Despite the investment drought in the technology industry, the Breega fund is committed to its growth in Barcelona.
The French entity, which has 500 million euros under management, has chosen the Catalan capital to set up its third offices in Europe, after London and Paris. “It is the ideal city to discover investment opportunities in the south of the continent. The city has a robust technological ecosystem and its geographical position is strategic for us. In addition to being close to Paris, Barcelona is in the middle of Italy and Portugal”, comments Ben Marrel, co-founder of the venture capital fund.
The investor also praises Spain's connection to the European, Latin American and US markets. In this sense, he gives as an example the great impact of companies that have emerged in the country, such as Glovo, Cabify or Wallapop.
With this vision, Breega has celebrated a year installed in Barcelona. In its offices, directed by Isabelle Gallo, the company employs three people and plans to hire one more. Over the last twelve months, the fund has made three investments in local companies: Ukio, Dawa and 011h. In addition, it has financed a Portuguese firm called Coverflex. In Madrid, another important city, the fund expects to close its first investment in the coming months.
The objective of this great French fund is based on accompanying startups both in their initial and advanced stages. To do this, it has two investment vehicles: one is dedicated to investing from 100,000 to several million euros, and the other carries out operations valued from three to ten million euros. In Spain, it operates through both vehicles, since it uses them on a per-opportunity basis.
This year, the fund is more focused on startups that are in their early stages, since the macroeconomic situation is not favorable for carrying out larger investments. “With inflation and the rise in interest rates, we prefer to wait for the situation to normalize in the coming months. We trust that this will happen at the end of the year or at the beginning of 2024”, comments the investor.
On an international scale, Breega presents itself to the market as a fund with great knowledge of the entrepreneurial sector, since its promoters have worked as such in the past. With Breega, its activity began in 2015 and, since then, the company has closed more than 70 operations in businesses throughout Europe and in different sectors related to technology.
