Barcelona City Council raised € 100 million in foreign investment in 2021

BarcelonaBarcelona City Council attracted foreign investments worth 100 million euros in 2021, five times more than in 2020. These investments, captured last year, generated 885 jobs, more than double the previous year. . Through the City Promotion Department and the Business Landing Service of Barcelona Activa, 130 projects were managed, of which thirteen came to fruition: eleven new ones and two reinvestments in projects already underway in the city. Among the most notable projects is PepsiCo’s global digital hub, the opening of a customer hub of Costa Cruceros for its international strategy of attracting and retaining customers and the creation of a Veriff product development and engineering center.

In terms of jobs, PepsiCo’s project will create 400 in the next two years, Costa Cruceros has already created 100 this past 2021 and Veriff’s will create 50 new ones. Of the thirteen new landed projects in the city, 54% come from outside the European Union. In relation to the origin, the investment is distributed among ten countries. The United States, the United Kingdom and Italy stand out, with two projects each; the rest of the projects captured come from Argentina, Belgium, Estonia, France, the Netherlands, Switzerland and China.

The technology sector, leader

Among the new projects are companies from the technology and communications sector, with 54% of the total (corporate digital transformation, software development, digital identity verification), and then those of creative and cultural production, with two projects. With a project each there are those of the sectors of the industry, services to the companies, logistics and services to the people.

Looking ahead to 2022, we are working on a portfolio of 62 projects, 65% of which come from outside the EU, with Argentina (15%) and the United Kingdom (13%) as the main emitting markets. By sectors of the living portfolio there is a large presence of investment projects related to information and communication technologies (29%) and business services (16%) and then a much more homogeneous distribution of sectors, in which the entry of new projects related to manufacturing and logistics stands out.

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