Barkibu wins Esade Alumni & Banco Sabadell BStartup Award for Best Start-Up of 2025
Barkibu received the Esade Alumni & Banco Sabadell BStartup Award for the Best Start-Up of 2025 during Esade Alumni Start-Up Day. Founded by Pablo Pazos, this company has established itself as a European benchmark in pet health insurance thanks to its focus on technology and affordable veterinary care.
Operating in Spain, Germany, France, Italy, Portugal, Greece and Finland, Barkibu combines technological innovation with its mission of social impact. Its proprietary A.I. system enables most claims to be paid automatically in minutes, ensuring first-rate, large-scale customer service. The company expects to achieve almost €50m in turnover and to have more than 125,000 pets insured by the 2025 year end, and has the ambitious goal of increasing pet insurance in Europe (currently around 3%) to 100%.
Amongst the reasons for this award, the jury highlighted the company’s commitment to social impact, as demonstrated by the Barkibu Card, for example, which incorporates health, sustainability and solidarity, and also its ability to scale-up internationally. “Barkibu has established itself as one of the leading companies in the animal healthcare sector by combining technology, innovation and user experience. Since participating in Esade BAN in 2015, it has managed to grow internationally and position itself robustly in several European countries,” emphasized Fernando Zallo, director of the business angel network Esade BAN.
As Pablo Pazos, CEO and co-founder of Barkibu, said during the award ceremony, “This award is an acknowledgement of years of work obsessed with two things: technology and affordable pet healthcare. Our A.I. enables us to handle claims in minutes and take care of the pets of thousands of families in seven countries. Our goal is clearcut: we want every pet in Europe to have access to first-rate, affordable veterinary care.”
Carlos Ventura, general director of Banco Sabadell, highlighted the company’s international ambition and exponential growth, “Barkibu has transformed veterinary care by applying A.I. and data. It’s developed a robust, scalable business with significant growth in a fast-growing market.”
Previous winners of this award include companies such as Wuaki.tv, Visualnet, Wallapop, Red Points, Signaturit, Exoticca and Dogfy Diet.
Entrepreneurship and growth in the cosmetics industry
This year’s Esade Alumni Start-Up Day also highlighted the entrepreneurship and growth of the cosmetics industry. “Spain exports more cosmetics and perfumes than traditional products such as wine and footwear, and it’s a sector that will continue to grow in the coming years,” said Laurent Arens, director of BStartup10. The panel of judges included Claudia Mustera, founder of The Organic Republic, specialized in digital hair cosmetics; Estefanía Ferrer, CEO and founder of LICO Cosmetics, focused on cosmetic engineering sold entirely online; and David Hart, founder and CEO of Saigu Cosmetics, a makeup company that originated online and, since 2024, has expanded into high-street stores. The founders agreed on the importance of making forays into international markets, particularly Portugal and Italy, and the significance of R&D and digital marketing as key factors for growth and standing out in a highly competitive sector.
The Esade Alumni Start-Up Day began with an Esade Matins, sponsored by CriteriaCaixa, with the keynote speaker Avi Meir, co-founder and CEO of TravelPerk. He outlined the main growth factors of his global business travel management platform since its inception in 2015. The event ended with Luis Pareras, founder and managing partner of Invivo Partners, and his presentation “The zero-cost mind: how A.I. is changing venture capital.”