ICEX photograph.
strategy in the US market
The Spanish delegation, headed by Vice President Carlos Cuerpo and ICEX CEO Elisa Carbonell, is deploying an ambitious roadshow in the San Francisco Bay Area. The goal is to attract capital from major funds. venture capital Americans and showcase the potential of a national entrepreneurial ecosystem which already exceeds 131.000 billion euros in valuation.
In a global economic context where innovation dictates competitiveness, Spain has decided to accelerate its efforts in the world's technology hub. The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Business, through ICEX - Spanish Institute for Foreign Trade, is developing an intense institutional and business agenda in the San Francisco Bay Area between June 4 and 5.
The mission, led by the first vice president, Charles Body, and the CEO of ICEX, Elisa Carbonell, seeks to bolster the attraction of foreign direct investment and position the country as the main technological bridge between Europe, Latin America and the United States.
"Our goal is to strengthen Spain's image as a competitive destination for investment in high value-added sectors, especially in a context marked by the transformation of production models and the growing importance of..." Artificial Intelligence"," they point out from the Spanish institutional delegation deployed to California.
The muscle of the scaleups Spanish women facing big capital
One of the central pillars of this internationalization strategy has been the roadshow of technological entrepreneurship. The Government has supported a select group of scaleups and domestic venture capital funds — among which firms such as Multiverse Computing, Mundi Ventures, FOSSA Systems y Clikalia— to demonstrate the maturity of the Spanish technology sector. These companies operate in highly strategic niches such as quantum computing, the aerospace sector, the proptech and the Internet of Things (IoT).
During the conference, the delegation held high-level meetings with giants of the industry. venture capital worldwide, such as Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Mayfield Fund, Pear VC, M12 (Microsoft's investment fund) or Khosla VenturesThe figures support Spain's attractiveness to these investors: ecosystem of startups Spanish has experienced unprecedented acceleration, mobilizing more than €16.000 billion in investment since 2021 and reaching an added value that today exceeds €131.000 billion, with a special focus on deeptech and digital health.
Talent and networking in the age of AI
The agenda has also reserved a key space for national talent in the diaspora. Under the umbrella of the event “EStartup: Spain–San Francisco Bay Area Meeting”The community of Spanish managers and professionals based in Silicon Valley has gathered.
Elisa Carbonell was in charge of moderating the panel «Building bridges with Silicon Valley in the age of AI", a debate forum that has featured top-level voices such as Pilar Manchón (Google) Carolina García Rizo (Immuneering), Javier Palafox (HappyRobot.ai), Andrea Stephany (OncoSwab), Albert Orriols Puig (HP) and Carlos González de Villaumbrosia (Product School & Product Partners). During the session, the experts analyzed the dynamics of transatlantic collaboration and the critical role of the Spanish community in facilitating the knowledge transfer and the flow of business opportunities.
United States: priority investment partner
The mission will culminate on June 5th with a closed-door meeting. The Spanish delegation will share a working lunch with a dozen American technology companies that have already expressed strong interest in exploring opportunities in Spain. investment in Spain.
Macroeconomic data confirm the strength of this bilateral relationship. According to records from FDI MARKETSThe United States is the undisputed leader in promoting projects greenfield in Spain. Since 2003, US capital has driven 2.114 projects, injecting an investment volume exceeding 88.600 millones de euros and generating more than 214.000 jobs. The state of California alone has channeled 170 initiatives to our country between 2021 and spring 2026.
Today, the stock US investment exceeds €126.000 billion, with more than 4.600 companies established which support some 340.000 direct jobs. Far from stagnating, the flow of North American capital to Spain registered a spectacular increase in 2025. year-on-year growth exceeding 50%This increasingly diversified investor profile focuses on digital infrastructure, data centers, renewable energy and advanced logisticsconfirming that Spain has ceased to be a promise and has become a platform for real growth and high technological complexity for global capital.
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