Space and information technology specialist Monica Martinez Walter does not appear in gossip magazines like Queen Letizia of Spain. However, with a PhD in physics and heading the GMV, she could be the perfect influence on young Spanish women. But because she avoids the spotlight, she remains unknown to the average Spaniard, who doesn’t know her or her company, despite the fact that it has more than 3,000 employees and is desperately looking for female engineers, according to Deutsche Welle. While her IPO is likely to be successful, she doesn’t want to lose control. This tactic is adopted by other family or start-up businesses in Spain. “Many entrepreneurs are intimidated by the transparency required by the stock market, and Spaniards traditionally prefer to invest in real estate rather than stocks. It’s like a cat biting its own tail,” explains Juan Carlos Higueras of the EAE School of Business Administration in Madrid. However, the crises of previous years also played a major role, causing the rise of shares that were considered safe investments, as well as the collapse of the registered credit institution Bankia in 2011. The dissolution of the Bankia even caused huge losses for the retired savings.

Iguera believes that the main problem in Spain is that money, unlike countries like the US, does not circulate fast enough due to low risk appetite.

Despite his fondness for the US, GMV chief Martinez Walter prefers to focus on his scientific accomplishments rather than the company’s stock prices and reputation. However, her personal story could be the plot of a Hollywood movie: in 1980, her father, an aeronautical engineer, founded a task force called the Flight Mechanics Group (Grupo Mecanica del Vuelo). In 1984 he founded GMV in the garage of his home in Madrid. The company previously worked with the European Space Agency and now has branches around the world. When her father died suddenly in 2001, the then 30-year-old scientist was asked to lead an innovative company that already had 400 employees, a huge responsibility, according to DW.

IPOs on the Spanish stock market are very important, according to Rodrigo Buenaventura, president of the CNMV Madrid Stock Exchange Regulatory Authority, in order not to make the country financially dependent on banks and powerful investor groups. When Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez took office in 2018, he wanted to turn the country into a “startup state.” Last year, GDP grew by more than 5%, but his ambitious plans fell victim to the global economic situation and an outdated financial culture.