Spain’s Top 12 Startup Accelerators You Should Know [2023]

Are you looking for capital and/or mentorship for your startup? Spain has some of Europe’s best startup accelerators. Beyond funding, Spain’s startup accelerators also offer entrepreneurs and founders incredible valuable support for product development, sales and marketing.

Whether you are looking to find a co-founder, build your MVP and/or get the seed money you need to scale up, startup accelerators are the way to go.

In this article we have listed our top 12 startup accelerators in Spain. So, if you haven’t yet started to apply, here is a good place to start learning about them.

This article is part of a series where we present you the top startup incubators and accelerators across Europe. Check out our rankings for the UK, France, Germany, Netherlands, Denmark, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Austria, Sweden, Finland and Switzerland.
Looking for Spain's top startup venture capital firms instead? Check out our ranking here.

Accelerator vs. Incubator: What’s The Difference?

Using the terms “accelerator” and “incubator” interchangeably is a common mistake. Whilst they are similar and sometimes can be found under the same roof (organisation), they are very different.

Startup Incubators

As the name suggests, startup incubators are tailored more to startups still in their incubation period for their ideas. As such, incubators help startup founders turn their ideas into early working prototype versions of a product or service.

Joining an incubator comes with many perks for early stage businesses. For example, incubators will typically let you use office spaces for twelve months, and in some cases every several years. 

Yet, not all incubators are equal. Some might be specialised on a specific industry, and others on a specific expertise: do you want to work on your Minimal Viable Product (MVP), or are you looking for help to kick-start your sales and marketing efforts?

Therefore, if you’re interested in joining an incubator program, you should first ask for feedback from founders who are currently in the program. You should find out how long they’ve been with the program and what growth they have achieved with its help. 

Incubators are designed to turn business ideas into prototypes
Incubators are designed to turn business ideas into prototypes

Startup Accelerators

In contrast, startup accelerators are ideal for startups that have already gathered some momentum. That’s why startup accelerators are best for startups with a complete cofounding team, a MVP, and that are looking to accelerate their growth (commercialise their product / service). 

Accelerator programs usually take place between a few weeks to a couple of months. In that time, they’ll give you access to their network, connections, knowledge, and a relatively small amount of funding for your startup. 

When looking for an accelerator program, it is crucial to do your research. Identify the program’s list of alumni. Who among their startups experienced success? How many failed? Who are in their list of mentors, and what accomplishments do these people have that you think would help you succeed in your business?

Taking the time to find the best-fit startup accelerator for your business is essential. After all, you’ll be trusting these people to help your business succeed. 

startup accelerator pros and cons
YC’s Demo Day

Spain’s Top 12 Startup Accelerators

Here’s a summary table of the top 12 startup accelerators in Spain (in alphabetical order):

Name# startups
(to date)
Program lengthInvestment sizeSector focus
Bind 4.0200+6 months€150,000 – €500,000Sector agnostic (technology)
Conector2015 months~€500,000 *Sector agnostic
Demium6010 weeks€25,000 – €500,000Sector agnostic
IMPACT1023 months€250,000Sector agnostic
I’MNOVATION513 monthsDiscretionary **Renewables and environment tech
Lanzadera150+4 – 12 months€50,000 – €200,000Sector agnostic
Plug And PlayN/A3 monthsUp to €500,000Fintech, Smart Cities, Real Estate
SeedRocket906 months€50,000 – €500,000 ***Sector agnostic
Ship2B174N/A€450,000Impact businesses
StartupLabs40+6-12 monthsN/AB2C Digital Content, Digital Marketing, Mobility
Tetuan Valley600+ ****6 weeksNoneSector agnostic
Wayra100+N/AUp to €150,000 IoT, Video, Big Data, AI, Cybersecurity, FinTech and Blockchain

* Investment isn’t from the accelerator itself but from external investors at Demo Day. The amount is the average investment received by startups to date.

