Spanish scale-ups have been teaming up to lobby legislators and push their economic/business case for a high-growth and high-tech business model.
The lobby group, known as “EsTech,” was launched recently with nine members as its founders ranging from industries like B2B software, health tech, energy, entertainment, and gig platforms.
The founding members of EsTech include Cabify, Filmin, Wallbox, Neuroelectrics, Red Points, Jobandtalent, Factorial, Holaluz, and Glovo.
As per Carina Szpilka, president of a broader Adigital business association that supports EsTech’s launch and general partner at K Fund, it’s expected that more fast-growing Spanish startups will grow ambitious to join this program sooner or later.
Carina Szpilka’s own words
“We are convinced that the contribution of these type of companies, especially the scale-ups, is super significant to the prosperity and to the economic growth of the country. That’s why we started to talk to them, we started to approach them and we started to also share the vision that we want for our country for the future and this is how this initiative was born,” Szpilka tells TechCrunch.
The broader ecosystem of 450+ fast-growing Spanish scale-ups represented by EsTech aims that by 2030, they will reach 40% of total GDP.
“The [goal for EsTech] is to really facilitate the creation and the growth of these type of companies — becoming unicorns or not. I don’t care about the $1BN valuation; we care about job creation, sales, the ‘social cash flow’ that these type of companies can contribute,” Szpilka added.
EsTech’s goals
EsTech’s short-term mission is to boost itself by expanding its membership. The lobby will have to add more high-growth tech startups than its original nine members to become the genuine voice of startups in entire Spain.
If startups want to join the Spanish scale-up club, they must meet an international approach and post-Series C or B financing.
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