Top 10 AI Startups to Watch in Spain in 2026
By Irene Holden
Last Updated: April 13th 2026

Too Long; Didn't Read
Multiverse Computing and Maisa AI are the standout AI startups to watch in Spain in 2026, with Multiverse's €189 million Series B funding cementing its role as a global quantum-AI pioneer, and Maisa's €27.5 million seed round driving its agentic automation platform across transatlantic markets. These companies highlight Spain's rapidly growing AI ecosystem, centered in hubs like Madrid and Barcelona, where startups are innovating in deep-tech, healthcare, and cybersecurity, positioning Spain as a key European player.
There is a moment, just before the glass lid is sealed, when a terrarium is complete. Every element is placed, the miniature landscape perfected - a snapshot of an entire, living ecosystem captured for observation. Compiling a list of the most promising AI startups in Spain feels eerily similar. We are taking the sprawling, interconnected forest of innovation growing from San Sebastián to Valencia and placing exceptional specimens under the glass for study.
This curation offers a clear view into Spain's dynamic ascent as a European "AI dark horse" in 2026. The ecosystem's strength is increasingly defined by a shift from general tools to specialized Agentic AI and Vertical AI solutions, automating complex processes in finance, healthcare, and cybersecurity. This innovation is fueled by a robust talent pipeline from institutions like the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM) and Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC).
According to LinkedIn's analysis of Spain's AI landscape, the country's multi-hub model is a key differentiator, preventing innovation from being siloed in a single city. Madrid leads in corporate AI and fintech, Barcelona excels in SaaS and life sciences, while cities like Bilbao and Valencia emerge as centers for industrial and creative tech. This list is not a definitive ranking but a curated entry point into that vibrant, growing forest.
Table of Contents
- The Terrarium of Spanish AI
- Multiverse Computing
- Maisa AI
- IDOVEN
- Zynap
- Biorce
- Murphy
- Bdeo
- Orbio
- Kabilio
- Vidext
- Beyond the Glass
- Frequently Asked Questions
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Multiverse Computing
Anchoring the Basque Country as a serious deep-tech hub, San Sebastián-based Multiverse Computing represents a fundamental leap in computational power. The startup is a global pioneer in quantum-AI convergence, solving complex optimization and simulation problems in finance, energy, and manufacturing that stump classical computers.
Its flagship Singularity platform allows enterprises to harness hybrid capabilities without needing in-house quantum expertise, applying quantum algorithms to machine learning for unprecedented speed in risk modeling and supply chain optimization. This deep-tech edge has attracted massive confidence, culminating in a record-breaking €189 million Series B round in 2025, led by investors like Columbus Venture Partners and the European Innovation Council, as reported by Tech Funding News.
With high adoption already among Global 2000 companies, the company is poised for hyper-growth. Its trajectory from serving corporate clients to leading strategic EU-backed projects could position it as a sovereign tech champion and a prime candidate for a future IPO, solidifying Spain's foothold on this cutting-edge frontier. As detailed in their own resources, they are among the new European promises in artificial intelligence.
Maisa AI
Exemplifying Spain's shift from AI as a tool to AI as an autonomous employee, Madrid-based Maisa AI is building the agentic workforce. Founded by David Villalón and Manuel Romero, the company provides a platform for creating personalized, corporate AI agents that automate complex business processes end-to-end.
Maisa's uniqueness lies in its focus on "agentic process automation," enhancing standard large language models with specialized reasoning layers. Its "Chain-of-Work" system ensures critical transparency and auditability for regulated industries. This vision secured a massive €27.5 million Seed round from top-tier investors Creandum and Forgepoint Capital, as noted in the funding announcement.
With a dual HQ in Madrid and San Francisco, Maisa executes a true transatlantic strategy. In 2026, it is aggressively hiring in AI R&D and engineering to scale across European and North American enterprise markets. As Forbes highlighted, it is a leading contender to become Spain's next major AI unicorn and a definitive leader in the "AI employee" category, showcasing Madrid's strength in corporate automation.
IDOVEN
Tackling one of healthcare's most critical challenges, Madrid's IDOVEN is pioneering AI-powered precision cardiology. The healthtech startup uses a cloud-based platform to analyze electrocardiogram (ECG) data in real-time, identifying subtle cardiac patterns invisible to the human eye for early disease detection.
Its technology enables preventative care on a massive scale, transforming the ECG from a static snapshot into a continuous diagnostic monitoring tool. This vision is supported by strong ties to Madrid’s medical universities and top-tier talent, benefiting from the city's robust AI talent pipeline. The startup has attracted significant Series A+ funding from elite VCs like Northzone and Insight Partners.
