Barcelona leads the funding raised by 'deeptech startups' in Southern Europe

Barcelona has positioned itself as the main city in Southern Europe in funding raised by deeptech startups, with 457 million euros captured in the 2017-2021 period. According to a report by Acció, the Catalan capital occupies the seventh position when looking at Europe as a whole, where the ranking is led by Stockholm, with 5,225 million euros, Paris, with 3,264 million euros, and Berlin, with 2,855 million euros.

A few days before the end of the fiscal year, these types of emerging companies have raised 159 million euros this year alone in Catalonia. This is one of the highest figures in the historical series, only behind that of 2020, when 170 million euros were raised. The main investments have been led by companies such as SpliceBio, with 50 million euros; Submer, with 30 million euros; Peptomyc, with 26 million euros or Amelia, with 7 million euros.

The resources obtained have nourished the almost 300 deeptech startups in Catalonia, 15% of the entire entrepreneurial ecosystem. These companies, focused on developing scientific and technological disruptions, have a turnover of 124 million euros and generate more than 1,700 highly qualified jobs. Most have been created in the last five years and almost 90% are located in the metropolitan area of Barcelona. By sectors, biotechnology and artificial intelligence are the ones that bring together the most companies, with 40% and 23%, respectively. Behind them are those dedicated to frontier materials, robotics, photonics, batteries, supercomputing, and blockchain.

A total of 124 emerging companies are spin-offs, a figure that represents 42.6% of the total. Beyond companies, the deeptech ecosystem is accompanied by about forty research centers and universities, among them, the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC), the Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO), the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG), the Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2), the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) or the Institute of High Energy Physics (IFAE).

To strengthen this type of company, Acció will launch a deeptech co-investment fund, with a total budget of 2.5 million euros. It will do so together with venture capital funds and business angels specialized in the sector. Taking into account that these companies are characterized by high technological and market risk, the new instrument will grant them a ten-year loan, with a four-year grace period, for a maximum amount of 250,000 euros. 20% of the amount will be granted as a non-repayable grant.