Wired UK – September 2019

BARCELONA

089

BARCELONA

41.3851° N, 2.1734° E

Red Points

Founded in 2011,

Red Points provides

software-as-a-service,

with machine-learning-

enhanced bots scanning

e-commerce websites,

social media and online

marketplaces to spot

copyright violations of

both digital and physical

products. Detected

infringements include

online counterfeiting,

piracy and fraud. It

employs more than 200

staff and runs offices

in Barcelona and New

York, while high-profile

clients include Bang

& Olufsen, MVMT

and Mighty Mug. The

company has raised

a total of £50m in

investment – the latest

round a £30m Series C

led by Boston-based

Summit Partners in April

2019. redpoints.com

Badi

An online marketplace to

rent out and find spare

rooms in big cities, Badi

uses machine learning

to better match its

users. The technology

constantly learns from

past matches to tweak

its criteria. Barcelona,

Madrid, London and

Rome are Badi’s top

cities for usage. The

company, created in

2015, has raised over

£35 million in investment,

its most recent round

being a £24m Series B in

January 2019. badi.com

21Buttons

This fashion-focused

shopping platform with

some social network-

like features was

launched in 2015 by

two former McKinsey

consultants. 21Buttons

has been described

as Instagram meets

Pinterest meets Amazon.

Once registered, users

can follow friends and

influencers, share

pictures of their favourite

outfits, and purchase

them through “tag

buttons” that link directly

to e-commerce partner

stores. Influencers get

a commission on the

sales of clothes they

advertise. The company

has raised over £24

million in investment,

including a recent Series

B £13 million round led

by Idinvest Partners.

21buttons.com

Eelp!

With the Eelp! app users

can outsource all their

chores to someone else,

for a €2.90 (£2.30) fee or

a monthly subscription

of €29 (£23). Users who

are moving home, want

their car fixed or need a

dog-walker can search

for and get assistance

booked in from their

smartphone. Right now

the service – founded

in 2017 – is available

only in Barcelona and

Madrid, but a European

expansion is in the

pipeline. eelp.com

Holded

The idea behind Holded’s

software is to manage

various sectors of a

company – such as

human resources,

accounting, invoicing and

finance – from a single

platform, which supports

the automation of certain

tasks and integration

with other digital

services, such as PayPal

or Amazon. In April 2019,

the company, created in

2015, raised £5.3m from

Lakestar, bringing its

overall funding to almost

£7 million. holded.com

As one of the first cities in the world to appoint

a CTO, Barcelona has a reputation as southern

Europe’s innovation hub. The tensions that shook

the city after Catalonia’s failed bid for independence

in 2017 have subsided, and Barna has recovered its

shine with entrepreneurs and investors alike.“The

costs of failing in a city like Barcelona are lower

than in other European cities,” says Ben Nachoom,

founder of coworking space OneCoWork.

Laura Urquizu, CEO of brand protection startup Red Points

BY GIAN VOLPICELLI

09-19-SUstartup02.indd 91 11/07/2019 11:36