** Funding is on a case-by-case basis

*** Startups may receive additional capital of up to €500,000 from a partner VC

**** Tetuan Valley isn’t strictly speaking a startup accelerator but an incubator instead. Yet, because of its size, we decided to include it here

Expert-built financial model templates for tech startups

📈 5-year pro forma financial model

📊 20+ charts and business valuation

📞 Free support

1. Bind 4.0

spain's startup accelerators

Bind 4.0 is a startup accelerator in the Basque autonomous region that connects startups with industry leaders in advanced manufacturing, smart energy, health tech and food tech industries.

Their program offers unparalleled exposure to industry leading companies, but also training, mentoring, and potential contracts.

Also, as part fo the program, successful applicants get between €150,000 and €500,000 funding to develop their business ideas into tangible R&D projects and eventually bring them to market.

2. Conector

spain's startup accelerators

Conector is one of Spain’s major startup accelerators. With over 350 founders alumni to date, they have accelerated 200+ startups in various industries.

Conector actually offers different programs, all with a specific industry focus, and they may change over time. Each program runs for 5 months and offer mentorship, networking sessions and access to an affiliate corporate partner, with which startups can create products or services or simply get investment. In total, there are high-profile 9 partners such as Bankia or even Porsche.

Although the accelerator doesn’t automatically offer funding, startups may receive investment at the end of the program. Indeed, the 200+ startups to date have received €500,000 in funding on average.

3. Demium

spain's startup accelerators

Demium is another of Spain’s top startup accelerators. Actually, Demium both runs an accelerator and incubator programme.

Demium also has offices in various European countries: Valencia, Madrid, Barcelona, Malaga, Lisbon, Kyiv, Warsaw and Athens.

Their accelerator program runs for 10 weeks and offer startups a pre-seed investment of €25,000 from Spain’s VC Think Bigger Capital, which can also go up to €500,000 for successful startups!

In addition to pre-seed funding, companies also receive mentoring and assistance from expert mentors and business angels in a number of areas (e.g. Marketing, Growth Hacking, Sales, etc.).

4. IMPACT

spain's startup accelerators

Backed by FundingBox and ISDI, IMPACT Accelerator is an accelerator that invests and accelerates startups in a number of industry verticals in Spain. To date, IMPACT has accelerated 102 startups.

At the time of writing this article (December 2021) IMPACT had 3 different accelerator programs open for applications or ongoing:

  1. RobotUnion
  2. Connected Car
  3. Growth

The duration and funding depends based on the program you’re applying to. Yet, all successful applicants receive a funding of anywhere from €60k (Connected Car) to €250k (Growth).

Startups that enlist to IMPACT Accelerator aren’t simply receiving pre-seed funding for IMPACT itself. Instead, most also get funding from partner VCs (e.g. Kibo Ventures). In average, startups each receive in total over €1 million in funding.

Expert-built financial model templates for tech startups

📈 5-year pro forma financial model

📊 20+ charts and business valuation

📞 Free support

5. I’MNOVATION

spain's startup accelerators

I’MNOVATION is a corporate accelerator program created and backed by Spain’s renewables and infrastructure conglomerate ACCIONA.

The program aims to boost the development of the most promising startups through a close collaboration with a team of mentors, experts and professionals from ACCIONA.

Yet, in order to apply for I’MNOVATION your startup must operate in one of the industry verticals ACCIONA is already operating in, or interested to explore.

As part of the 3 months program, startups receive discretionary funding from ACCIONA in order to perform a pilot project in collaboration with ACCIONA.

Finally, if the pilot is successful, startups will obtain marketing, partnerships or funding arrangements with ACCIONA Group and potential other investors.

6. Lanzadera

spain's startup accelerators

Founded in 2013, Lanzadera is another of Spain’s top startup accelerators. Indeed, they have accelerated over 150+ startups to date.

