Who’s who in the Barcelona startup scene
New to the Barcelona startup scene? Whether you’re here to start your own company and find investors for your project or you just want to mingle with the startup community, you need to know who the bastions of the local ecosystem are.
We’ve rounded up 30 of the most influential personalities of this space – and we’re sharing them with you so you can start stalking them on LinkedIn. They are all thought leaders within their own fields, they are committed to pushing Barcelona forward as a tech hub, and they have all invested a lot of their time and effort to make sure the ecosystem thrives.
From investors to community shapers and the most inspiring entrepreneurs, these are the people you should follow if you really want to get to know the Barcelona startup scene.
Community builders
Adriana Freitas
Adriana has extensive operational experience in the telecom industry building and managing teams and projects. She is not only a master business developer, she’s also a keen-eyed talent scout; Adriana is the founder of Muster Ventures – part VC, part Liquid Agency with “The Best Minds and Capital for Tech Driven Companies. She is not just good at networking: she invented it. If you go to a startup event in Barcelona and she’s not there, there’s something wrong.
Àlex Rodriguez Bacardit
As a Startup Grind Regional Director, Àlex is responsible for the expansion of the Startup Grind brand in Southern Europe, and as head of the Barcelona Chapter, he’s a key figure in connecting and empowering the local startup community. Oh, by the way, he’s also the CEO and founder at the software development agency MarsBased.
Carlos Cruz Rastrojo
If it wasn’t for Carlos, we might have to live without events like Startup Grind and Fuckup Nights. He’s the Founder and Event Manager at iyi, the event consulting company that makes our favourite after-work meetups and some big conferences possible. As Co-Director of the Barcelona Chapter of Startup Grind and Engagement Coordinator at 4YFN, Carlos is the uncrowned king of startup events in Barcelona.
Ben Nachoom
Ben is a Co-Founder and CEO at OneCoWork, one of the coolest coworking spaces in Barcelona. With the help of his team, they’ve created a truly exciting collaborative space that welcomes everyone from freelancers to startups and bigger companies – and they’re also contributing to the ecosystem by hosting some of the city’s best meetups. The new OneCoWork building near Plaza Catalunya is home to the Hubbub Labs team and houses a bunch of fantastic companies, like N26’s Barcelona team. Read more about Ben and OneCoWork in our Barna Hub interview!
Scott Mackin
You may know Scott as the Founder of Barcinno, one of Barcelona’s most important online platforms sharing the events and news of the local tech and startup ecosystem. Aside from running his own digital and content marketing agency, he’s also joined the team at OneCoWork. A frequent speaker at events, Scott is an active mover and shaker of the Barcelona startup scene.
Thomas Ohr
Thomas is the CEO of Eu-Startups.com, the leading online publication for startup-related news in Europe. Since he relocated to Barcelona in 2017, he’s been running EU-Startups from here and helping to cement the city’s international reputation by organizing the annual EU-Startups Summit in Barcelona.
Alexander Chacon
Alex is the Founder of Startup my Rooftop, a monthly series of networking sessions on the most iconic rooftops of Barcelona. As an event organizer, Alex not only provides us with the most spectacular views of the city, he’s also active in forging the community and making sure that we all have a place to connect and hang out in the company of other entrepreneurs and startup enthusiasts.
Leaders of startup and digital organizations
Aleix Valls
Aleix served as the CEO of Mobile World Capital Barcelona until 2017. Now, he dedicates his time to running LiquiD, an organization that helps companies adapt to the digital age, as Founder and CEO. He’s an expert in digital transformation, innovation, launching new companies, business strategy and startup investment.
Miquel Martí
Miquel is the CEO of Barcelona Tech City, one of the most important organizations for startups in Barcelona that, with the help of the city council, aims to promote the city as an international tech hub. Through Barcelona Tech City, Miquel works together with entrepreneurs, startups, investors, corporates, universities, incubators, and accelerators to strengthen the foundations of the digital business sphere in Barcelona.
