In the last month we have seen venture capital divestments in Spanish companies, some of which, such as the sale of Tyba, have been beneficial for investors. Others, such as the sale of Otogami, have been made so that the company can continue its activity.
Sunstone Capital and Impulse International divest from Tyba
Tyba is a recruitment platform focused on young talent (universities and business schools) looking to work in startups and technology companies. This company was founded in 2011 by a group of students from IE Business School, and until now its investors have been Sunstone Capital, Denmark's leading technology venture capital fund with assets valued at over €500M and Kuwait's Impulse.
Tyba had previously raised two rounds of funding, one in 2013 and another $3.1M 2014, in which the company was valued at €13.5M and now announces that it will Graduateland, the Danish leader in job search for university students has taken over the company.
The online employment sector in Spain has been very active in terms of venture capital movement in the last year. Top funders include Jobantalent , which raised $25M in 2015, CornerJob , which received 10M in February 2016 and Jobtoday, which has received another 10M.
8kdata technology buys Otogami for €500,000, owned by Vitaminak, Plug&play, Civeta, Faradayvp, Danka and Autentia.
8Kdata Technology has acquired 100% of the company's shares in the company Otogami Technologies 500,000, by transferring cash and shares to the current owners, in addition to assuming the company's accounting liabilities.
Otogami is a portal where users can compare the different prices of a video game and then buy the one with the best offer.
The startup, which was launched in October 2012, managed to raise, only a year after its birth, a seed financing round of 330,000 euros led by the fund Vitamin K, although their results were not entirely good.
In November 2014, the company received a further €366,000, of which €18,000 was a grant, while the remaining €348,000 was a loan.
Con un giro en su modelo de negocio, consiguieron ser rentables, pero necesitaban una nueva inyección de capital y para ello tenían que crecer más. Otogami, estaba en una situación medianamente frecuente para una ‘startup’ de internet: las ventas suben y la compañía es rentable, pero los beneficios (o en su defecto el crecimiento) no están aumentando lo suficiente como para que los inversores puedan estar interesados en una nueva inyección de capital.
Aunque una compañía no obtenga los resultados que quiere, hay muchos otros factores que pueden indicar su buena marcha: su capacidad de gestión, el potencial de su tecnología, el talento del equipo humano… Por eso, con cierta frecuencia una ‘startup’ que no crece lo suficiente despierta el interés de alguna otra empresa que quiera hacerse con alguno de sus otros ‘valores añadidos’.
The Otogami team decided to put the company up for sale and received offers from several companies. Finally, in April, 8KData took over the company.
For 8kdata, the attraction of Otogami Technologies lies in its human talent, as it counts among its ranks renowned technicians with extensive professional experience.
Acquihiring is an operation whereby a company buys another company to acquire the talent of its team and integrate it into its own workforce. This operation is very common in other technology markets, although it is still very rare in Spain.
If you are looking for financing, contact us, Abra-Invest has an expert team in alternative financing at your disposal, call + 34 946424142 or fill in the contact form.