Spanish startups prioritize being profitable over the path of growth

MADRID, 10 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) -

Spanish startups prioritize being profitable over the path of growth in a context marked by the fall in investment in these emerging companies, since in 2023 they channeled 2.3 billion euros, 32% less compared to the figure harvested the previous year, according to data collected by Europa Press from the report 'Investment trends in startups 2023' from the Bankinter Foundation.

In that sense, the macroeconomic environment marked by high inflation and aggressive increases in interest rates affected the entire investment ecosystem and startups were no less.

In more detail, Demium Capital partner, Jorge Dobón, explained that the macroeconomic environment of the last year and a half "has generated a slowdown" in company listings on the stock market, as well as mergers and acquisitions, which It has "dried up liquidity" in the markets and has left "less capital available for venture capital vehicles to raise new funds and be able to carry out more investment operations in startups."

Under this panorama, Dobón has confirmed that only those 'startups' with the most solidity and potential have managed to survive, so "the profitability ratios and the ability to generate income have been the protagonists in the decision-making of investors."

In order to achieve these profitability objectives, the CEO of Tbig Finance and partner of Startup Valencia, Vicente Ruiz, has highlighted that this is achieved through financial management, innovation and the development of new products and services.

For his part, the CEO of 4Geeks Academy Spain, 4Geeks Academy Spain, has focused on the adaptability of companies to the environment to also achieve profitability: "We debuted in the Spanish market on March 11, 2020, in the middle of the beginning of confinement; although we originally planned to launch a 100% in-person school, we quickly adapted to remote training.

Regarding which sectors are best placed in this business segment to achieve profitability, the member of the board of directors of Bigban Inversores Privados, Tom Horsey, has argued that the sectors that should generate profitability in general are those that solve a macrotrend problem .

In that sense, he has cited as references the sectors of the defense industry, Artificial Intelligence (although the fact that it is a "fashionable" sector entails an extra fee to access it, he has pointed out), health, ' agrotech' (driven by the Ukrainian war and climate change), industry 4.0 and green technologies.

However, Dobón (Demium Capital) has clarified that "it is important not to be carried away only by trends and to know how to identify the talent of an entrepreneur beyond the sector they are focusing on."

In a tangent line, RSM partner and head of the financial advisory area, Jordi Bellobí, has warned that highly profitable sectors are going to attract new players who are going to increase competitive pressure, so that those extra margins go away. to erode.

This explains, according to Bellobí, that "in traditionally unattractive and profitable sectors, the few remaining operators take advantage of their oligopolistic position."