It was not in the initial plans of Víctor Cantón Ferrer and Eugeni Llagostera Saltor to dedicate themselves to agriculture, but it was to create their own company. Both attended an event for entrepreneurs organized by the Eywa Space startup factory in which they were selected to carry out a business project. “The idea was pivoting until we found out about vertical farms and hydroponic greenhouses,” explains Cantón. Now with a more specific objective, they created the Enkitek startup in July 2021 and, after a year, they signed Eric Mora Juan to complement the founding team due to his experience as a programmer and expert in team leadership.
Enkitek is dedicated to “providing technology to the hydroponic cultivation sector to digitize, connect and automate all processes so that they become a real solution that helps produce enough food for the existing world population in the year 2050,” says Cantón. “Our platform integrates the Internet of Things into the food production process, which allows day-to-day monitoring and improvement of processes to make them more efficient,” Llagostera specifies.
Enkitek’s solution is being tested by six clients who are also partners of the startup. Thanks to these clients, the entrepreneurs expect to end the year with a turnover of 92,000 euros. With the aim of accelerating the development of technology and investing in marketing and sales, the startup has requested an Enisa loan of 150,000 euros and seeks to attract another 150,000 euros from private investors. To do so, they have the help of the business incubator of the Consorci de la Zona Franca de Barcelona and, in September, they will enter the La Salle Technova entrepreneurship park. The final goal is “to become the reference software in the market”, in the words of Mora.