Moreover, Lanzadera offers 2 separate programs with different criteria and funding terms:

  • Traction for early-stage startups with a MVP, early metrics and a monthly revenue anywhere from €1k to €15k. The Traction program runs for 4 to 12 months and also offers startups €50k pre-seed funding
  • Growth for late-stage startups with a complete team and anywhere from €15k – €120k monthly revenue. This program runs for 4 to 8 months and also comes with up to €200k funding

7. Plug And Play

spain's startup accelerators

Plug and Play is a global startup accelerator. Since its founding in 2006, Plug And Play has raised over $6 billion in venture funding and continually commits to more than 200 investments internationally each year.

Each of Plug And Play’s chapters worldwide focus on specific industries. In Spain, they are:

  • Barcelona: Fintech
  • Madrid: Smart cities
  • Valencia: Real Estate

Their accelerator programs globally runs for 3 months and offers startups up to €500,000 in funding.

Expert-built financial model templates for tech startups

📈 5-year pro forma financial model

📊 20+ charts and business valuation

📞 Free support

8. SeedRocket

spain's startup accelerators

Founded in 2017, and with over 90 startups accelerated to date, SeedRocket is one of Spain’s major startup accelerators.

Unlike most accelerators, SeedRocket doesn’t invest itself in the startups it accepts within its program. Instead, it connects startups with business angels that may invest later on.

In order to be eligible, your startup must have a MVP, some early traction and be in search of investment by business angels.

It also connect successful startups with their in-house VC fund, SeedRocket 4Founders Capital. The fund invests anywhere from €50,000 to €500,000 and their accelerator program runs for 3 months.

9. Ship2B

spain's startup accelerators

Ship2B is one of Spain’s startup accelerator that solely focuses on impact-led businesses operating in social & environmental industries.

In addition to mentorship, companies benefit from unparalleled access to corporate partners and potential investors specialised in impact investment.

They also run separate programs that focus on different industries such as Healthcare, Sustainability & Environment and others.

To date, Ship2B has accelerated 174 startups that raised an average €450,000 funding.

10. StartupLabs

spain's startup accelerators

StartupLabs is an accelerator that focuses on startups operating in the following verticals in Spain: B2C Digital Content, Digital Marketing and Mobility.

They choose start-ups that have the potential to commercialise their products and/or services and also have a developed a MVP (minimum viable product) that’s ready to go to market. 

Yet, unlike most other startup accelerators, StartupLabs doesn’t directly invest in the companies it accepts in their 6 to 12-month program. Instead, it connects startups with potential investors via their Investor Matching process.

11. Tetuan Valley

spain's startup accelerators

Founded in 2009 and parter with the European Commission as well as Google’s own accelerator program, Tetuan Valley is undeniably Spain’s biggest startup incubator.

So, it’s worth noting that Tetuan Valley isn’t strictly speaking a startup accelerator. Yet, because of its size, we decided to include it in our top picks for Spain anyway. Indeed, Tetuan Valley has incubated over 600 startups to date..!

Note: for a full guide on the differences between startup incubators vs. accelerators and their pros and cons, have a read at our article here.

Tetuan Valley accepts early-stage startups as part of its 6 weeks program where founders can develop a prototype, MVP and work on their pitch deck ahead of Demo day.

12. Wayra

spain's startup accelerators

Founded in 2011, Wayra is Telefónica’s own startup accelerator with over 35 hubs worldwide (in Europe and Latin America).

Globally they have accelerated over 400 startups, of which half of them out of Spain.

Wayra’s objective is to find and support startups that can work with Telefónica or Telefónica’s corporate partners and clients. They also typically invest up to €150,000 per startup.

Although they are sector agnostic, they are accepting companies that can work with Telefónica’s solutions and partners. Therefore, they look in priority for startups in IoT, Video, Big Data, AI, Cybersecurity, FinTech and Blockchain.

Expert-built financial model templates for tech startups

📈 5-year pro forma financial model

📊 20+ charts and business valuation

📞 Free support

0