The American accelerator Braid Theory chooses Barcelona to set up its European headquarters

Barcelona reaffirms itself as the epicenter of the blue economy. The American accelerator Braid Theory has chosen the Catalan capital to open its European base and boost startups that offer technological solutions aimed at the sustainability of oceans and the environment. The company will locate its first headquarters outside Los Angeles in the BlueTechPort, the blue economy innovation hub of the Port of Barcelona.

The company sees the Catalan capital as "the ideal city" for expansion. "Barcelona is a strategic place to become our European hub, thanks to the strategic role that the blue economy plays for the local economy, the existing business fabric, and the facilities and projects being deployed, such as the port," highlighted Ann Carpenter, its CEO. The executive also emphasized the powerful biotechnological ecosystem of the Catalan capital, in addition to the existing initiatives in the city for the promotion of smart cities and ports.

Globally, the company has a dozen employees and plans to incorporate three more in its new Barcelona headquarters. From the Catalan capital, Braid Theory plans to boost, during its first year, up to a dozen emerging companies that offer innovative technological solutions applicable in the Mediterranean. The objective is to help these companies "to establish and grow to accelerate them, but also to continue accompanying them beyond so that they can promote their transformative technology and bring it to the market," explained Carpenter.

From the Port of Barcelona, Braid Theory will accompany and accelerate Catalan and Southern European companies, but the idea is also to promote projects from the United States and Canada with which they already have a relationship and want to expand throughout the Mediterranean. Since its creation in 2016, this American company has boosted more than 70 emerging companies.

The legacy of the America's Cup

The growth of the blue economy is one of the legacies that, half a year after the America's Cup, reaffirm the impact of the sporting event on the Catalan capital. The Cup, despite not repeating in Barcelona, positioned the city's sea as a privileged space and an opportunity, not only in sporting terms, but also economic. According to Acció data, almost 1,100 companies work on projects related to the sea and sustainability. A dynamic sector, as close to four out of ten companies (38%) are less than ten years old, and which already generates more than 5,550 million euros and employs almost 24,000 people.

The Port of Barcelona is one of the city's spaces that, thanks to the effect of the America's Cup, is working to position the city as a blue economy hub with its new BlueTechPort space. The facilities, located in the old sheds of the Sant Bertran dock, have been, since November, home to the company Ocean Ecostructures, and now also to the American company Braid Theory.

But the incorporation of this Los Angeles company is not an isolated event. The space starts 2025 with two other new companies in its spaces: Barcelona Clúster Náutico ---a company with a decade of experience in promoting the nautical sector--- and CT Naval ---an association of innovative companies in the maritime and naval sector---. In total, among the four companies already installed in the BlueTechPort, they add up to about thirty workers and occupy a third of the 1,500 square meters available.