Spain’s rise as a key player in Europe’s tech ecosystem cannot be overlooked. Spanish tech startups were collectively valued at over €100bn in 2023, representing a 14 per cent growth year-on-year from 2022. We have undoubtedly gone from a tech minnow to an emerging European tech powerhouse.
The momentum of the last five years signals that the best is yet to come. But despite the recent huge strides forward, it’s only the tipping point of what promises to be a very exciting future. Here are four reasons why Spanish tech is a long way from reaching its peak.
Global investors are pouring capital into Spanish startups
Though we have never had a problem attracting tourists, our sunny shores now make Spain one of Europe’s top destinations for tech investors looking to park their capital. Consequently, Spain’s high-growth tech companies are no longer simply budding underdogs.
A decade ago, an international fund investing in a Spanish tech startup was, frankly, unheard of. But in more recent years, the landscape has done a full 180. In 2023, we raised €2.2B across more than 850 funding rounds across varying levels of investment (from rounds below €15m to those surpassing €100M). This surge in funding has enabled Spain to become the fourth-largest European hub for investment in early-stage companies. Something that would have been unthinkable in the early 2010s.
The number of unicorns on our books – 18 to date – reflects the strength, resilience, and innovative potential of our startup landscape. With companies like Glovo and Cabify recently achieving billion-dollar valuations, Spain has firmly established itself as a truly competitive global tech big hitter.
With investors increasingly looking beyond traditional European tech hubs, Spain has very rapidly positioned itself as an extremely viable choice for building scalable, high-growth tech companies.
The Startup Law can be a major catalyst for entrepreneurial endeavours
In 2022, Spain took a significant entrepreneurial step forward as a nation by introducing The Startup Law. Designed to make it easier for entrepreneurs to start and scale their businesses, as well as making Spain a more appealing place for venture capitalists to invest, it introduced various new favourable legislative elements.
Among the key changes, the law slashed corporate tax rates for startups, simplified the business registration process, and introduced tax exemptions for stock options, making Spain a more alluring home for tech entrepreneurs. It even went so far as to streamline the visa process for international talent, attracting the best and the brightest from around the world to join Spain’s growing tech evolution.
Though this policy shift marked a seemingly critical turning point in the Spanish legislative stance on entrepreneurship, I believe it is – and needs to be – only the beginning. To continue thriving, growing, and building, Spain must build on this momentum by introducing more policies that support long-term innovation.
A decentralised ecosystem will prevent innovation in isolation
One of Spain’s greatest strengths lies in the decentralisation of its tech scene. Talent and opportunities are arguably more evenly distributed across multiple cities than in other European tech hubs, such as the UK or France.
Our multi-hub model reduces the reliance on a single tech cluster in one city or region, thus ensuring that we remain geographically diversified. Madrid leads in corporate tech and AI, Barcelona is renowned for mobile and software startups, Valencia is pioneering in sustainability tech, and Málaga is fast becoming a cybersecurity hub.
What’s more, the Spain Digital Agenda 2026 aims to strengthen collaboration and cement ties between our cities, ensuring that talent, knowledge, and resources flow seamlessly between regions, creating a more robust and dynamic climate for emerging tech.
An unstoppable and unmatched talent pipeline
Spain is rapidly becoming a leader in talent development, with our universities playing a pivotal role in the tech space’s growth. Not only do academic institutions such as the Polytechnic University of Catalonia and the University of Barcelona produce highly skilled graduates, but they are now also big hitters in European research initiatives like Horizon Europe. Collectively, this is driving innovation in fields like AI, robotics, and renewable energy.
We have also seen a rise in academic spinouts, with universities incubating successful tech startups in sectors such as biotech and SaaS. The Barcelona Supercomputing Centre is a key asset, which is recognised worldwide for its high-performance computing capabilities. These robust engineering and research foundations are providing the Spanish tech space with the highly skilled talent needed to fuel future growth and technological advances.
What’s next then? Ongoing nurturing of our homegrown talent expanded access to capital, and renewed support for forward-thinking policies that place our national entrepreneurial spirit at the heart of economic prosperity. With collaboration across cities and sectors, Spanish tech can truly lead the next wave of European innovation.
About the author
Julio Martínez is the Co-founder and CEO of Abacum, a company focused on automating Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A) to improve revenue forecasting and cost control.
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