Pere Condom-Vilà
Pere is a prominent figure in business management and technological entrepreneurship who has always combined his work with teaching and research. As the Director of the Entrepreneurship Program of the Government of Catalonia (Programa Catalunya Emprèn), he is one of the most important thought leaders in this space. He also runs an excellent blog where he writes about the ins and outs of the Barcelona startup ecosystem.
Esteban Redolfi
Esteban served as the Programme Director of 4YFN, Barcelona’s annual startup conference, before becoming the Digital Future Society Director at Mobile World Capital Barcelona. He is involved in engaging different players in the ecosystem to build a bright future in the digital era. The DFS programme is an ambitious global think tank that connects experts, policymakers, civic organizations and entrepreneurs to tackle the legal and ethical challenges and grasp the opportunities of digital transformation.
Carina Lopes
Carina is the Director of the Digital Future Society Think Tank, the social impact programme that aims to accelerate the digital transformation of society. Her area of expertise is digital transformation, urban & social innovation, government innovation, and culture and sustainability policy.
Investors
Miguel Valls
Miguel is one of the most well-known investors in Barcelona. He has founded three venture capital firms and is one of the most experienced experts in business strategy, analysis and execution. His areas of interest are internet, eCommerce, fintech, blockchain, life sciences and education. He is the Board Director at Barcelona Tech City.
Carlos Blanco
Carlos is a serial entrepreneur and VC investor who exclusively invests in Spanish seed-stage startups. He’s known for ventures like Glovo and has invested in a few currently hot startups like Housfy, Finteca, and Eelp! through Nuclio Venture Builder. He’s also a Founder and Chairman at Conector and VP and Co-Founder at Barcelona Tech City.
Angel García
Angel has extensive experience in investing in technology ventures. His portfolio currently boasts 40 companies in Europe and the US. He has a soft spot for AI, data analytics and SaaS companies. He is a Founding Partner at Lanta Capital, a European early-stage venture capital fund, and Startupbootcamp Internet of Things & Data, a global network of industry-focused startup accelerators. He teaches courses on entrepreneurship at various business schools.
Luis Martín Cabiedes
Luis is one of the most well-known investors in not just Barcelona, but all of Spain. He’s famous for his work as a VC with Cabiedes and Partners, but he prefers to think of himself as an angel investor. His track record includes BlaBlaCar, Chicfy, Uvinum, Tiendeo, Kantox, SocialCar and Deporvillage, and many other Internet startups. He’s based in Madrid but he spends a significant amount of time in Barcelona and has made huge contributions to the ecosystem, not just through his investments: he also teaches entrepreneurship at IESE Business School in Barcelona.
Miguel Vicente
Miguel is a Co-Founder and Chairman at Antai Venture Builder, the leading venture builder in Southern Europe that sprouts new online and mobile businesses like mushrooms. Miguel co-founded several, now internationally successful Barcelona startups like Deliberry, JustBell (merged with Glovo in 2015), CornerJob and Wallapop. He is Chairman at Barcelona Tech City and a Co-Founder and Mentor at Conector Startup Accelerator.
Christopher Pommerening
Christopher is an entrepreneur and investor who has contributed to the Barcelona startup ecosystem with many amazing projects. He founded Entrepreneur’s Organization Spain, he is a Co-Founder and Board Member at Barcelona Tech City, a Strategic Advisor at Mobile World Capital and a Founding Partner at Active Venture Partners. These days, he’s focusing on his passion project Our Dream School and designing a new, innovative school model that has the potential to make the world a better place.
Victor Horcasitas
Victor is an investor, advisor and board observer at numerous technology startups. He raises capital, turns around failing companies and growth hacks startups to success, while also acting as a bridge between Europe and the USA. His latest venture is a bit different: he’s recently taken over the direction of the popular expat magazine Barcelona Metropolitan.
Jaime Novoa
As a tech journalist turned investor, Jaime knows the ins and outs of the Spanish startup world better than the back of his ink-stained hand. After working for several tech publications and running Novobrief, an English-language platform covering the Spanish startup ecosystem from an analytical and critical perspective, he now operates as an investor at K Fund – but you can still catch him going back to his journalistic roots once a week when he sends out the popular Novobrief newsletter.
