The Swedish software firm had done everything correctly. They had registered on the public procurement platform. They had attended the pre-tender briefing. They had submitted a technically superior proposal at a competitive price. When the contract was awarded to a local competitor whose bid was higher and whose technical score was lower, the Swedish team requested the evaluator's notes, cross-referenced the scoring, and concluded that the process had been manipulated. They w

Corteva Agriscience has announced the closure of its crop protection plant in Valle de Tamón, Carreño, Asturias, as part of a restructuring programme now projected to cost between $750 million and $815 million in aggregate pre-tax charges. The announcement was made on 12 June 2026. The Asturias site was not a peripheral facility. Corteva operated it as a phytosanitary active-ingredient production plant, a European and Global Services Centre of Excellence, and a water treatmen

Emmanuel Marill, OpenAI's General Manager for EMEA, has confirmed the company will open its first office in Spain, located in Madrid, in the second half of 2026. The hub will be staffed by locally hired talent across customer relations, technical, and public policy roles, with the precise location and recruitment timelines to follow in the coming months. OpenAI builds consumer and enterprise AI products on large language models, ChatGPT for end users, ChatGPT Enterprise and t

WeRide (NASDAQ: WRD) and Uber announced on 2 June 2026 that they will launch Spain's first commercial robotaxi pilot in the Region of Madrid, with passenger trials scheduled between summer and autumn and a full service set to open in December. The deployment is structured around three parties bound by existing capital ties. WeRide provides the WeRide One L4 autonomous driving software stack, licensing it to fleet operators rather than owning vehicles itself. Uber supplies the

Nelson Ribeiro, Head of Sales for Primark Portugal and Spain, has confirmed a €45 million investment to open four new stores and expand one existing location across Portugal, bringing the brand's national network to 18 stores by summer 2027. The first of the new openings will be at Alegro Setúbal. Further stores will follow at GaiaShopping in Vila Nova de Gaia and at Forum Castelo Branco. The fourth opening is the most significant: a flagship on Rua de Santa Catarina in Porto

Aquafuture Spain has opened commercial marketing and space reservations for its fourth edition, scheduled for 18 to 20 May 2027 at the Vigo Trade Fair Institute (IFEVI). The event is Spain's only dedicated aquaculture industry trade show and the second largest on the European calendar, covering the full value chain from marine and freshwater fish production to mollusc farming, feed, animal health, equipment, engineering, and emerging fields including algae cultivation. Its cl

Fitch Learning and HearstLab have acquired a majority stake in Founderz, the Barcelona-based AI business school co-founded by Anna Cejudo and Pau Garcia-Milà. Financial terms were not disclosed. Founderz sells certified AI training programmes to professionals and corporate teams, competing directly with LinkedIn Learning, Coursera, and Skillsoft in the corporate upskilling market. Where those platforms rely on static, slide-based content, Founderz combines real-time collabora

Spain's Dirección General de Tráfico has authorised 44 autonomous vehicles to begin passenger trials in Madrid, clearing the way for a commercial robotaxi service expected to launch in December 2026. The pilot is a joint operation by WeRide (NASDAQ: WRD) and Uber, executed in collaboration with the Madrid regional government. The service will be bookable through the Uber app. Vehicles will initially operate in controlled areas along pre-defined routes, with a safety operator

Spanish Guardia Civil detained a senior manager of defunct crypto platform OmegaPro at a hotel in Tenerife on 4 June 2026, acting on an international arrest warrant issued by the FBI. The suspect, whose identity has not been publicly confirmed, was brought before a local judge and subsequently transferred to the National Court in Madrid, which will process the American extradition request. OmegaPro was incorporated in 2018, registered in the Caribbean, and headquartered in Du

Jordi Romero, Bernat Farrero, and Pau Ramon Revilla have closed a $150 million Series D for their Barcelona-based HR and business management platform Factorial, at a valuation of $2.5 billion. The round was announced on 3 June 2026. General Catalyst led the round, marking its first direct equity stake in Factorial. Atomico and Four Rivers also participated. Alongside the equity investment, General Catalyst is committing up to an additional $540 million through its Customer Va

