The Startup Capital aid line created by Acció, the agency for competitiveness of the Department of Business and Labor of the Generalitat, has allowed the creation of up to 500 jobs since its launch in 2017. The four calls for aid opened so far have had a total budget of 8.4 million euros that have been invested in 86 emerging Catalan technology companies, mostly from the deep tech subsector.
In total, these startups have raised more than 33.5 million euros in private investment and 39.5 million from public bodies during this period. Acció's Startup Capital line grants direct aid of up to 75,000 euros per company to finance growth in its earliest phase and help them in the process of reaching the market.
"From the public sector, we must support the first months of life of startup projects with a strong technological and transformative component, especially deep tech, which is when they must face more risk, so that they can survive, grow and raise rounds from private investors," explains the general director of Innovation and Entrepreneurship of the Generalitat, Lluís Juncà. In his opinion, "these technologies are fundamental to solve the challenges we will have to face throughout the 21st century such as decarbonizing the economy, delaying aging or feeding 10 billion people on a drier planet."
The 86 startups benefiting from the aid develop technologies in the fields of health (32.1%), digitalization (30.4%), environment (15.2%), manufacturing (11.6%), food (6.3%) and mobility (4.5%). In the latest call for this aid line, Acció has allocated almost 2 million euros to 25 new Catalan technology startups born during the pandemic. These are Insfeed Biotech, Apolo Analytics, Real Deal Milk, Affirma Biotech, LuxQuanta Technologies, Process Talks, Mapsi Photonics, Sixsenso Technologies, Aldoratech, MicrowaveSensors and Electronics, Keybotic, Trialing Health, A Thousand Colibris, TheSmart Lollipop, Treellum Technologies, Uni-large, Health Circuit, ManinaMedtech, Feedmyfeeds, United Gamers, Keep Life Simple, Bio2coat, Eos SmartConnectivity, Algeko Technologies and Lobelia Earth.
According to a study recently presented by Acció, there are currently 1,900 startups in Catalonia (2021), 11.4% more than in 2020 and 26.4% more than in 2019, before the pandemic. The report indicates that Catalan emerging companies employ 19,300 people, 10% more than in 2019. That is, in 2020, 1,800 new jobs were created in Catalan emerging companies, despite the situation caused by the health crisis.