The fund linked to Factorial will invest in 40 'startups' and receives 200 applications in one month

"We want to generate a technological ecosystem that empowers startups and entrepreneurs who are taking risks in this field." The vice president of Factorial, Marcel Queralt, thus summarizes the objectives of the new investment fund Itnig Capital, which he has promoted together with Bernat Farrero and Jordi Romero, two of the three founders of Factorial.

The three executives of the business software company, which became a unicorn in 2022, have launched the venture capital fund with the forecast that it will invest a total of 15 million euros, which will be allocated to about forty startups. The figure will depend on the investment allocated to each of them, with tickets ranging between 100,000 and 250,000 euros per company.

The investment fund focuses on technology, and especially on business software startups, although it is not closed to other projects. "It is essential that one of the founders has a technical profile, and also that there is a technological product." It does not have to have a minimum number of clients or be in a certain commercialization phase, but "it has to have achieved something; we are looking for a product that is already working, and that tells you the potential it can have," according to Queralt.

Thus, the fund aims to "help entrepreneurs from Barcelona who have a lot of ambition and want to conquer the world." Doing it from the Catalan capital is a relevant factor: "Competitively, we have brutal talent in Barcelona and at a national level, and there is no need to go abroad to look for talent or technology companies." In fact, the Factorial executives behind the fund are looking for startups like Factorial itself: "We have grown from Barcelona but in terms of clients and capital we have gone all over the world. Now, we are looking for founders with the ambition to have a global impact, from here."

The fund is now focused on raising capital until it reaches these 15 million euros. "We are raising capital, but at the same time we are already investing." And the venture capital fund has already started with a dozen startups in its portfolio. Among them are Dealcar, which digitizes second-hand car dealerships, with 150,000 euros in convertible loan. Also included among the fund's first investments are Syra Coffee, with 150,000 euros for 1.3% of the specialty coffee company, and Bejaofit, with 150,000 euros for 2.3% of this training app.

Following the announcement of the fund's launch a month ago, this technological ecosystem has responded quickly: more than 200 startups have contacted to submit applications for their projects. "We have been very active since the fund was announced," assures Queralt, who guarantees that both the fund and the Barcelona technological ecosystem are now "in a sweet spot, where many entrepreneurs want to take risks." In this context, the fund aims to be attentive to these initiatives to "generate opportunities and be the first to trust an entrepreneur."

To select startups, Itnig Capital will not have to undertake any search process: "We start more from networking than from going to look for them; it happens organically." The fund has already begun operating embedded in the ecosystem itself, through Factorial but also through Itnig's work, which has been working for more than a decade to boost companies in the sector with events, coworking spaces, and a podcast about entrepreneurs. With this work, the company "generates a community that will now be revalued at an ecosystem level" with the fund.

"The fund is just another piece in the path of building this ecosystem and the platform that Itnig represents to be a voice for entrepreneurs," Queralt emphasized. Thus, "everything is interconnected with the vision of generating an ecosystem." And this ecosystem is articulated without a closed calendar for the fund, because "it cannot be forced, and the entrepreneur appears when they appear, and you have to be ready when they do."

Factorial's executives have launched the fund at a time of growth for the Barcelona unicorn, which exceeds 12,000 clients with its software for companies. "The intention is to continue multiplying growth," Queralt highlighted. The company, which does not communicate revenue data, aims to continue growing in the markets where it already operates, both in Europe and the United States, with its tools to facilitate the daily lives of small and medium-sized companies. "Many still work with Excel, paper and pen, and we have to automate processes to be more competitive," Queralt summarizes.

"SMEs must gain competitiveness, both in Barcelona in particular and in Europe in general," Queralt highlighted. They precisely want to move in this direction with Factorial, and now also with the new investment fund, which has started with a clear purpose: to build the Internet companies of the future from Barcelona.