BBVA Spark’s 2023: international expansion, €250 million in startup financing and more than 800 customers

2023 has been an exciting and challenging year for BBVA Spark. The business division launched by BBVA in July 2022 to support the growth of technology and high-growth companies has increased its activities and international expansion over the last twelve months.

At the heart of this story is the launch of BBVA Spark in Colombia and Argentina, reaffirming the division’s commitment to position itself as a key player in Latin America. But this wasn’t the only notable milestone: from signing a €200 million guarantee agreement with the European Investment Fund to holding benchmark ecosystem meetings such as the BBVA Open Summit 2023, as well as closing financing agreements with leading startups, BBVA Spark’s trajectory in 2023 has been characterised by its energy.

From zero to 100: Spark expansion

BBVA Spark currently has close to 100 employees and more than 800 customers spread across four countries: Spain, Mexico, Colombia and Argentina. After launching simultaneously in the former two in 2022, BBVA Spark has continued its growth throughout this year in the main Latin American markets with two new launches in Buenos Aires and Bogota.

The arrival of BBVA Spark in Colombia was announced in March 2023, with the aim of being a financial ally to the most innovative companies in the country. “In 2022, Colombia received investment of more than $1.2 billion, and it has around 1,300 startups,” says Eduardo González, country manager of BBVA Spark in Colombia and Argentina. “It’s a country that stands out tremendously for the number fintech and proptech ventures.” BBVA Spark, he adds, has detected and taken advantage of “the great synergy between Colombia and Mexico.”

In September, BBVA Spark also arrived in Argentina, a key entrepreneurial ecosystem in the region. “Argentina is coming on strong,” says Daniel Gatti,  BBVA Spark’s coordinator in the country. “In 2022 it received $300 million in investment for more than 70 startups, and 13% of the unicorns that have emerged in the region belong to us.” Local entrepreneurs see BBVA Spark as “a bank that really understands their business model and is willing to accompany them in their growth,” he explains, as well as an ally for the internationalisation of their company “that supports them in other countries and makes it easier for them to take off.”

Financial ally of future-defining entrepreneurs

Since its foundation, BBVA Spark’s main objective has been to become a key partner for fast-growing technology companies with differentiated propositions. This drive is evidenced by the 250 million euros of funding committed by the division to innovative technology-based companies in the different geographical areas in which it operates, and which saw a strong boost in 2023.

Among the most important agreements reached by BBVA Spark in the last year are those signed with:

• Tuhabi. The Mexican subsidiary of Colombian proptech unicorn Habi received €20 million in debt financing from BBVA Spark in January to strengthen its solution for buying and selling used homes through digital channels.
• Payflow. The Spanish fintech, which has offices in Portugal, Colombia and Peru, closed an agreement with BBVA Spark in September for up to €20 million in financing to boost the international expansion of its flexible remuneration solution.
• Paack. The logistics startup raised 15 million in debt from BBVA Spark as part of its latest round of financing, which will be used to strengthen its position in the European e-commerce delivery market and invest in product innovation.
• Mundimoto. In October, this e-commerce platform for vehicles reached a 6 million euro financing agreement with BBVA Spark, with which it will boost its position in Europe as a leader in online motorbike sales.
• Twinco. This fintech, focused on sustainable supply chain finance, also closed a €50 million debt round with BBVA Spark in October to accelerate its growth.
• Creze. The Mexican fintech obtained a credit line of up to 100 million pesos (about 5.3 million euros) from BBVA Spark, with which it will strengthen its SME lending solution.

In addition, BBVA has to date committed more than 600 million euros in financing for venture capital funds, with a special focus on decarbonisation and energy transition. Of the 600 million fund investment, 100 million has been committed to funds specialised in investing in fast-growing companies such as Swanlaab, Bonsai, Leadwind, Life Extension Ventures, ALLVP, Cometa, DILA or NAZCA.

At the forefront of the ecosystem

2023 has also been a year of events for BBVA Spark, during which it has participated in some of the most important occasions of the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Spain and Latin America, such as South Summit 2023 in Madrid and the 4YFN in Barcelona. The bank has also organised its own meetings, both in its physical Spark Space in Mexico and online (with Open Talks on the internationalisation of companies, debt and Innovation Masterclasses on topics such as artificial intelligence).

Moreover, the flagship of BBVA Spark events, BBVA Open Summit took place this year in Barcelona. The event brought together more than 600 attendees to analyse the challenges, opportunities and state of the Spanish entrepreneurial ecosystem with 11 expert panels and numerous networking opportunities.

A differential value proposition

The added value that BBVA Spark brings to its customers lies in its professional team which focuses on gaining in-depth knowledge of the innovative business sector, in its proprietary financing model and in a portfolio of products and services that is continually evolving and adapted to customers’ needs.

“Our strategy is not to provide opportunistic loans, but to accompany our customers on a day-to-day basis with a specialised team that provides support from their initial issues, such as opening an account or collection and payment solutions, to more complex issues such as working capital financing, cross-border solutions or structuring a debt operation in a financing round,” says Alberto Hernández, growth specialist at BBVA Spark.

What does 2024 hold for the division? “The last year and a half was about proving that there was profitable business here, and that our value proposition was interesting enough to generate revenue,” explains Agustina Ramírez, head of Strategy, Product and Marketing at BBVA Spark. “For the next year, we need to continue to deepen our relationship with our existing customers and generate new partnerships with companies that are not yet part of the BBVA Spark community.”