Scale with discipline: financial rigor defines the new startup cycle

BBVA Spark held the tenth edition of its CFOs Network in Barcelona, a gathering in which finance leaders reflected on one of the central dilemmas facing today’s ecosystem: how to grow without losing control in an increasingly capital-efficient environment.

Grow fast or grow well. At a time when the startup ecosystem in Spain is regaining momentum and capital is being reactivated, the question is no longer when to expand, but how and at what cost.

This was the central theme of the tenth edition of BBVA Spark’s CFO breakfasts, an event that coincided with the launch of ‘The Spanish Tech Ecosystem Report 2026‘, produced by Dealroom together with BBVA Spark, Kfund, Endeavor, GoHub Ventures, SpainCap, Wayra and Enisa. The report places 2025 as the third-best year on record for venture capital investment in Spain, with €3.1B raised, behind 2021 and 2022, when €4.4bn and €3.6bn were raised respectively.

Sustainable growth is one of the central topics of debate within the startup ecosystem. Grow or be profitable, accelerate or consolidate: two tensions that have historically shaped how companies evolve. However, the current context calls for a reframing of this debate: it is not so much a question of choosing one or the other, but of finding the right balance. One figure from the Dealroom report illustrates this tension: of the 450+ VC-backed startups created each year, only 48 reach scaleup status (valued at over $100M).

In this context, a structural constraint emerges — one that is also highlighted in Atomico’s ‘State of European Tech 2025’ report: “The challenge is not finding new companies, but funding their growth.” Growth thus ceases to be a question of opportunity and becomes a question of management.

This was expressed by Oriol Agustí Blanch, CFO and co-founder of Zynap, who appealed to financial responsibility: “Growth cannot simply be driven by the ambition to scale. It is not about growing for growth’s sake.” This vision calls for integrating financial strategy into business development itself. Along the same lines, Pol Oliver, VP of Finance at Impress, emphasised the importance of executing the business plan from a holistic perspective, to ensure that growth can be sustained over time.

According to Atomico’s report, Europe reaches its highest-ever number of founders starting new companies in 2025, with more than 27,000 new entrepreneurs. A figure that confirms the dynamism of the ecosystem and its capacity to generate new companies, in a year when venture capital investment in Europe stands at around $44B.

In this context, expansion ceases to be a question of opportunity and becomes a strategic decision — one that requires a clear understanding of the stage the company is at before making the leap. Beyond growth itself, companies must define precisely where, how and with what model to approach their international development.

The reduced availability of capital at later stages is forcing companies to approach expansion more selectively, with the analysis of the competitive landscape and customer profile playing a key role. This was highlighted by Agustí, who noted that “one of the cultural and operational advantages of expanding in Latin America is that it allows for efficient management from Spain.”

In Spain, almost one in five startups founded since 2021 is linked to artificial intelligence, according to Dealroom’s latest report on the Spanish tech ecosystem. This reflects the growing weight of technology as an engine of entrepreneurship. At the same time, hubs such as Madrid rank among the fastest-growing in Europe in relative terms, behind only Paris, evidencing an acceleration in the adoption of these new capabilities.

In this context, artificial intelligence is progressively being incorporated into financial decision-making with a clear objective: to gain efficiency. This was noted by participants at the event, who agreed that the use of technologies such as AI makes it possible to optimise processes, improve resource allocation and anticipate key business decisions — though its impact extends beyond operational efficiency. As Luis Vázquez, Chief Financial Officer of BizAway, pointed out: “Technology provides integral value that enables synergies and develops capabilities that facilitate entry into highly digitalised markets.”

This logic also affects team management. Growth no longer means hiring talent indiscriminately, but doing so progressively and in line with the company’s actual needs. In this regard, hiring in waves helps ensure more efficient onboarding processes and maintain team performance as the company scales — as Vázquez explained when describing BizAway’s success story.

Building on these reflections, the debate turned towards the future of the ecosystem, focusing on the need to improve the ability to anticipate risks and on the challenges posed by integrating new tools in a constantly evolving technological environment.