounds with top-notch international investors, including one that, if closed, would be among the largest rounds ever raised by Wayra Spain. As for the new batch of start-ups, Alise Devices and Greenmomit have already closed rounds (€150K and €75K, respectively) since entering into the Madrid Academy in June, with Greenmomit having recently received a new term sheet for another round of financing.
In short, despite operating within one of the more challenging investor markets for start-ups in Europe, Wayra Spain is proving that Spanish start-ups have nothing to envy from other start-ups around the globe, which is precisely Wayra’s raison d'être.
About us
Website: wayra.org
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Twitter: @WayraES