Telefonica open future: Corporate venture capital grows in Spain

15/03/2016
Diego Gutiérrez
Telefonica open future: Corporate venture capital grows in Spain
Corporate investment in new startups is a win-win solution for large corporations to incorporate new innovations and for startups to get the funding and expertise they need to grow their business. In an ever-changing world, companies have to constantly innovate to maintain their position in the market. At the same time, new companies are being created that develop cutting-edge products and services that require external capital to be successful. A few days ago we learned that Telefonica Open Future invested in 600 startups in 2015.

Telefonica Open future

It has been a good year for Open FutureTelefónica's open innovation programme, which closed 2015 as the largest corporate investor in Spain and one of the most prominent in Europe in Venture Capital, investing in more than 600 startups, compared to 315 a year and a half ago.
Investments were mainly made in the USA (68%), but also 9% in Spain, 11% in the rest of Europe, 13% in Latin America.
This year, several of Amerigo's investee companies have also received large rounds of financing such as Carto DB and Job & Talent21m and €23m respectively.
Wayra's startups have also shown great dynamism, arousing investor interest. In the last year and a half, there have been 7 exits or sales of investee companies, including the purchase of the Irish company Trustev by TransUnion, that of the Spanish Marfeel for Nauta Capital, Elaia Partners and BDMI, and the Argentinean ComentaTV, acquired by Wayin, which has allowed the initial investment to be multiplied by 22, 6 and 4 times, respectively.

Example of recent transactions in which corporate investors have participated
In November last year, we learned that Iberdorlathrough the corporate venture capital fund Perseo, invested together with the CDTI in Atten2 Advanced Monitoring Technologies. Atten2 is focused on the design, manufacture and marketing of sensors for monitoring the state of fluids, mainly oil, in industrial applications.
In January of this year we learned that Aelix Therapeutics, a Catalan company, received a €11.5 million round of funding for its research into the creation of a therapeutic vaccine. Among the investors, in addition to Ysios Capital and Caixa Capital Risk the corporate fund has also participated Johnson & Johnson Innovationwho will bring his expertise to the market.

If you are looking for financing, contact us. Abra-Invest has a team of experts in alternative financing at your disposal. Call + 34 946424142 or fill in the contact form. 

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