Splio Relocates Co-CEO to Barcelona, Signals Southern Europe Push
Splio relocates co-CEO to Barcelona as Spain and Portugal emerge as fast-growing AI adoption markets. The move signals a regional strategy shift for the CRM vendor.
When a company's co-CEO physically packs up and moves to a regional office, it sends a signal that a press release alone never could. That's exactly what Splio just did. The French customer relationship management (CRM) software company has relocated co-CEO Antoine Parizot to its historic Barcelona office as part of a formal push to deepen its presence across Spain, Portugal, and Italy.
It's not a symbolic gesture. Splio has operated in Southern Europe for over 12 years and already works with around 100 local clients, including retailers Conforama, QVC, and Piazza Italia. Now the company is betting this market is ready for something bigger.
At the same time, COO Donald Pontabry, who has lived in Spain for over eight years, is taking on official responsibility for the region in addition to his existing role. That gives Splio two senior leaders embedded locally, which is unusual for a company of its size.
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Why Southern Europe, Why Now
The timing is tied to a larger shift in how Spanish and Portuguese businesses are adopting AI. Spain is the fastest-accelerating major economy in Europe for AI adoption: the share of Spanish firms with 10 or more employees using AI jumped from 8% to 21% between 2021 and 2025. That nine-percentage-point jump in a single year outpaced Germany, France, and Italy. Spain and Portugal both now report AI usage rates above 40%, placing them among the most advanced adopters in Southern Europe.
Barcelona amplifies the logic. The city is Southern Europe's largest startup hub, home to over 2,200 startups that have raised more than US$2.5 billion collectively. It hosts 203 international tech hubs employing 46,080 professionals, a figure growing 10% year-on-year. The Barcelona Supercomputing Center is undergoing a 129 million euro upgrade focused on AI computing capacity.
The AI Product Behind the Move
Splio launched its AI-first CRM platform earlier in 2026, powered by Tinyclues AI. The key feature is a product called Ask My CRM, which works like an in-house data analyst. Marketing teams can type plain-language questions, and it surfaces performance problems, identifies campaign opportunities, and suggests action plans directly from customer data.
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The tool targets marketing teams that lack technical staff to extract value from complex data. Around 20% of Spanish firms cite incompatible systems and skill gaps as main barriers to AI adoption. Ask My CRM is designed to lower exactly those barriers. Splio has set an internal goal of generating 50% of its total revenue from AI capabilities by 2027, up from 30% today. The Southern Europe expansion is the commercial vehicle for reaching it.
A Broader Pattern in Martech
Splio is not alone in this move. Appier, a Japan-based AI firm, recently placed its global sales head in Paris to oversee EMEA and Southeast Asia. Captiv8 put a Head of European Operations in London to expand across seven countries. The pattern is consistent: a senior relocation to a hub city signals commitment, builds local trust, and accelerates sales.
"Southern Europe is a dynamic market, where AI usage is evolving quickly and where Barcelona is a true center of gravity," said Antoine Parizot, co-CEO of Splio. Donald Pontabry added: "Our role is to provide companies with a CRM capable of connecting AI-driven and real-world activities with fluidity and consistency."
With a 30-person regional team already in place and partners including Jakala, CSengine, and CleverStrategy, the infrastructure is there. The co-CEO relocation is the signal that Southern Europe is now a primary front.
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