By late 2025, IDOVEN was already one of the top-funded AI companies in Spain, as tracked by Tracxn. In 2026, its progress hinges on securing broader regulatory approvals (CE Mark, FDA) and forming partnerships with national health services across Europe, standing as a prime example of Spanish excellence in the high-stakes, regulated medtech sector.
Zynap
In a landscape of reactive security alerts, Barcelona's Zynap is building an operational AI layer that flips the script. The cybersecurity startup unifies disparate security tools to enable proactive threat prevention through context-aware AI agents and low-code workflows.
Zynap's technology moves security teams from a defensive to an intelligence-driven posture, with agents that can autonomously investigate and respond to threats across the entire tech stack. This innovative approach to autonomous security operations (AutoSOAR) helped it close an €11.7 million funding round in early 2026, as reported by EU-Startups. Founded by experts in automated security ecosystems, the company is seeing rapid adoption by Managed Security Service Providers (MSSPs) and large enterprises.
In 2026, watch for its expansion beyond Southern Europe and its potential role in defining new standards for agentic cybersecurity. As cyber threats grow more sophisticated, Zynap's vision positions it as both a key player and a potential acquisition target for larger platform security companies, showcasing Barcelona's strength in developing cutting-edge SaaS and security solutions.
Biorce
Applying vertical AI to one of humanity's most complex endeavors, Barcelona's Biorce is accelerating pharmaceutical R&D. The startup's clinical AI assistant platform leverages a massive database of historical trial data to optimize protocol design, patient recruitment, and site selection, dramatically reducing development timelines and costs.
By turning clinical trial planning from an art into a data science, Biorce de-risks the drug development pipeline for pharma giants. This specialized vertical solution with immediate ROI attracted €8.5 million in funding from impact-focused investors like Norrsken VC, as covered by BeBeez International. The startup is frequently cited by investors tracking the Spanish ecosystem due to its clear value proposition in a high-stakes industry.
Having established itself in European markets, Biorce has announced plans for U.S. expansion in 2026. Its success is a key indicator of Barcelona’s strength in Life Sciences AI. Watch for strategic partnerships with major pharmaceutical companies and Contract Research Organizations (CROs), which could make it an attractive acquisition target for a larger health data platform.
Murphy
Disrupting a traditionally contentious industry, Madrid-based fintech Murphy deploys autonomous, multilingual AI agents for debt collection. These agents engage with debtors via SMS, email, WhatsApp, and phone calls with human-like empathy and persistence, replacing entire call centers to handle sensitive negotiations at scale.
The startup's effective blend of conversational AI and operational efficiency has made it a standout. It was frequently cited by top Spanish VCs as a startup to track in 2026, as noted in investor surveys. This confidence translated into a €13.8 million funding round to fuel its growth and challenge the traditional Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) model across Southern Europe.
In 2026, Murphy is expanding into new financial services verticals like customer service recovery and new geographic markets. Its technology is a prime example of the agentic AI solutions emerging from Madrid. Furthermore, its ability to successfully navigate strict GDPR and financial communications regulations in Europe serves as a formidable competitive moat, demonstrating how Spanish AI startups are building for the complex European market from day one.
Bdeo
Bringing computer vision directly to the point of need, Madrid's Bdeo provides visual intelligence for the insurance and transportation industries. Its platform allows customers or surveyors to use a smartphone to capture photos of damage, with AI instantly generating accurate repair estimates and automating the entire claims process.
This technology turns a traditionally slow, manual workflow into a matter of seconds, drastically improving customer experience and operational efficiency for insurers. Founded by Julio Pernía Aznar and Manuel Moreno, the company has demonstrated strong growth, reaching €7.6 million in earlier funding rounds and advancing to Series B stages, as tracked by platforms like Seedtable.
Bdeo has already secured partnerships with major global insurers like AXA and Zurich, facilitating its expansion across both European and Latin American markets. In 2026, its trajectory involves embedding its technology deeper into insurer workflows and expanding into adjacent use cases like property inspection for mortgages. Its Madrid base provides a strategic advantage, offering strong access to both the Iberian and LatAm markets.
Orbio
Redefining HR technology, Madrid's Orbio has moved beyond software tools to create an autonomous workforce management system. Its AI agents independently handle the entire employee lifecycle - from bias-free screening and interviewing to onboarding and sentiment analysis for retention.
Unlike simple filtering tools, Orbio's platform acts as an autonomous layer that removes human bias and administrative burden from people operations. This innovative approach to a universal business function generated strong market belief, evidenced by an impressive €7 million raised in its first year. The company is part of a wave of agentic AI solutions attracting investor attention in Spain's corporate hub.
With rapid adoption among Spanish enterprises, Orbio's 2026 roadmap involves scaling across Europe. Its deep integration with local labor laws and practices is a key competitive advantage, exemplifying how Madrid-based startups build solutions tailored for complex European markets. Watch for its evolution into a comprehensive "AI HR department" and its potential to set new standards for ethical, automated talent management within Madrid's leading corporate AI and fintech ecosystem.
