Having spent many years as second fiddle to Barcelona, Madrid surpassed its Catalan cousin in 2023 with startups securing 605 million ( 672 million) investment above Barcelona's 457 million ( 507 million). "Lots of Latin American talent is arriving thanks to the recent entrepreneur visa and talent programs run by Telefonica to bring promising startup founders from Mexico, Argentina, Columbia and Venezuela," explains Bu Haces, innovation consultant at Madrid's Impact Hub. The city has seen solid growth in transportation, mobility and fintech startups during the last three years with AI and deep tech supercharged by an astonishing 56 universities. "The business schools in particular are providing lots of startup networking opportunities, and are keen on developing an entrepreneurial ecosystem," says Miguel Arias, general partner at VC K Fund. With Meta, IBM, Google and Amazon all expanding in the city, the main worry is lack of housing stock for the flood of students, engineers and entrepreneurs.

The face of a 10,000 year old African caveman has been revealed for the first time, reigniting the debate over whether the first ancient people to set foot on American soil were African or Asian. Digital imaging by Brazilian graphic designer, Cicero Moraes - who is not of African decent himself - shows the features of a 40 to 50-year-old prehistoric African man whose face resembles Australian Aborigines. The reconstruction, nicknamed Apiuna, was based on a skull discovered deep inside a cave during an archaeological dig in Lagoa Santa, south east Brazil, some 50 years ago. The discovery of the African's face controversially challenges the belief that the American continents' first pioneers were Asian. Instead, it suggests that Apiuna was part of the first wave of people in America who were Africans with Austro-Melanesian characteristics.