Just a decade ago when someone said they were going to set up a startup, the usual thing was a look of surprise, some disdain and, at most, a brief “a start what?” The reaction worsened if the entrepreneur was young and betting on intangible businesses, linked to new technologies or cutting-edge scientific developments.
Currently, according to the data published in the report prepared by South Summit and PWC, in Spain there are some 12,041 startups, which employ nearly 160,000 people. Their joint value amounts to 93,000 million dollars.
But ten years ago few glimpsed the future of these daring business projects. Banco Sabadell did understand that this new company format would have a prominent role and in a very short time. This is how BStartup was born, a banking service, pioneer in our country, specialized in providing services to startups and scale ups.
“In these 10 years the ecosystem has matured and consolidated. When we reached a sufficient critical mass of projects and the first success stories, international investors for Series A and B arrived. Later we saw the first rounds of hundreds of millions of euros and the first Spanish unicorns (startups valued at more than 1,000 million euros)”, recalls Yolanda Pérez, director of BStartup.
Its main clients are digital businesses, but more and more clients from the health sector, deep tech and so-called ‘impact investments’ are joining this portfolio, companies with sustainability or solidarity projects linked to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Since 2013 the dreams of 4,500 startups have passed through his hands.
From the outset, it was clear to BStartup that you had to speak a different language, act differently and, above all, move fast. They designed specific products and services for this type of client, they opened specific offices with professionals with specific training and a specific risk circuit. “They understand the phases of development and the financial needs of these types of companies. Many of them are capital-intensive companies that sacrifice profitability in their phase of scalability or accelerated growth. This implies that their balance sheets and operating accounts have very different casuistry and require a different analysis to work with the Bank. For this reason, the risk circuit that analyzes operations with these companies is also specialized in startups”, Pérez points out.
But they also venture to invest in those startups in the seed phase with the greatest growth potential. To date they have opted for 85 startups, making this division of Banco Sabadell one of the main investors in our country in this type of company. “We invest in about 10 companies a year, between 100,000 and 150,000 euros, normally in joint venture with other venture capital funds,” says the director of BStartup.
Of those 85, 66 are still in his portfolio, including RedPoints, Exoticca, Cobee, Signaturit, Cafler, Qida, Incapto Coffee, APlanet, Essentialist, Mondo, Amphora, Inbrain Neurolectronics, Admit Therapeutics, Oxolife, Miwendo, Dive Medical, Thytech, TimeisBrain, MOA Foodtech, Wegaw… “Many today are large companies and leaders in their sector. In addition to investment, as partners that we are, we help them with financial and strategic advice, contacts with potential clients, investors…”, Pérez points out. Nine of its investees attended the recent edition of South Summit held in Madrid with BStartup.
That tagline that we have all found when going to pay in many electronic stores or fast food restaurants is the success formula of Worldcoo, a Spanish startup that was the first seed sponsored by BStartup.
The company led by Sergi Figueres and Aureli Bou has just been acquired by Glovo within its Impact Fund project, although the total amount of the operation has not been disclosed. The figures that Worldcoo moves are known: they process some 100,000 micro-donations daily that have allowed 55 million euros to be allocated to finance 735 humanitarian projects, from aid to those most affected by the covid pandemic to cooperation with refugees from Ukraine. In 2021 the company entered the select Olympus of unicorn startups.
In the last edition of the South Summit, Figueres confirmed the agreement and his pride in becoming part of the Glovo family: “States cannot assume all humanitarian aid. The future of NGOs is micro-donations and being part of Glovo gives us the opportunity to grow and access international markets. Our vision is to use technology to make a better world and to be the leaders in planning solidarity projects”.
Entering the universe of startups implies preparing for dizzying numbers. “You learn to make risky decisions, to make big investments. With Glovo we have invested in 40 markets and closed in 15. Failing is part of the game to grow”, says Oscar Pierre, CEO of Glovo. Having a bank that supports and promotes vision and 3600 tools at each of the stages is key to surfing the waves of the markets with guarantees.
“In the seed stages we offer an advanced payment platform that covers all online sales needs designed to optimize conversion, a specific card to facilitate supplier payments, online marketing, specialized civil liability insurance, technological equipment leasing, support in capital increase operations…”, explains Pérez about the interventions during the first steps of a startup, the ‘seed’ phase. To these strategies we must add financing, advance collections, payments and subsidies, lines of credit and even “investment in equity through our investment vehicle BStartup10”.
If things flow, the next step is to scale, that is, to replicate the model in larger dimensions to produce more and reach more markets. “Scale ups may need all of the above, although with much higher volumes and greater complexity, with specific products such as Venture Debt or credits to undertake important investments, or such as the Media for Equity loan, to finance the VAT on media investment . And, of course, solutions for international operations. The investment vehicle Sabadell Venture Capital also offers investment in equity in these stages”, Pérez points out.
The third and final stage is that of maturity (maturity in slang). Pérez emphasizes that “here we are dealing with companies that, in addition, may require structured or syndicated financing services, and all the experience of the entity in investment banking.”
