Crowd equity platforms in Spain are growing, in 2013 they represented 20.7% of crowdfunding platforms and this year several companies have raised a significant amount of money thanks to this modality. In addition, foreign platforms have decided to come to Spain.
In recent years, the number of financing rounds in ICT security companies has grown considerably. In 2013, 201 rounds were closed in the sector for a total of 1850M$, which is more than the 838M$ raised the previous year in 157 deals.
The development of devices applied to healthcare received double the number of financing rounds in 2014, with 51 deals, compared to 21 in 2013. The sector is taking shape and there is still a long way to go before it reaches maturity. Proof of this is the small but growing number of acquisitions by corporations.
According to a study by Abra Invest, after years in which venture capital investments in the energy sector in Spain were scarce, activity is picking up again. In 2013, a total of 22 operations were carried out, 60% more than in 2012 and it seems that 2014 will follow this trend.
The use of new technologies in the tourism sector has many advantages when it comes to saving costs and reaching end customers. In recent years, several companies have been created in the sector that have been able to grow thanks to the support of investors who have seen an opportunity in the sector, and it is expected that this trend will continue to grow in the coming years.
In Spain there are more than 70 crowdfunding platforms, in the last year the growth of this method of financing has been spectacular, crowdfunding in Spain moved 30 million euros, more than double that of the previous year. Below is an analysis...
The government approves the draft law on the Promotion of Business Financing, which includes a high level of regulation on crowdfunding. Among the new features of the law is the distinction between qualified and non-qualified investors.
According to TTR Record data, American investors are increasingly active in Latin America. Since 2012, the number of US investments in the country has gradually increased from 109 deals in 2012 to 140 in 2014. The number of divestments has also grown by 53% in the last two years, from 28 deals in the first half of 2012 to 60 in the first half of 2014.
The technologies that make energy efficiency possible A recent study by McKinsey states that, over the next 20 years, at least $37 billion will be invested annually in energy efficiency, using the new technologies available. American investors have been investing in the sector for some years now, with very good results, such as Hannon Armstrong, which last year made its debut on the New York stock exchange, with notable success. In Spain, the first funds focused on this sector are already being created.
Since 2012, the biotechnology sector has received the most investment with 1.85Bn$ in 126 deals, accounting for 18% of total venture capital investment. However, investments in ICT-related companies are currently gaining momentum, especially in sectors such as analytics, fintech and online food and hotel services, where large deals have been made.
One of the main barriers to the growth of Spanish biotech companies is their small size (>95% less than 250 employees), which prevents them from accelerating their entry into foreign markets, for example. The main cause of this small size is due to the scarcity of funding or private investment. Although a specialised national biotech venture capital ecosystem is being generated and more and more deals are being closed with foreign investors, there is still much room for improvement.
Natural language processing (NLP) is a field of ICT that studies the interactions between computers and human language. The level of performance has improved substantially in recent years. As an effect of this phenomenon, during the last few...