The Most Hyped Startups in Spain

Barcelona and Madrid now anchor two distinct hubs: Barcelona for consumer, marketplaces, and product-led SaaS; Madrid for fintech, enterprise, and travel. Add the Startups Law, a deep pool of international talent, and costs well below London or Paris, and Spain has quietly turned into a place global companies get built. Below are fifteen of the most hyped startups headquartered in Spain. It's not a strict ranking; every company here is among the most discussed in its category

The most hyped Spanish startups

1. Glovo

Founded by Oscar Pierre and Sacha Michaud in Barcelona, Glovo is the on-demand delivery app operating across Europe, Africa, and Central Asia. Now majority-owned by Delivery Hero, it remains Spain's most recognisable tech company and the training ground for a generation of local founders. Visitglovoapp.com

2. Factorial

Jordi Romero, Bernat Farrero, and Pau Ramon built Factorial into the all-in-one HR platform for small and mid-sized companies. It raised at a $1 billion-plus valuation with General Catalyst and Atomico behind it, making it one of Barcelona's clearest unicorn stories. Visitfactorialhr.com

3. TravelPerk

Avi Meir and Javier Suarez founded TravelPerk, the business-travel booking and management platform used by thousands of companies worldwide. It has raised at multi-billion valuations and grown through acquisitions across the US and Europe. Visittravelperk.com

4. Cabify

Juan de Antonio started Cabify in Madrid, the ride-hailing and multimodal mobility app that became the leading local alternative to Uber across Spain and Latin America. It was Spain's first unicorn. Visitcabify.com

5. Fever

Ignacio Bachiller Ströhmenger and his co-founders built Fever into the live-entertainment discovery platform behind global formats like Candlelight Concerts and immersive exhibitions. It reached unicorn status with backing from Goldman Sachs. Visitfeverup.com

6. Wallbox

Enric Asunción and Eduard Castañeda founded Wallbox in Barcelona, designing and manufacturing EV chargers and energy-management systems sold in more than a hundred countries. It listed on the NYSE and remains Spain's flagship climate-hardware company. Visitwallbox.com

7. Typeform

David Okuniev and Robert Muñoz created Typeform, the conversational form and survey builder used by millions of people to collect data without it feeling like a form. It's one of the most widely used products ever built in Barcelona. Visittypeform.com

8. Jobandtalent

Juan Urdiales and Felipe Navío built Jobandtalent, the workforce marketplace that matches temporary workers with logistics, retail, and industrial employers across Europe and the US. It's one of Spain's most valuable private companies. Visitjobandtalent.com

9. Seedtag

Twin brothers Jorge and Albert Poyatos, both ex-Google, founded Seedtag, the contextual advertising platform built for a world without third-party cookies. It raised €250 million from Advent International and expanded across Europe and the Americas. Visitseedtag.com

10. Clarity AI

Rebeca Minguela founded Clarity AI, the sustainability-analytics platform that scores companies and funds on environmental and social data for investors and regulators. It's one of Madrid's most internationally visible startups. Visitclarity.ai

11. Exoticca

Pere Vallès and Rafael Vallès built Exoticca, the online travel platform packaging long-haul trips directly with local operators. It has scaled fast in the US market and become one of Barcelona's quieter breakout stories. Visitexoticca.com

12. Multiverse Computing

Enrique Lizaso and Román Orús founded Multiverse Computing in San Sebastián, applying quantum-inspired algorithms to finance and to compressing large AI models. Its CompactifAI work made it one of Europe's most-watched deeptech companies. Visitmultiversecomputing.com

13. Payflow

Avinash Sukhwani, Benoît Menardo, and their team built Payflow, the earned-wage-access and financial-wellbeing app that lets employees draw pay before payday. It grew quickly across Spain and Latin America. Visitpayflow.es

14. Red Points

Josep Coll founded Red Points, the brand-protection platform that uses automation to find and remove counterfeits and piracy online. It's one of the longest-running Barcelona SaaS success stories. Visitredpoints.com

15. Cobee

Borja Aranguren and Nacho Travesí created Cobee, the employee-benefits and flexible-compensation platform that turned benefits into a single card and app. It was acquired by Pluxee, one of Spain's notable HR-tech exits. Visitcobee.io

What the most hyped Spanish startups have in common

Two things repeat. First, the Glovo and Typeform alumni effect: a large share of the newer companies are founded by operators from the first unicorn wave. Second, the ones that break out internationally almost always have a founder willing to be the public face of the category, not just the companythe public face of the category

It's the same pattern we saw mapping the most hyped startups in France, the UK, and the Netherlands: in a crowded market, the founder's own voice is often the fastest way to earn trust with customers, candidates, and investors at once France · the UK · the Netherlands

Frequently asked questions

What is the biggest startup in Spain

Glovo is Spain's best-known startup by scale and brand, though it is now majority-owned by Delivery Hero. Among independent companies, Factorial, TravelPerk, and Jobandtalent are among the most valuable

Where are most Spanish startups based

Barcelona and Madrid dominate. Barcelona leans toward consumer products, marketplaces, and product-led SaaS; Madrid toward fintech, enterprise, and travel. Valencia, Bilbao, and San Sebastián host smaller but fast-growing deeptech clusters

Why is Spain's startup ecosystem growing so fast

A mix of lower operating costs than London or Paris, a deep pool of international talent drawn by quality of life, the Startups Law and digital-nomad visa, and a first generation of unicorns whose alumni are now founding companies of their own

Which Spanish founders are most active on social media

Factorial's Jordi Romero and Bernat Farrero are among the most consistently visible Spanish founders on LinkedIn and X, alongside Glovo's Oscar Pierre. Many others in this list publish rarely — which is exactly where the gap in founder reach shows up

The bottom line

Spain's most hyped startups span delivery, HR, travel, mobility, and deeptech — but the throughline is founders who built something people talk about. What varies is how many of them show up to talk about it, and that gap is where founder reach is won or lost

At Invisible Keyboard, we run founder and team content for exactly these kinds of companies — so a founder's presence compounds without the founder having to do the workwe run founder and team content