Entrepreneurs
Helena Torras
Helena is a serial entrepreneur who currently runs B-wom as Co-founder and CEO. She and her team have created an app to empower women by helping them take control of their intimate health and acting as a digital coach. Helena is an inspiring role model for young women. She often speaks out for female entrepreneurs and advocates the importance of women in tech. She is also a Member of the Board at Barcelona Tech City.
Mar Alarcón
Mar is the CEO and Founder of SocialCar, the first peer-to-peer car rental company in Spain. She is a devoted supporter of the sharing economy and has a passion for social projects and environmentally friendly businesses. She is an idol for many young women and has been featured in Eu-startups’ Top 50 most influential women in the European startup space. Read more about Mar and her mission in our Barna Hub interview!
Carlota Pi
As a Co-Founder and Executive President at HolaLuz, Carlota is responsible for the green energy company’s strategy, marketing, and fundraising. She often gives speeches at tech events in Barcelona and is known for her undying passion and her exceptional skills to transmit that passion to others.
Oscar Pierre
Oscar is the CEO and Co-founder of Glovo, the immensely popular delivery app. He’s in his early twenties and he’s already known as one of the most influential entrepreneurs in Barcelona. He often appears in the media – along with Glovo Co-Founder Sacha Michaud – and you can also catch him speaking at conferences about his experience with building Glovo.
Eduardo Manchón
Eduardo is an entrepreneur with a fantastic track record of exits: his previous startups, Panoramio.com and Loquo.com were both acquired by tech giants (the former by Google and the latter by eBay). Eduardo is now leading a Barcelona startup with over 2.5 million users as CEO and Founder at Mailtrack.io.
Cecilia Tham
Cecilia is a multifaceted entrepreneur and a true visionary who will not take no for an answer. She’s the Founder of FabCafe Barcelona – part coffee shop, part digital fabrication lab – and the coworking space called MOB. She represents Barcelona in several different roles: she’s the Chapter Leader of Singularity University Barcelona and works together with the City Council to promote Barcelona as a technology hub. She also cares about shaping the future of women in tech: she co-founded FutureFunded which has evolved into AllWomen, an organization that provides immersive AI and tech specialization courses for women. Recently, she’s also taken on the role of Social Technologist at Telefonica’s innovation hub Alpha to work on Moonshots.
Agustin Gomez
Augustin is a Co-Founder and past CEO at Wallapop, the hottest marketplace app made in Barcelona. The second-hand peer-to-peer network is one of the local ecosystem’s biggest successes to date, and Agustin’s experience building it is invaluable to all entrepreneurs who are eager to learn about fast-scaling, high-growth startups.
Marketing and UX Geniuses
Sançar Şahin
As VP of Marketing at Typeform, Sançar is leading one of Barcelona’s highest-performing marketing teams. The SaaS startup is known for its brilliant marketing moves and ingenious email marketing strategy, which contributes a lot to “making forms a little more human”. He believes in storytelling and conversations, and his philosophy has brought some undeniably great results to Typeform.
Mario Ferrer
As a Senior UX Writer at King, Mario is one of our UX writing heroes. His take on microcopy is something all copywriters and marketers should be aware of – if you get the chance to hear him speak on the topic, don’t miss out. Mario is part of the Product team in charge of building a new network experience for King’s 300+ million players.
Tim Cakir
Tim is the only growth expert you’ll ever need in your life. He recently founded his own agency named Tracking n Hacking, and he’s on a mission to help startups and tech companies grow at an unprecedented rate. He is also a public speaker who is always ready to help and is super generous with his marketing hacks – he’ll give away a few of his secrets during his speeches and tell you the rest over a couple of beers. Check out the interview we did with him!
Who’s your favorite startup personality in Barcelona? Who inspires you? Is there anyone we’re missing from our list of thought leaders? Let us know!
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