Topics
late
AI
Amazon
Image Credits:Plus Partners / Enrique Linares and Oriol Juncosa, founders, Plus Partners
Apps
Biotech & Health
clime
Image Credits:Plus Partners / Enrique Linares and Oriol Juncosa, founders, Plus Partners
Cloud Computing
commercialism
Crypto
endeavor
EVs
Fintech
Fundraising
contrivance
game
Government & Policy
computer hardware
Layoffs
Media & Entertainment
Meta
Microsoft
privateness
Robotics
surety
societal
Space
Startups
TikTok
shipping
Venture
More from TechCrunch
Events
Startup Battlefield
StrictlyVC
newssheet
Podcasts
Videos
Partner Content
TechCrunch Brand Studio
Crunchboard
get through Us
While startup valuations have plummet since the bull run of 2021 - 2022 , a factor that ’s hit the European startup ecosystem especially hard , there ’s one region of Europe where the correction has slightly worked in its favor : the South .
grounds for this was apparent during Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in the beginning this year , as time and time again your TechCrunch reporter bumped into Northern European VCs reconnoitering startups on the “ Iberian peninsula ” ( Spain and Portugal ) . These young companies bring in a cause of death combination that VCs screw : significantly lower operating costs and far less punchy valuation .
Further grounds of this “ Southern trend ” arrives with news that a newfangled speculation capital fund , Plus Partners , is being set up by Enrique Linares , one of the co - founders of breakout European unicornletgo , and Oriol Juncosa , a veteran of the Barcelona VC scene . While Plus Partners has n’t released a figure for the launch of their new investment company , the rumor I ’m hearing is it will be in the $ 30 million-$50 million range .
Looking at the fund ’s co - founders , Linares led letgo , a used goods marketplace , to become the first Spanish inauguration to achieve unicorn status , attracting investment funds from Accel , Insight Partners and Prosus , among others . Prior to letgo , he co - founded Captalis , a fintech company with a significant presence in LatAm .
Juncosa get his VC calling at Nauta Capital in Barcelona and went on to co - found the early - phase VC firm Encomenda Smart Capital . He then become CFO of Carto , a datum visual image SaaS fellowship base in the U.S. and Spain , which has raised more than $ 100 million . As an investor / shareowner he ’s invested in more than 75 startups — such asCarto , Cobee(which exited to Pluxee),HoldedandHousfy , among others .
So what ’s the Plus Partners dissertation ? It will concentrate on “ wellness and nutriment , ” “ finance and property ” and “ futurity of work and productiveness , ” per Juncosa . The fund will focalize on pre - seed and cum - stage startups in Southern Europe with a significant pct of them come up from Spain .
Juncosa told me the fund is backed by father and former C - horizontal surface execs pull in from fellowship include Carto , Luzia , Kantox , Red Points and Typeform , among others .
Join us at TechCrunch Sessions: AI
Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI
He said he opine Spain and Portugal sorely need more professionally run VC pecuniary resource because too many former - stage investors , especially non - professional angels and family office , incline to “ do more damage than good ” in the nascent technical school scene there , because they either blow up valuations excessively or go into round on punitory term to the founders .
“ The self-aggrandising news in Spain for me is that we have role framework . Also the technical school community in Spain and Portugal is extremely open , everybody ’s happy to plunk for everybody , ” he assure TechCrunch over a call .
Which country does the fresh investment company think is “ hotter ” in terms of startups ? “ I would say , overall , we have three great entrepreneurial cities in Barcelona , Madrid and Lisbon . If you go back 10 years , Barcelona was the full-grown tech urban center . But Lisbon and Madrid have played pinch - up very well . Now , entrepreneurs have a choice of where they want to limit up their troupe . ”
Linares reiterated that Southern Europe is now “ packed ” with entrepreneurs who are function models for Modern inauguration founders , emphasize : “ We have a lot of gift and founders can internationalise very successful startup from here . ”
“ Barcelona and Madrid are on a equation with each other as ecosystem , but Valencia is growing , ” he added . “ There is a superlative in October that is call Valencia Digital Summit . We were speakers last a year and it was fantastic . I was very surprised . It was my first clock time there . ”
The fund will also look at startups coming out of Italy , completing its “ Southern Europe ” dissertation .
“ We ’ll have a significant ploughshare of our investments in Spain , but , within [ Southern Europe ] , Italy is greatly overlooked . Rome and Milan are catch up . We ’re very excited about it , ” tell Linares .
Plus Partners arrives at a time when VCs are dialing up their attending on Southern Europe .
Yellow , a new VC firm created by Oscar Pierre , Sacha Michaud ( the founders of Glovo ) and Adam Lasri ( a former investor for VC giant Atomico ) , of late put their bet on the region , with a € 30 million fundraisedin less than five calendar month .
what is more , Spanish VC Kfundraised$75 million to fund tech labor earlier this year .
harmonise to a Dealroom report on the Spanish tech ecosystem , the meld enterprise value of Spanish startupssurpassed€100 billion in 2023 . It also discover speculation investment into Spanish startups held up last year , with € 2.2 billion invoke across some 850 funding rounds .
The annual“State of European Tech ” reportfor 2023 get hold Spain ’s ecosystem to be in fourth blank space overall and had thehighestnumber of startup fundings last year .
Lastly , the European Investment Bank ’s venture capital sleeve also backed a new stock in Spain this year whichaims to invest€1 billion ( $ 1.1 billion ) in growth - level technical school startup .
