The Hottest Startups in Barcelona

5th September 2018 – Separatist tensions notwithstanding, Barcelona remains one of the continent’s key innovation hubs — especially in the mobile, e-commerce and social media sectors.

Thanks to a solid infrastructure and top-notch talent, as of 2017 the Catalan capital was Europe’s fifth city by number of startups (around 1,100), coming only after London, Paris, Berlin and Dublin. In that year, Barcelona startups raked in €453 million (£399m) in investment. “Founders are attracted to Barcelona for lifestyle reasons. It’s a very welcoming city for foreigners,” says Jaime Novoa, an investor at VC firm K Fund. “Hopefully, in the next five years we’ll see some very big exits, which are necessary for the ecosystem to continue growing.”

Red Points

Red Points’ software harnesses machine learning and computer vision to spot images of counterfeits or pirated media content online, helping brands and content owners fight back against intellectual-property infringements. Launched in 2012, the startup now employs 75 people (65 more hires are in the pipeline for 2018) and has more than 300 customers, including household brands such as media conglomerate Universal and sunglasses manufacturer Hawkers (WIRED publisher Condé Nast is also a customer). The company raised a $12 million (£9m) round from Northzone in January 2018, taking the total amount raised to £19 million since its inception. redpoints.com