Kabilio
Addressing a critical pain point for Spain's vast SME sector, Barcelona's Kabilio applies vertical AI to financial administration. The platform automates routine accounting, bookkeeping, and tax compliance tasks, specifically tailored to the complexities of Spanish and European regulations.
By focusing narrowly on the accounting vertical, Kabilio achieves deep domain expertise that reportedly boosts productivity for advisory firms by up to 50%. Its traction is validated by a €4 million funding round in December 2025, led by Visionaries Club and Picus Capital and backed by public entity ENISA, as reported by TSCFO.
Kabilio exemplifies Barcelona's strength in developing specialized, vertical SaaS solutions. The company is scaling across Spain and preparing for international expansion within the EU in 2026. Its success hinges on expertly navigating the fragmented but harmonizing European tax landscape, potentially making it the go-to financial automation layer for SMEs and an attractive target for larger fintech platforms, as highlighted in analyses of Spain's AI startup ecosystem.
Vidext
Democratizing professional video production from the creative tech hub of Bilbao, Vidext leverages generative AI to make high-quality content accessible. Its platform converts text scripts into professional videos featuring ultra-realistic AI avatars and voiceovers in over 40 languages, eliminating the need for cameras, studios, or extensive production crews.
Vidext taps into the booming demand for scalable video content for corporate training, marketing, and sales. It builds on the local talent pipeline from institutions like the Universidad de Deusto and the Basque region's strong industrial and creative ecosystem, positioning Bilbao as an emerging center for applied AI innovation.
Starting from a seed stage of approximately €500k, Vidext is an emerging but promising player in the synthetic media space. In 2026, watch for its adoption by corporate departments and educational institutions seeking efficient content creation. Its challenge and opportunity lie in navigating the evolving EU regulations on AI-generated content and deepfakes, potentially allowing it to establish itself as a leader in ethical synthetic media production from within Spain's diverse, multi-hub AI landscape.
Beyond the Glass
The glass of our terrarium offers a clear, if curated, view. These ten startups exemplify the core strengths of Spain's distributed AI ecosystem: deep technical frontiers in San Sebastián, agentic automation in Madrid, vertical SaaS in Barcelona, and industrial creativity in Bilbao. They represent a shift toward specialized, high-impact solutions that leverage world-class talent from institutions like UPM and UPC.
However, the true narrative of Spanish AI innovation exists outside this frame. It thrives in the thousands of other startups, the continuous talent flow from Spanish universities, and the growing confidence of international investors betting on this European "dark horse." As noted in ecosystem analyses, Spain's multi-hub model prevents innovation from being siloed, creating a resilient and interconnected network of excellence.
This list is not an endpoint, but an entry point. It is an invitation to look past the glass, question the criteria, and explore the vibrant, sprawling forest of Spanish AI innovation for yourself. The curated specimens highlighted here are merely gateways to understanding the dynamic and thriving ecosystem growing across the country in 2026.
Frequently Asked Questions
How did you select the top AI startups in Spain for 2026?
This list is curated based on factors like innovative technology, substantial funding, and growth potential in key verticals. For example, startups like Multiverse Computing were included for their €189 million Series B round and pioneering quantum-AI convergence.
What makes Spanish AI startups competitive in Europe?
They leverage Spain's access to EU markets, talent from universities like UPM and UPC, and focus on vertical solutions. Startups such as Maisa AI with its transatlantic strategy and IDOVEN in medtech showcase this advantage, often backed by significant funding like €27.5 million seed rounds.
Which Spanish cities have the strongest AI ecosystems?
Madrid and Barcelona are key hubs, with startups like Murphy and Biorce, while San Sebastián and Bilbo offer deep-tech niches like Multiverse Computing and Vidext. These cities benefit from proximity to major employers and growing investment, such as Zynap's €11.7 million funding in Barcelona.
How well-funded are these AI startups?
Funding varies from early-stage rounds like Vidext's €500k seed to large raises such as Multiverse's €189 million. Overall, the ecosystem has attracted over €200 million in recent years, with examples like Biorce's €8.5 million funding highlighting investor interest.
Are these startups hiring AI professionals in Spain?
Yes, many are expanding rapidly and actively hiring, particularly in Madrid and Barcelona where AI roles offer competitive salaries, often ranging from €40,000 to €70,000 annually. For instance, Maisa AI plans to aggressively hire in AI R&D, reflecting the growing job market in Spanish tech hubs.
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Irene Holden
Operations Manager
Former Microsoft Education and Learning Futures Group team member, Irene now oversees instructors at Nucamp while writing about everything tech - from careers to coding bootcamps.

