Spanish startups raise €3.1B in 2025: the biggest leap in venture capital investment since 2022

The Spanish technology ecosystem raises €3.1B in 2025 and already reaches €125B in value, with artificial intelligence as its spearhead: nearly one in five startups created in Spain since 2021 is AI-focused. Investment is concentrated in Madrid (€1.2B) and Barcelona (€1.1B), followed by Valencia, San Sebastián, and Bilbao, which are consolidating themselves as emerging hubs. Domestic capital accounts for 55% of total investment in 2025, which is particularly notable in early stages: Spain is already the fourth European market with the highest local investment at this stage.

Spain’s ecosystem reaches €3.1B in 2025, surpassing venture capital investment from the previous two years: €2.2bn in 2023 and €1.9bn in 2024. This is the finding of ‘The Spanish Tech Ecosystem Report 2026’, produced by Dealroom together with BBVA Spark, Kfund, Endeavor, GoHub Ventures, SpainCap, Wayra and Enisa.

At the same time, the value of the ecosystem has grown 2.3x since 2020, placing Spain as the eighth-largest tech ecosystem in Europe and the second fastest-growing among the continent’s major hubs. Taken together, the data paint a picture of an ecosystem that is not only recovering its investment momentum, but advancing in its international positioning.

Reference: The Spanish tech ecosystem report 2026

As the evolution of the ecosystem over the past decade shows, Spain does not follow a linear trajectory, but a cyclical one, alternating between phases of growth and periods of correction, with peaks in 2021 and 2022 and a clear recovery in 2025. “These figures reflect almost a decade of strong results,” says Lucía Hojman, Head of Business Development Europe at BBVA Spark, who notes that “entrepreneurial talent and Spanish VCs are the key to the positioning of the Spanish ecosystem in Europe.”

The enterprise value of Spain’s tech ecosystem stands at €125B, a figure that has more than doubled over the past five years, making Spain the second fastest-growing country in Europe, behind only Belgium. More than half of this value is concentrated in private companies, where the greatest entrepreneurial potential lies. As Miguel Elizondo, Communications Director at Kfund, puts it: “54% of our tech value has not gone public. That means there is tremendous value yet to be unlocked within our ecosystem.”

Reference: The Spanish tech ecosystem report 2026

The growth and maturity of Spain’s tech ecosystem is also reflected in the third-best exit record, with 44 exits in 2025, including well-known companies such as vLex, Opum Technologies and Wallapop. This strength is also evident in the pipeline’s capacity to generate new companies, with approximately 450 new VC-backed startups created every year. In total, Spain accounts for 7.1% of all startups created in Europe annually. Nevertheless, a significant gap persists at the later stages: only 3.6% of European companies that reach unicorn status ($1B+ valuation) are Spanish.

Another figure that highlights Spain’s potential within the ecosystem is the weight of domestic capital. 55% of investment comes from domestic investors, with a particularly prominent role at the early stage, where Spain ranks as the fourth European ecosystem by domestic investment (59%).

Artificial intelligence leads venture capital investment in 2025, with €717m, followed by deep tech (€611M), enterprise software (€574M), health (€568M) and travel (€525M). Against this backdrop of dynamism, investment in climate tech falls 36% compared to 2024, from €468M to €364M. Health remains the vertical generating the highest number of startups.

Spain thus positions itself as the third European country with the fastest-growing AI ecosystem, behind only Portugal and France. Since 2020, cumulative investment has reached €3.3B — a figure that has grown almost 4x in the past five years — meaning AI now accounts for 12% of venture capital in the country. Indeed, the strength of AI investment continues to grow from the ground up: one in five startups founded in Spain since 2021 belongs to this space.

Reference: The Spanish tech ecosystem report 2026

At the same time, the impact of AI extends beyond the volume of investment. “The sense of urgency generated by AI has changed the ecosystem,” says Paloma Castellano, Managing Director of Wayra, highlighting a growing sophistication in the relationship between startups and corporates. From its use in daily executive tasks to its inclusion in strategy, AI acts as a transversal lever of transformation.

Beyond AI, the ecosystem shows increasing diversification, with several verticals gaining investment weight. Among them, Spain’s health sector reaches a record high of €568M in 2025, consolidating the country’s position as the tenth-largest European ecosystem by investment volume in this area, and as the sector with the highest number of early-stage startups in Spain. Enterprise software, with €574M invested, leads in terms of the number of late-stage companies (€100M+ raised) in Spain, with examples such as Multiverse Computing, which, alongside travel tech companies Perk and Auro Travel, featured in the year’s largest funding rounds, all above €180m.

Meanwhile, robotics is gaining ground, rising from €10M in 2024 to €34M, and dual-use and defence tech jumps to €219M from €93M in 2024.

The latter now has over 20 VC-backed companies and Spain ranks as the seventh European country by investment in defence tech. With €436M raised since 2020, the sector has grown more than sixfold in just five years, reaching its historical peak. As Julián Fernández, CEO of Fossa Systems, explains: “The defence environment has changed. A few years ago, you’d mention it and no fund wanted to invest” — reflecting how the geopolitical context has transformed the perception of the sector.

Madrid and Barcelona remain Spain’s two largest hubs, concentrating more than two-thirds of investment, with €1.2B and €1.1B respectively in 2025. In addition to consolidating their leadership by investment volume, both cities contribute further value to the ecosystem: they stand out as two of the leading European hubs for AI talent (at companies such as BBVA, Apple and Indra). Madrid, in particular, ranks as the second-fastest growing European AI hub in terms of relative growth since 2020, behind only Paris, having grown 4.1x in enterprise value.

Reference: The Spanish tech ecosystem report 2026

New poles are also beginning to emerge. Valencia is consolidating its position as Spain’s third hub, accounting for more than 7% of domestic investment (€229M), while San Sebastián is gaining visibility as the fourth hub (€206M), driven by deals such as Multiverse Computing, which has accounted for 70% of investment in the city since 2020. Bilbao follows with €68M, and together with Vitoria’s €12M, the Basque Country consolidates a total investment of €286M.

In this context, Spain continues to strengthen its position in Europe. “We are already starting to play with the big leagues,” says Rocío Castrillo, Director of Entrepreneurship and Strategy at Enisa, highlighting the growth potential of the Spanish ecosystem within Europe.