Endeavor holds its first Madrid gala, showcasing Spanish start-ups to 800 guests

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Endeavor, the network for high-impact entrepreneurs that started in Argentina in 1997 and has worked in Spain for over a decade, held its first 'Endeavor Experience' this week at Madrid's Teatro Real. About 800 people came, including José María Álvarez-Pallete, now chair of the GSMA; César Cernuda, NetApp's global president and an Endeavor vice-chair; and Madrid mayor José Luis Martínez-Almeida, who said the city draws 40% of the country's investment. An opera house is a fitting venue for start-up founders, who also tend to sing about rejection before the happy ending.

The network's Spanish portfolio counts 119 entrepreneurs across 77 companies. Endeavor says they produced more than 6,000 million euros in revenue and around 50,000 direct jobs in 2025. Worldwide it backs over 3,000 entrepreneurs in more than 50 markets, with over 100 unicorns. Open Cosmos, the satellite company led by Rafel Jordá, Jordi Barrera and Aleix Megías, was held up as an example after closing a 300 million round, as was HappyRobot, the three-year-old conversational AI firm said to be at unicorn-level figures.

Andrés Tallos, Endeavor Spain's managing director, listed scaling, building a management team and international expansion as the remaining hurdles. He thinks founders should not settle for raising 15 or 20 million. On ambition, he was direct: "Somos referentes internacionales y ya miramos a regiones como Silicon Valley y China".