Masia closed its first fund at €18m, backed by more than 70 individual LPs, mostly successful founders, senior tech leaders and well-known investors.
Carlos Trenchs Sainz de la Maza says six to eight funds scout Barcelona every week, arguing that money in the city is no longer local.
Masia plans a second fund of about €25m and no more, so it can write €200,000 to €250,000 cheques without competing in competitive rounds.
Masia's €18m fund bets Barcelona becomes Europe's next startup hub
Masia is a small Barcelona angel fund built to be the local entry point for global venture money. Funds from abroad already scout the city every week, so a local fund with proprietary access and small cheques can co-invest beside them without fighting for allocation. Keeping the fund small and selling stakes early is meant to return capital to LPs sooner.
Takeaways
Masia closed a small €18m Barcelona pre-seed fund. Masia is a pre-seed and angel fund backed by more than 70 individual LPs, mostly founders, senior tech leaders and known investors. Its purpose is to connect Barcelona with the world by investing alongside global funds that scout the city.
Barcelona could grow five to seven times. Carlos bets that capital invested and company count in Barcelona rise five to seven times in five or six years. He points to about 200 founders with prior exits, international talent drawn by quality of life, and the Barcelona Supercomputing Centre.
Global money now scouts Barcelona weekly. Money is no longer local, so European and global funds invest almost everywhere. Six to eight funds scout Barcelona every week, and more than 60 international VCs have already co-invested with Masia, which gives it a co-investment edge.
Fund size is capped to protect strategy. The second fund grows from €18m to about €25m and no more. That size supports cheques of €200,000 to €250,000 that fit inside rounds such as a €3m seed, so Masia avoids competing in contested deals.
Angel-style ownership aims to return capital early. Masia usually takes about 1% ownership and may sell part of its stakes through secondaries in Series A plus or Series B rounds. Carlos argues this returns capital to LPs (DPI) earlier than traditional funds do.
Masia House turns trust into physical infrastructure. Carlos calls venture a people business built on trust. Early breakfasts and meetups showed the value of one table, so Masia opened a central Barcelona house offering international funds a residency with an office and a private bedroom.
Aldea's manager mapping shaped the model. Carlos co-founded the fund-of-funds Aldea Ventures and mapped about 400 European emerging managers. Winners have proprietary deal flow and are specialists or distinctive. Masia is a generalist aiming to be the best investor in South Europe and Brazil.
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