Top 20 impact startups – Barcelona
2021-07-07
Confido
10 minutes
To continue our startup tour of Europe, this week we’re shining a light on Barcelona.
Spain’s startup scene has exploded over the past few years, with unicorns like Glovo and Cabify leading the charge. Madrid and Barcelona are home to two of Europe’s fastest-growing startup scenes, with the latter named one of 2020’s top five startup hubs.
With so many amazing startups on the horizon, it was hard to whittle them down!
Here are our top 20 Barcelona-based impact startups...
Climate action
About: TAPP Water’s activated carbon filtering technology removes over 100 water contaminants, straight from the tap. This technology reduces the need for bottled water, thus removing plastic from the ocean and reducing c02 emissions. Their TAPPHeroes have already avoided the use of 40m plastic bottles, saving 10t of c02.
Company size: 11 to 50 employees
Funding: TAPP Water has raised a total of $4.1m in funding over four rounds. Their latest funding was raised in November 2019 from a Series A round.
About: Holaluz supplies green power and gas to SMBs and households across Spain, as the first independent energy company in the country. By choosing to install solar panels on your home, you can save the C02 equivalent of 150,000 plastic bags.
Company size: 101 to 250 employees
Funding: Holaluz has raised a total of $13.2m in funding over four rounds. Their latest funding was raised in November 2019 from a Series B round.
About: Sadako Technologies was incorporated in 2012 to help use technology and engineering to build a better world. Their mission is to use AI technology to disrupt the waste recycling industry, so next generations can inherit a cleaner and more sustainable environment. Their AI robotics learn waste sorting tasks to achieve 99% accuracy.
Company size: 11 to 50 employees
Funding: Sadako Technologies has raised a total of €2m in funding over four rounds. Their latest funding was raised in February 2017 from a Grant round.
About: Bios Urn offers the world´s first biodegradable urn designed to convert ashes into a tree, after life. Since 1997 Bios has been working to offer smart, sustainable and eco-friendly solutions to approach an inevitable phase of human life: death. This year, 23 years after that first idea, they are launching Bios Park® to complete the cycle of returning to nature after life has ended.
Company size: 1 to 10 employees
Funding: Unknown
About: BitsyBags was born in Barcelona to save the planet, bag by bag. They produce reusable grocery shopping bags, designed to reduce the use of single-use plastic. Their bags have a 5-year durability, saving the planet from 1000 single use plastic bags. Once the lifespan of the Bitsybags is finished, they can be recycled without the need to separate their components.
Company size: 1 to 10 employees
Funding: Unknown
About: Heura is a plant-based food startup founded by activists Marc Coloma and Bernat Añaños. They produce vegan meat alternatives, which save a huge amount of emissions and resources when compared to meat production. For example, to produce Heura, 94% less water is needed than to produce the same amount of veal protein. Learn more, here.
Company size: 11 to 50 employees
Funding: Heura Foods has raised a total of $24.2m in funding over four rounds. Their latest funding was raised in June 2021 from a Series A round.
Sustainable cities & transportation
About: Whoosh. No more trudging through rush hour or waiting in weekend works. Download the app and get whizzing around on our bright, shareable, zero-emission e-scooters. Think of them as your secret super power, activated as easily as tap, push, zooooom.
Company size: 101 – 250 employees
Funding: Wind Mobility has raised a total of $72m in funding over two rounds. Their latest funding was raised in July 2019 from a Series A round.
About: Wallbox is a global company dedicated to changing the way the world uses energy. Their smart charging systems combine cutting-edge technology and outstanding design with cushy apps for car-charger communications. Their Pulsar range is well suited for everyday home use. This compact and minimalist design fits into any garage and features a wide array of options through the myWallbox app.
Company size: 501 to 1,000 employees
Funding: Wallbox has raised a total of $67.5m in funding over five rounds. Their latest funding was raised in February 2021 from an undisclosed round.
About: Cooltra was founded in 2006 in Barcelona by a group of people committed to the idea of making cities more sustainable, safer and more efficient. They offer a 360° two-wheel mobility solution: do you need to rent a motorcycle by the minute, by the day or by the month? Cooltra is the solution.
Company size: 251 to 500 employees
Funding: Cooltra has raised a total of $109.6m in funding over six rounds. Their latest funding was raised in December 2020 from a Private Equity round.
Edtech
About: ABA English is the leading Digital Academy in English learning with more than 30 million students worldwide. With their method you'll get academic guidance from certified teachers and can interact with students from all over the world. Their course is video-based and focused on helping you practise all linguistic skills.
