Mapping Spain's Tech Sector

About the Research

The purpose of the study is to provide insights on the sector’s current state, evaluate its strengths and weaknesses, and enable decision-makers to better understand and support local tech entrepreneurship.

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Key Findings

• The entrepreneurial tech sector in Spain is an engine for economic recovery. Following the 2008/09 Financial Crisis, the number of new tech companies more than doubled. Today, Spain’s tech companies are securing substantial funding rounds, achieving unicorn status, and responding once again despite economic uncertainty.
• Spain must do more to become a more inclusive and globally competitive home for entrepreneurship. The percentage of tech companies in Spain with at least one female founder has been shrinking and women often face more barriers in growing their companies. The Startup Law is a solid start for early stage companies, but does not go far enough to support the needs of scaleups. Decision makers should do more to support female-led companies and encourage entrepreneurship as a career path for future generations, and ensure policies are founder-friendly for later-stage companies.
• When successful founders provide support to other founders, the ecosystem thrives. Scaled companies are more likely to have founders who received support from other tech founders compared to companies that did not scale. Informal mentorship is common, but more robust global connections and participation from successful local founders will help the ecosystem grow.
• Interregional connectivity is important for the development of the ecosystem.
  Spain benefits from multiple entrepreneurial hubs, with the highest concentrations in Madrid and Catalonia. The exchange of resources among regions including Valencia, Basque Country, and Andalucia, has helped the tech sector grow.

About the Data

The findings are based on more than 100 interviews with tech entrepreneurs conducted from December 2021 to February 2022, and data on more than 715 companies and their founders. In addition, data was collected on more than 450 support organizations and investors that support the local tech community.

Spain Network Maps

Endeavor Insight used social network analysis to visualize the Spain tech sector. This methodology helps trace the flow of people, capital, and information among entrepreneurs, their co-founders, employees, mentors, investors, and other stakeholders.

Each bubble on the maps represents either an entrepreneurial company or other type of organization providing resources. The position of the bubble corresponds to the year that it was founded, with older companies on the inner rings and younger companies on the outer rings. The size of a bubble on the map is a function of the number of first-, second-, third-, etc. degree connections that the bubble has with others in the network. Founders who have started multiple companies are represented by their most prominent company or organization.

About Endeavor

We are the leading global community of, by, and for high-impact entrepreneurs — those who dream bigger, scale faster, and pay it forward. Driven by our belief that high-impact entrepreneurs transform economies, Endeavor has been on a mission to build thriving entrepreneurial ecosystems in emerging and underserved markets around the world since its creation in 1997. Endeavor creates a Multiplier Effect by inspiring high-growth founders to dream bigger, supporting and investing in them to scale faster, and providing a platform to pay it forward — thereby compounding their individual impact.

Today, Endeavor supports over 2,200 high-impact entrepreneurs leading 1,300+ companies at the “scale-up” stage in more than 40 markets, offering them a best-in-class seal of approval, an unrivaled personal and professional network, frictionless co-investment capital, and peer-to-peer idea exchange in a truly global setting. Endeavor was established in the Spanish market in 2014, and has built a community of 70+ high-impact entrepreneurs leading 50+ high-growth companies, 5 of which have reached unicorn status. The network includes 90+ mentors and 15 board members from Spain's most successful and influential corporations and entrepreneurial leaders.

Endeavor Insight is the research division of Endeavor that provides data-driven analysis and visualizations showing what makes entrepreneurial ecosystems thrive. Our research team of economists, data scientists, and policy analysts specializes in understanding the needs of high-impact entrepreneurs and evaluating the networks that enable them to scale up and pay it forward to the next generation of entrepreneurs. For more information, contact insight@endeavor.org.

About Google for Startups

Google for Startups works to level the playing field for startup founders and communities to succeed. We do this by bringing the best of Google’s products, connections, and best practices to startups through our global network of partners, at our Google for Startups Campus spaces, and online at startup.google.com. Paired with a deep commitment to create diverse startup communities, many of our offerings are designed specifically to provide underrepresented founders with access to resources and opportunities.

Google for Startups arrived in Spain in 2015 on a mission to support the thriving, diverse, and inclusive Spanish startup community. With Google and external advisors, inspiring energy, and lots of fellow founders, Google for Startups Campus Madrid offers a great place to get things done, take a break to network, collaborate with like-minded people, or bring companies to the next level. Google for Startups Spain designs hybrid programs, like Growth Academy, to support startup founders with essential growth skills and internationalization strategies for their companies. Each program includes a combination of workshops, mentoring sessions, and networking, where Google teams and external industry experts will support startups with their growth strategies.

About SPAINCAP

SPAINCAP (formerly ASCRI) is the association that brings together venture capital and private equity firms in Spain, as well as their investors, including insurance companies and pension funds. The members of SPAINCAP make mid- to long-term investments in unlisted companies, from startups to consolidated companies, providing not only stable financing through equity, but also innovation and management support. The Association’s mission is to connect the players in the industry in Spain, representing their interests before the government, media and public opinion, both nationally and internationally, through alliances and synergies in Europe and Latin America. Its objectives include establishing an appropriate regulatory framework for the sector, communicating the positive impact of its activities on the industrial fabric and job creation, and promoting sustainability. Started in 1986, it spreads and ensures the professional standards among its members: transparency, good governance, and best practices.

About Adigital

The Spanish Association for the Digital Economy (Adigital) is a non-profit organization representing over 500 tech and digital companies in the country, including startups, scale-ups, IBEX corporates, and the big- tech companies. The association has a wide policy and regulatory agenda bearing in mind the variety of regulations promoted by public organizations and their impact on startups, scale-ups and big corporations operating in the tech and the digital economy. We collaborate closely with the public and private sectors in order to promote and develop the Spanish and the European economies as a way to build a more competitive, sustainable, and rich society based in entrepreneurship, technology, and innovation.