Mingyang Smart Energy, the Chinese offshore wind turbine manufacturer whose planned £1.5 billion Scottish factory was blocked by the UK government on national security grounds, is in active discussions with the Spanish government over a potential European manufacturing base. The company produces large-scale offshore wind turbines, principally its MySE 18.X series, rated above 18 MW, alongside solar, storage, and hydrogen systems. It ranks as the fifth largest wind turbine man

Bison Bank launched EUB and USB on 6 May 2026, becoming the first bank domiciled in Portugal to issue MiCA-compliant electronic money tokens pegged one-to-one to the euro and the US dollar respectively. Each token in circulation is fully backed by the corresponding fiat currency held on Bison Bank's balance sheet. The Lisbon-headquartered institution holds a full Banco de Portugal credit institution authorisation and operates Portugal's only bank-owned Virtual Asset Service P

🇵🇹 Gabriel Marques dos Santos and Airton dos Santos Pedro, co-founders and co-CEOs of VendinGo, have announced a €1.8 million investment to acquire Portuguese roastery Caffier and build a dedicated coffee manufacturing and roasting division at the company's iPark base in Oliveira do Bairro, Aveiro. VendinGo supplies procurement, stock management, and logistics to vending machine operators across Portugal and Spain. It serves more than 800 active clients and is present in mo

🇵🇹 The Banco de Portugal is preparing to reduce the maximum debt-to-service-to-income (DSTI) ceiling on new home loans from 50% to 40%, a move that would cut off a cohort of borrowers who entered the market precisely because a state guarantee removed the deposit barrier without addressing income-serviceability risk. The measure is to be presented to banks the week of 19 May 2026, with implementation targeted for the start of summer 2026. It will apply to all new mortgage or

Spain's Commission on Economy, Trade and Digital Transformation voted on 29 April 2026 to direct the government to reform the legal framework enabling LaLiga's mass IP blocking regime, a cross-party initiative backed by PSOE, ERC, Sumar, Bildu, PNV, and Compromís that marks the first institutional challenge to a court order giving a private sports league unilateral, real-time control over Spanish internet routing. The blocking regime rests on a single judgment issued on 18 De

Navarre's Industry Minister Mikel Irujo signed an investment commitment with Chinese battery storage manufacturer Hithium in Beijing on 16 April, closing a two-year courtship that included seven visits by Chinese representatives to the region and four Navarrese delegations to China. The deal commits Hithium to build what would be Europe's first dedicated battery energy storage systems gigafactory in Navarre for approximately €400 million, creating 700 direct jobs in its first

Lionel Messi has acquired 100 percent ownership of UE Cornellà, a third-division Spanish football club based in Cornellà de Llobregat, near Barcelona. The eight-time Ballon d'Or winner and Inter Miami captain now holds full control over the club's management, finances, and strategic direction. UE Cornellà sit third in their group, five points behind leaders CE Manresa, with a playoff spot already secured and promotion to Spain's second tier in play. No purchase price or selle

Jordi Nebot Carda, founder and CEO of PaynoPain, has signed a definitive agreement to sell the Spanish fintech to Euronet Worldwide (NASDAQ: EEFT), the operator of one of the world's largest independent ATM networks. Deal terms were not disclosed. Closing is expected in Q3 2026, subject to regulatory approvals. What Euronet is buying is not just a payments company. PaynoPain holds a payment service provider licence authorised by the Bank of Spain, giving Euronet a regulatory

Frisby España SL will open dark kitchens in Madrid and Barcelona on 1 July 2026, selling fried chicken under a brand it won from the Colombian original in court. This is not a franchise. Frisby Spain operates as a completely independent entity from the Colombian chain founded by Alfredo Hoyos Mazuera and Liliana Restrepo, who built the brand into a national institution over five decades. In March 2026, a Spanish court confirmed Frisby Spain's exclusive right to the name and l

António Henriques, Chief Executive Officer of Bison Bank in Lisbon, described the absorption of his crypto subsidiary into the bank's main structure as a natural move driven by MiCA, and that framing reveals something precise about what the regulation actually does to market structure. MiCA does not simply create rules. It creates a cost floor that only certain kinds of firms can clear. In Spain, the Comisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores closed the Bank of Spain's legacy r