Barcelona is the city to be for entrepreneurs. Both start-up companies and investors are finding their place to move their businesses into the international arena.
As tourists enjoy the Mediterranean climate and the extraordinary urban landscape, investors and entrepreneurs embody the other way of success of Barcelona. Entrepreneurship and technological ecosystems go beyond the urban and cosmopolitan image of the city and break up with the general economic apathy.
Barcelona is connected to every major European capital city, the culture of the city is globally known, and the quality of life of it is highly valued. These are the reasons why entrepreneurs and talented students from around the world choose the city for their new professional and personal stages.
Within the European enterprising context, Berlin has connections, London has tradition and Barcelona has personality. New York, Toronto and Madrid hold the hegemony of financial capital of their corresponding countries, but they need cities like San Francisco, Montreal and Barcelona which provide the creativity.
This attribute glows during economic crisis, with the city drawing the attention of talents, and seducing them to never let them go.
The Ecosystem for Start-up Companies
Like other European cities, Barcelona has found its place within the entrepreneurial map. A year ago, the Financial Times emphasized the importance of the city as a creator of working groups around congresses such as the Mobile World Congress.
The first element of this ecosystem for start-up companies is the existence of outstanding business schools like Esade or Iese. In the same way Silicon Valley has Stanford, Barcelona has a great source of future entrepreneurs.
It is also vitally important the leading figure of the mentor, a person who helps to get the right focus while he provides expertise on the profitability and development of the business.
Financial capital is the third element to keep in mind. This is given by equity instruments such as Nauta Capital, Active Venture Partners and Caixa Capital Risc, but there are also business angels like Finaves (Iese Business School) or Esade BAN (Esade Business School).
Business incubators and events for the development of new platforms are the fourth element. Barcelona Activa is a very good example of a business incubator, especially after the creation of the new Barcelona Growth Centre, where businesses are able to find all the services needed. FEST-UP! is undoubtedly the best event.
It is due to all of this that Barcelona is setting itself up as a magnetic pole for start-up companies which will become leaders of their corresponding areas.
A Few Successful Cases
The companies born in Barcelona belong to sectors as diverse as e-commerce, entertainment industry or classified advertising. Some of these businesses are set as an example for future start-up companies and they are living proof of the creative ability of Barcelona.
eDreams, Let’s Bonus and Wallapop are all good references within the e-commerce area.
eDreams is, without any doubt, a role model for many new start-up companies since it has become the biggest Spanish e-commerce company after being listed on the stock exchange. Subsequently, Let’s Bonus, an innovating collective purchase webpage in Spain and Europe, and even more recently Wallapop, which moves almost €2 million daily, rose to fame.
In the entertaining industry, companies like the newly bought by Japanese business Rakuten Wuaki.tv, which provides a wide choice of films and series to any gadget, and the €48-million-worth Social Point, a platform for online social games, stand out above the rest.
In the area of marketing and sales, we find companies like Social&Beyond, which links brands with customers using wireless networks. H&M, Nike and Häagen-Dazs are among its clients. Other companies are Scytl, which manages electoral technology and whose main investor is Microsoft’s Paul Allen, and ReviewPro, which provides the analysis of customers’ feedback to thousands of hotels.
Even classified advertising companies like Trovit have found their place. This online platform invoices €17.56 million every year. It has been recently bought by the Japanese company Next for €80 million.
These deals do not give benefits only to their founders, but also to those investors that took the risk and believed both in them and in the city that made them grow. It also means that new companies and projects are born to take the place of these companies.
Barcelona is the place to be for start-up companies!
