The EmprendeXXI 2025-2026 report, presented at the Zaragoza Startup Fest, reveals that 25% of the analysed startups use artificial intelligence, up from 15% in the previous edition. AI startups raised €72.7 million, a 59% increase.
Artificial intelligence has increased from 15% to 25% presence in Spanish startups in just one edition. This is noted in the report Premios EmprendeXXI 2025-2026: Signs of a New Entrepreneurial Generation in Spain and Portugal, prepared by CaixaBank DayOne and International Financial Analysts (AFI) and presented on October 1 at the Zaragoza Startup Fest, as reported by ecosistemastartup.com.
The study is based on 1,006 applications, a sample that represents nearly one-fifth of the startups identified in Spain and sets a historical record for participation in the programme, with 5% more than the previous edition.
The profile of the entrepreneur is also changing: 60% of the participating startups are less than two years old. The report detects a shift from general digitalisation towards frontier technologies, with artificial intelligence as the main driver.
AI-based startups raised €72.7 million in funding, almost on par with biotechnology firms (€73.3 million) and well above other categories. This figure represents a 59% increase compared to the previous edition, while most other technologies recorded declines.
“AI is now present in one in four startups in the sample, having jumped from 15% to 25% in just one edition”
The trend is not exclusive to Spain. According to the Tech.eu H1 2026 European Tech Ecosystem Report and the PitchBook Q2 2026 European Venture Report, artificial intelligence absorbed 60.3% of all European deal value in the first half of 2026, compared to 37.9% for the entire year of 2025.
The dominant business model is B2B, present in 77% of the participating startups, and large companies remain the main sales channel, present in 73% of cases. The share of individual customers has fallen from 55% to 47%, and purely B2C models are declining.
Internationalisation is no longer optional: 44% of startups are already selling outside their home market, and among those that export, foreign sales account for an average of 35% of revenue. The European Union is the main destination for 70% of internationalised startups, while the United States and Canada have increased by three points, now accounting for 16% of the total.
The most uncomfortable data from the report is the declared funding curve: from €606 million in 2023, to €468 million in 2024 and €345 million in 2025, a drop of 43% from the peak two years ago. The report explains this, in part, by the increasing weight of very early-stage companies, which accumulate fewer rounds and less debt. The average funding goes from just over €100,000 in startups under one year old to over a million in those aged three to four years.
This movement is part of a broader European trend. According to the Tech.eu H1 2026 European Tech Ecosystem Report, European startups raised €44.1 billion in the first half of 2026 (+27% year-on-year), but the number of deals fell to a six-year low, with only 1,740 transactions, and capital is concentrated in fewer hands. The mechanical consequence: European seed funding fell by 44% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2026, according to GoHub Ventures, and Series A now averages around $14 million, well above the $8-10 million of a few years ago.
The percentage of Spanish startups citing funding as their main challenge has risen from 68% to 76% in a year. The bottleneck is no longer creating companies: it is scaling them.
Although Madrid, Catalonia, Valencia, and Andalusia continue to concentrate the majority of applications, the report detects signs of decentralisation. Aragon, Navarre, and Andalusia are gaining weight in the sample, a movement that the authors attribute to the boost from local ecosystems and the lower operating costs outside the major hubs.
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