Spain’s SETT invests €10m in production start-ups

Spain’s state-owned finance company SETT (Spanish Society for Technological Transformation) is to invest more than €10m (£8.5m) to support the creation of two domestic production entities.

SETT is providing €3.9m to Madrid-based Impulse Studio, which is being formed by former Elamedia exec Roberto Butragueño and Filmika’s Andrés Sánchez.

Impulse plans to create between 15 to 20 internationally facing projects over the next five years, with the firm providing investment, production, infrastructure and distribution expertise.

SETT’s investment comes alongside private backing that takes the total investment in Impulse to €8m.

The Spanish government-backed finance unit has also made a €6.4m investment in Amuse Labs, a Canary Islands-based start-up specialising in children’s animation.

The prodco aims to retain ownership of the IP rather than just develop it, with ambitions to secure returns across commercial exploitation, including licensing and merchandising.

SETT has provided 48% of the capital for Amuse Labs, with private investors taking the total backing for the firm to €13.2m.

Impulse expects to create around 200 jobs per project once it starts filming, while Amuse’s creation will deliver 40 paid positoins and a further 150 indirect roles.

SETT manages public investment in strategic technology and digital industries, including the country’s audiovisual sector.

Both investments fall under the second phase of the Spain Audiovisual Hub, part of the country’s Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan and backed by the European Union’s Next Generation funds.

The injection comes less than a month after SETT revealed a €39.8m investment in Spanish divisions of Mexico’s Grupo Ítaca and UK-based Good Films.

The Spanish government is also investing almost €100m (£86m) into an investment company aimed at boosting the country’s audiovisual sector, as well as almost €13m (£11m) in local offshoots of two South African production companies.

The initiatives are led by the Ministry for Digital Transformation and Public Administration through the State Secretariat for Digitalisation and Artificial Intelligence (SEDIA).