Company size: 51 to 100 employees
Funding: ABA English has raised a total of $15.4m in funding over two rounds. Their latest funding was raised in May 2016 from a Venture - Series Unknown round.
About: Boolino is Europe's leading BookAdvisor platform for children's and young adult books. Our aim is to help families and children discover their love for stories, books and reading, fostering their emotional, social, intellectual and cultural development. They are developing reading tools that engage young readers in a unique way, always putting fun and learning at the heart of everything we do.
Company size: 11 to 50 employees
Funding: Boolino has raised a total of $2.9m in funding over six rounds. Their latest funding was raised in October 2018 from an undisclosed round.
About: BeChallenge is an experiential learning platform that helps you to discover, design and connect real world challenges into your classroom. Conduct training from a student-centred perspective using active or experiential methodologies. The BeChallenge team want to create a better world through education for life, for sustainability and impact innovation.
Company size: 1 to 10 employees
Funding: BeChallenge has raised a total of €60k in funding over one round. This was a Pre-Seed round raised in May 2020.
About: BraiBook is the first e-Reader in braile, developed in collaboration with braile users and for the blind and low vision community. BrailBook converts all books and documents into the braile alphabet and audio. It’s also available in several different languages.
Company size: 1 to 10 employees
Funding: BraiBook has raised a total of $24.9k in funding over three rounds. Their latest funding was raisedion May 2018 from a Seed round.
Healthtech
About: DyCare is a biotech company that specializes in development of innovative solutions for the control and clinical assessment of diseases. Primarily, they design portable solutions that revolutionize the rehabilitation process of patients with musculoskeletal problems. Their unique wearable sensor and intelligent algorithms deliver objective, real-time measurements of a patient’s muscle strength and joint movement.
Company size: 1 to 10 employees
Funding: Unknown
About: Elma aims to make health care accessible anywhere, anytime and for anyone. They aim to make healthcare access a patient-centric and totally personal experience by leveraging existing technologies which provide an enhanced, affordable, on demand and remote and presential healthcare in Spain.
Company size: 11 to 50 employees
Funding: Unknown
About: Mediktor is the most accurate Artificial Intelligence medical assistant for triage and prediagnosis. Oscar García-Esquirol and Cristian Pascual founded Mediktor in 2011 and since then they lead a multidisciplinary team committed to improving the access to health throughout the world.
Company size: 11 to 50 employees
Funding: Mediktor has raised a total of $3m in funding over two rounds. Their latest funding was raised In October 2018 from a Series A round.
About: MediQuo provides patients with access to doctors and specialists 24/7. Contact consultations through your phone by live chat, call or video call. MediQuo allows doctors to prescribe their patients the medication they need so they can get them quickly and conveniently.
Company size: 11 to 50 employees
Funding: MediQuo has raised a total of €6.3m in funding over four rounds. Their latest funding was raised in April 2021 from a Series A round.
About: QIDA is a social impact company that provides quality care and monitoring, with special emphasis on the caregiver community. QIDA's vision is "to make the health and social system sustainable on a global scale by helping people in situations of dependency and/or chronicity to live "Longer, in better health and more quality of life at home."
Company size: 51 to 100 employees
Funding: Qida has raised a total of $5.5m in funding over two rounds. Their latest funding was raised in June 2020 from a Series A round.
Mental health
About: Psious is a virtual reality therapy platform for mental health professionals. Over 70 VR therapy environments that can be used as therapeutic tools as part of a treatment delivered by a mental health professional. So far, they’ve treated over 20,000 patients people through 160,000 VR therapy sessions.
Company size: 11 to 50 employees
Funding: Psious has raised a total of $5.7m in funding over six rounds. Their latest funding was raised in May 2019 from a Venture - Series Unknown round.
About: Koa Health’s digital wellbeing and therapeutics solutions combine the latest clinical research and breakthrough technologies to deliver mental health support that is accessible, personalized and effective across a range of conditions.
Company size: 51 to 100 employees
Funding: Koa Health has raised a total of €44.1m in funding over two rounds. Their latest funding was raised in February 2021 from a Series A round.
We want to do everything we can to help support these fantastic businesses and the work they’re doing.
If you belong to a tech for good startup and want to have a chat about how we could scale your Product or Tech teams, do get in touch at contact@confidotalent.com.
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Have we missed your favourites? Let us know on Twitter or LinkedIn, we’d love to hear from you!
Funding information taken from Crunch Base.