On October 17th, La Lonja de la Innovación hosted its Demo Day & Meet the Investors, our annual flagship event that represents a great networking opportunity characterized by a collaborative and joint growth atmosphere.
As in previous editions, the event was a success of attendance. Many entrepreneurs, corporate representatives and investors came to our facilities to discover firsthand the projects and solutions of the different participating startups and companies: Go Planner, Kimün Tech, Block-Auth, Nexterra Agrotech, Portagma, EONsea, BIO ABSOIL Solutions, MOIRAI, BLUEMATT and Trustport.
The day began with the welcome speech of La Lonja de la Innovación’s director, Rocío Díaz Pereira, who thanked all the attendees, stating that “their presence is key for the event success” and she highlighted that the startups of La Lonja were going “to have the opportunity present their projects to potential clients and investors”, showing the effort made by the initiative to give visibility to the startups joining La Lonja de la Innovación. Our director ended her speech by emphasizing that with the Demo Day they wish “to take a step forward in boosting the business growth in the region and the capacity that Huelva has to generate innovative solutions”.
After her speech, Rocío presented Alberto Santana, president of the Puerto de Huelva, who highlighted the work being done at La Lonja de la Innovación and emphasized its importance by reminding that it is the “first FIWARE port node in the world”. In addition, he also took the opportunity to underline the position of the Puerto de Huelva, which is “a benchmark in the international landscape, ranking among the top port authorities in Spain”, and added a brief explanation of the plans in place to continue its development: “We are investing a lot to growth. We are oriented toward that crucial energy transition for mobility in the world and in Europe. Several clean fuel plants will be established in Huelva”.
It was Juan Marcelo, FIWARE iHubs director in Telefónica, who ended the welcome speech with his remarks, sharing how the Autoridad Portuaria de Huelva wanted to know “what was happening in the world of the ports to be able to act and improve their processes, incorporating new functionalities and see how technology could help them to be a better and more attractive port, in this highly competitive world we operate in”. To achieve this, he added that “attracting talent, companies and people who view Huelva as a benchmark to develop their products and services” was essential. This is how La Lonja de la Innovación launched, which, as Juan Marcelo reminded, in just two years has gained recognition and it is in the most interesting fairs and events in the country.
Once the welcome was ended, the Demo Day began. Each participating startup had its own stand where they could show their solutions. In addition, they gave a 10 minute pitch to an audience that included numerous investors of different entities. The startups that could made themselves known in the Demo Day Were:
- Portagma, Chris Wright presented the solution made by Portagma for automatizing and sharing information within the port community. Chris explained that the main activity of Portagma is to improve scale operations, a process with many stakeholders involved, whose traditional management often leads to errors. This startup tries to eliminate these errors through a platform that enables a streamlined flow of information from a single point.
- MOIRAI, his co-founder and CEO, Diego Vazquez presented this startup that designs IoT solutions. Diego explained that the maritime sector presents challenges such as the lack of continuous water quality monitoring, slow response to pollution incidents or the lack of effective tools for operational safety management. To end this, they have developed an IoT-based integrated platform for efficient port management, enabling continuous monitoring, data visualization, and proactive intervention.
- BLUEMATT is a startup that offers maritime and hydraulic engineering services, conducting underwater work, environmental and structural inspections, as well as professional diving. Its CEO Carlos Acosta began talking about a problem of the industry, biofouling, which, when encrusted on ships, increases fuel consumption. Moreover, if this biofouling falls to the ocean floor, it introduces invasive species, damaging biodiversity. After showing this problem, he presented his project Subma as a “roomba for cleaning ship hulls” that bets for collecting this residue to prevent environmental impact.
- Block-Auth, his CEO Josué López described a problem he had frequently encountered: his credentials being leaked despite using secure passwords. And as a loyal follower of Blockchain technology, he had the idea of creating Block-Auth to provide a single online identity solution. Block-Auth allows encrypted and immutable data management, enabling the management, verification, denial, and authorization of user access to websites or apps, reducing fraud and regulatory compliance issues.
- Kimün Tech, his CEO Cristian Arroyo presented their project which has developed a high-tech solution to optimize repetitive tasks with significant impact for companies. Their main offerings include a private virtual assistant, AI-based visual analysis focused on sports performance optimization and object tracking, and a project-as-a-service model to turn complex projects into SaaS offerings.
- Nexterra Agrotech, his CEO, Álvaro Brenes, explained what chitosan was, which is for Nexterra the raw material of the sustainable future. After that he showed how their solutions are based on chitosan and that with it they aim to eliminate plastic pollution, agricultural waste and heavy metals.
- Go!Planner, Roberto Rodiel, CEO of Satinel System, explained that the project Go!Planner was born after detecting the essential need for transport sector companies to automate processes and improve their administrative resources and real-time management of the traffic. By this way, they have developed a comprehensive platform integrating CRM, ERP and TMS.
- EONsea, David Pinto, CEO of EONSea, explained a common problem faced by ships worldwide: many issues go undetected under water. After this, he pointed out that the two current solutions to solve it are through divers, which is risky, or in dry docks, which is very costly. Faced with this situation, EONSea proposes an alternative solution through the use of ROVs and artificial intelligence, which reduces time, costs and human risks.
- BIO ABSOIL Solutions its Director of business development and sales, Santiago Miranda, was the person in charge of presenting this company that was born to help solving pollution problems with 100% natural and renewable products.
- Trustport, Lucas Gozalvez, Trustport investment partner explained how this startup was born after one of their partners lost €100,000 in a seafood shipment. This highlighted the lack of end-to-end traceability in shipments, leading to the development of a technology that automates the tracking and traceability of goods throughout the entire supply chain.
These project presentations were a key opportunity for attendees to discover innovations and new business opportunities. Spaces were also provided for one-on-one meetings between startups and investors, allowing them to explore potential synergies and collaborations.
If you missed La Lonja de la Innovación’s Demo Day & Meet the Investors, you can watch the entire event on our YouTube channel, where it was streamed live.