Setting up (and investing in) Startups in Spain: A Practical Guide

Sancho Guibert, Associate General Counsel, Citibank

More than a decade ago Spain was one of those countries in which starting a business was an experience which was very similar as undergoing a dental treatment during 2 or 3 months: painful, expensive, time consuming, risky and requires a great deal of bravery. In fact, the main advantage of setting up a business by foreign investors were the dentists themselves as, Spain is a well-known country for having (then and nowadays) excellent (and in most cases very cost-effective) engineers, lawyers, accountants, bankers and professionals in general. Fortunately, the odds started to change in 2013 with the approval of the first piece of legislation scoping entrepreneurs (I’ll also call them founders in this paper) and this evolution has reached a tipping point at the end of last year with the approval of a comprehensive law (Law 28/2022 also known as the Startups Law) that aims at fostering the Spanish startup landscape and leave behind the old school regulatory framework.