The Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC-CNS) marks another milestone in the technology industry. The spin-off Mitiga has obtained 13 million euros in a capital increase in which Microsoft has participated -through its Climate Innovation Fund- and which has been led by the Madrid fund Kibo Ventures. In addition, the Barcelona company has given entry to the Aldea Ventures, Creas, Fable and Nationwide funds.
The money will be invested in promoting the growth of technology, specialized in predicting the risks of natural catastrophes such as fires, droughts, heat waves, volcano explosions and precipitation. “The potential of Mitiga lies in the use of predictive models based on physics, which take into account climate variability due to global warming. This is an innovative technique since most of the competition uses statistical data based on past events”, says Alejandro Marti, co-founder of the business together with Mauricio Hanzich.
Since 2018, the company has been selling its technology to insurance, financial, real estate and aviation industry companies. Its presence is international: it sells to around twenty countries, such as France, Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States. Only 10% of its clients are in Spain. Each year, the company invoices around 2 million euros, although this figure "varies depending on the projects that are closed in the long term," Marti qualifies.
The injection of venture capital will allow the company to double the size of its team this year, now made up of around 30 people. Mitiga is looking for specialists in data science, risk modeling and operations managers. He assures his commitment to Barcelona, despite the fact that investment funds have tempted him to move to the United States. In fact, the company will move in the summer to the Pier 07 building of the Tech Barcelona association.
In addition, the money will be invested in technology improvements and, in particular, in the development of a scientific model of global climate risk by Microsoft. “With this technology, large companies will be able to assess the impact on the climate of their activity. It is a question that now worries global executives extremely”, says Marti. In addition, Microsoft's entry into the shareholding will allow Mitiga to sell its technology through its programs and machinery. The investment by this technology giant, one of the first to be made in Spain, opens the doors for Mitiga to become the next unicorn in Barcelona, investor sources say.
