In recent years, Spanish startups have been involved in different rounds of financing together with countless investors around the world, interested in each of their innovative proposals with a view to continuing to increase their value and economically strengthening each of their medium-sized projects. or long term. Some of them have received so much support that they have managed to achieve unicorn startup status.
But what is a unicorn company? Within the venture capital industry, the term "unicorn" is applied to a private equity company that reaches a valuation of $1 billion or more without going public.
These unicorn companies, once they are incorporated and start operations, usually achieve this amount in their growth stage, a year after their launch (generally a year after the start-up of the project). It is important to clarify that once a startup formally enters the Stock Market, it automatically loses its “unicorn” status. For example, at the time, technology giants such as Facebook, Google or Twitter were considered unicorn companies before listing on the Stock Exchange, since they had reached at least 1,000 million dollars.
Spain is not far behind when it comes to unicorn companies, with a large number of ventures that have had the support of large companies and organizations worldwide. These have been the Spanish startups that have overcome the barrier of 1,000 million valuation:
Currently valued at 1,400 million dollars, Cabify was founded in 2011, offering in a single app a complete experience for private passengers and drivers in which technology and transport go hand in hand, guaranteeing customers a safe, geolocated trip. , with the best drivers duly identified, the most modern cars, the best rates and, above all, the possibility for passengers to easily select their travel preferences.
It also offers special plans for companies: within the same application, you can control all your expenses, follow your trips in real time and also set your own limits in terms of prices, zones and hours.
Copado became the new Spanish unicorn in 2021 by closing a financing round of 140 million dollars (120 million euros) in September, thus exceeding a valuation of 1,000 million dollars.
This startup is a development platform for Salesforce, which is aimed at both SMEs and large companies. Use SaaS services (Software in the cloud) to eliminate bugs and boost product launches. In short, Copado works covering the different aspects within the operational development process.
Devo is a cloud-native data security and analytics company. This company has developed a real-time data analysis platform in the cloud that, although companies can use it for different purposes (such as monitoring the performance of their services, for example), ends up being the main source safety.
In October, Devo became a unicorn after a $250M Series E funding round, achieving a $1.5bn valuation, making it the first cybersecurity startup in Spain to achieve such status.
The Spanish have in Glovo a great ally in terms of home orders. Founded by Oscar Pierre and Sacha Michaud in Barcelona, the company got down to work at the service of the population to bring their orders to the door of their homes. Food, shopping, gifts, whatever you fancy... There will always be a delivery man ready to deliver your order in minutes. Currently, it is valued at $1 billion.
One of the top benchmarks in the real estate sector in Spain, idealista is a company with more than 20 years in the real estate market. It was founded in 2000 in Madrid and is responsible for providing support to approximately 40,000 real estate agents and 38 million monthly unique visitors in southern Europe, through online classified ads for home buyers and sellers.
In September 2020, idealista was acquired by the Swedish fund EQT for 1,321 million euros, becoming the largest operation recorded in the history of the Spanish digital sector, elevating the platform to the category of a unicorn company.
When we talk about Jobandtalent, we are first and foremost a benchmark for Internet job searches in Spain. This online job search engine was founded by Felipe Navío, Felix Ruiz and Juan Urdiales in 2008, seeking to fill the need of many people to find work from their computers.
Currently, in addition to Spain, Jobandtalent has a presence in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Sweden, Mexico and Colombia. In October of this year, its valuation rose to 2,070 million euros after a round of financing for 40 million euros.
It is an app dedicated to the sale of second-hand products (electronics, cars and collectibles, accommodation, clothing and furniture, etc.), combining technologies such as image recognition with an intuitive design. Letgo was founded in 2015 by Alec Oxenford, Jordi Castelló and Enrique Linares and was consolidated as a unicorn company in August 2018 after receiving 500 million dollars (about 430 million euros) from the South African media conglomerate Naspers.
2022 began with the incorporation of a new unicorn to the Spanish entrepreneurial ecosystem: the Spanish startup TravelPerk reached a valuation of 1,300 million dollars (around 1,100 million euros) after closing its last round of investment in which it obtained 115 million dollars ( little more than 100 million euros).
The TravelPerk story began in 2015 when Javier Suárez and Avi Meir, two former Booking employees, decided to use their knowledge in relation to online travel agencies, but focusing it on corporate travel in order to attack an obvious problem: create specific solutions. for companies in connection with their travel.
Wallbox is, today, the most valuable Spanish startup in the world. The company founded in Barcelona is dedicated to the automotive sector, specifically in the field of electric cars, creating recharging points for this type of vehicle that are installed in any home, regardless of whether or not they belong to the brand, since everything is a reference for this type of chargers.
Wallbox was founded in 2015 by Enric Asunción and Eduard Castañeda. Currently, it is already around 1,500 million dollars and it already has its sights set on the stock market.
The leisure and events startup, Fever became the tenth Spanish unicorn after closing a financing round for 227 million dollars (about 201 million) in January 2022. The company was born in Madrid in 2017 by the hand of Ignacio Bachiller , Alexandre Pérez and Francisco Hein. It is currently present in more than 60 cities in Europe, America, Asia and Oceania. The US is its largest market.
In January 2022, the Domestika creative community announced a $110 million (more than €96.7 million) capital raising, bringing its total valuation to $1.3 billion (more than €1.14 billion).
The company grew out of an online forum and has gone on to become one of the fastest growing communities in the world with more than 8 million users. Its largest production hub is in Madrid, where it has 14 recording studios and facilities of more than 6,000 m2.
Despite being Spanish, it is based in California and offers nearly 2,000 courses taught by more than 1,300 professors. Every month more than 110 new courses are published and, to date, users have already completed more than 13 million courses. The platform has studios in 12 countries in Europe and America, produces all content in-house and is selected to ensure a satisfying learning experience.
Of all the Spanish startups that have reached the unicorn valuation, Flyware has been the last to go public, in the prestigious Nasdaq US stock index, being present there and rubbing shoulders with the world's technological giants since May 2021. It lost like this its “unicorn” status, which it achieved after the last round of financing it got at the beginning of 2020. In this way, Flyware joined another former Spanish unicorn that is now listed on the stock market: eDreams
Flywire is a fintech that was created in 2009 in Valencia under the original name of PeerTransfer, whose purpose is to facilitate the payment of college and university fees without loss of fees and time. It is currently present in 240 countries, with more than 2,250 clients. global and, although its center of operations is in Boston, Massachusetts (USA), it still has some offices in Valencia.
Of course, this is a dynamic list, and it is expected that in the coming months some other startup will reach the status of Spanish unicorn. Among the main candidates for this, Wallapop stands out, which after its last round of financing is worth around 700 million dollars, as well as others that have experienced great growth in recent years, such as Paack.
Image: Depositphotos
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