Every plant designed today will operate for 25 years, yet almost all are still built on spreadsheets.
En los márgenes de la economía circular, donde el residuo se convierte en recurso, una empresa gallega llamada Humara ha cerrado una ronda de financiación de 1,2 millones de euros para transformar la forma en que se diseñan y operan las plantas de tratamiento de residuos. Fundada en 2021, la compañía reemplaza décadas de cálculos manuales y hojas de cálculo con simulación basada en física e inteligencia artificial, comprimiendo ciclos de diseño de cuatro meses a apenas unos días. Es un recordatorio de que las infraestructuras más silenciosas —aquellas que procesan lo que desechamos— son también las que más necesitan ser repensadas.
- La ingeniería de plantas de residuos lleva décadas atrapada en hojas de cálculo y archivos CAD desconectados, herramientas que no han cambiado en treinta años mientras el mundo exige una economía circular más ágil.
- Humara ha diseñado ya más de 250 plantas en Europa y Latinoamérica, con clientes como Veolia y FCC que reportan reducciones de costes superiores al 70% y ciclos de proyecto radicalmente más cortos.
- La nueva financiación, liderada por Impact Shakers con la incorporación de Inclimo, apunta a expandir tanto los mercados geográficos como las tipologías de residuos que la plataforma puede simular.
- Humara Operate convierte los modelos estáticos de diseño en gemelos digitales en tiempo real, integrando datos SCADA y de clasificadores ópticos para reducir el rechazo a vertedero un 4% y mejorar la recuperación de materiales.
- El copiloto de IA agéntica Duplantis guía las decisiones de los operadores en planta en tiempo real, apuntando a un futuro en que las instalaciones de residuos operen con flexibilidad y resiliencia estructural.
Una empresa de software gallega fundada en 2021 acaba de cerrar una ronda semilla de 1,2 millones de euros para mejorar algo que casi nadie considera: el funcionamiento interno de las plantas de tratamiento de residuos. Humara ha construido una plataforma que sustituye las hojas de cálculo y los archivos CAD fragmentados que todavía gobiernan el diseño y la operación de instalaciones en Europa y Latinoamérica. La ronda fue liderada por Impact Shakers, con la incorporación del nuevo inversor Inclimo junto a los ya existentes Zubi Capital, Ship2B Ventures y un grupo de business angels.
Durante décadas, diseñar una planta de residuos ha requerido cerca de cuatro meses de cálculos manuales. El software de Humara simula 82 tipos distintos de materiales a través de equipos de separación reales, comprimiendo ese proceso a apenas unos días. Más de 250 plantas han sido diseñadas con su sistema, y clientes como Veolia, FCC o PreZero reportan reducciones de costes superiores al 70%. Laura Rodríguez Álvarez, cofundadora y CEO, señala que cada planta construida hoy operará durante los próximos 25 años, y que casi todas siguen basándose en métodos que no han evolucionado en generaciones.
Más allá del diseño, la compañía ha desarrollado Humara Operate, una capa de gestión operativa en tiempo real que transforma los modelos estáticos en gemelos digitales vivos, integrando señales SCADA y datos de clasificadores ópticos. Los primeros despliegues muestran una reducción del 4% en tasas de rechazo a vertedero, un 4% más de material recuperado y ahorros operativos de entre el 5 y el 7% por instalación. A esto se suma Duplantis, un copiloto de IA agéntica que conecta con los datos en tiempo real y orienta las decisiones de los operadores en planta.
Los 1,2 millones se destinarán a escalar Humara Design en nuevos mercados y flujos de residuos, desplegar Humara Operate y su copiloto, y reforzar los equipos comerciales y de producto en la UE y Latinoamérica. Yonca Braeckman, CEO de Impact Shakers, describe a Humara como una combinación infrecuente: décadas de experiencia real en planta combinadas con capacidad de ingeniería rigurosa. Para una empresa que trabaja en una industria que casi nadie mira, la ambición es, en silencio, enorme.
A software company in Galicia has just closed a €1.2 million seed round, and the money is going toward something most people never think about: making garbage plants work better. Humara, founded in 2021, builds a platform that replaces the spreadsheets and disconnected CAD files that still govern how waste treatment facilities are designed and run across Europe and Latin America. The funding round was led by Impact Shakers, with new investor Inclimo joining existing backers Zubi Capital, Ship2B Ventures, and a group of business angels.
For decades, waste plant engineering has moved at a crawl. A new facility takes roughly four months to design using manual calculations and Excel sheets—the same tools that powered the industry thirty years ago. Humara's software simulates 82 different waste material types as they move through actual separation equipment, compressing that four-month cycle into days. The platform works as a SaaS tool built on physics-based mathematics rather than guesswork. More than 250 plants across Europe and Latin America have now been designed using Humara's system. Clients include Veolia, FCC, PreZero, EGF, Ecoembes, and Bianna—companies that report cost reductions exceeding 70 percent and the ability to tackle complex projects with far greater speed and confidence.
Laura Rodríguez Álvarez, Humara's co-founder and CEO, frames the problem plainly: every plant designed today will operate for the next 25 years, yet almost all are still built on manual calculations and spreadsheets. That gap is what drives the company forward. The new capital will help close it faster—by expanding into new waste streams, entering new geographic markets, and adding a layer of real-time operational intelligence that plant workers have never had before.
That operational layer is called Humara Operate, and it represents the company's push beyond design into daily management. Built on the same simulation engine, Operate transforms static plant models into live digital twins by pulling in SCADA signals, optical sorter data, and operational KPIs. The system offers predictive insights and decision support to the teams working on the plant floor. Early deployments show a 4 percent reduction in landfill rejection rates, 4 percent more material recovered, and OpEx savings of 5 to 7 percent per facility. Together, Humara Design and Humara Operate close a loop—from concept to performance—on a single data infrastructure.
The company is also deploying an agentic AI copilot called Duplantis, which connects to live SCADA data and guides operator decisions in real time. This is where the investment becomes about more than efficiency. Rodríguez describes the future of waste management as plants that operate with total flexibility—resilient infrastructure that adapts to change rather than breaking under it. Yonca Braeckman, founder and CEO of Impact Shakers, sees Humara as a rare combination: three decades of on-the-ground plant experience layered with serious engineering capability and genuine customer focus. She argues that waste infrastructure is the unglamorous backbone of the circular economy, and the tools supporting it have been frozen in place for decades. Humara, she believes, will reset the operational standard for waste plants across Europe and beyond.
The €1.2 million will be split across four priorities: scaling Humara Design into new European and Latin American markets and new waste streams; deploying Humara Operate and its AI copilot; expanding the commercial team across the EU and Latin America; and strengthening the product teams behind both solutions. For a company working in an industry most people ignore, the ambition is quietly enormous.
Notable Quotes
Every plant designed today will operate for the next 25 years, yet almost all are still built on manual calculations and spreadsheets. That gap is what keeps us awake at night.— Laura Rodríguez Álvarez, Humara co-founder and CEO
Waste infrastructure is the unglamorous backbone of the circular economy, and the tools supporting it have been frozen in place for decades. Humara will reset the operational standard for waste plants across Europe and beyond.— Yonca Braeckman, founder and CEO of Impact Shakers
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why does it matter that waste plants are still designed in Excel? Isn't the engineering solid either way?
The engineering might be solid, but the process is glacial. Four months to design a facility that will run for 25 years. In that time, market conditions shift, regulations change, waste streams evolve. You're locked into a design that's already stale before it's built.
And Humara compresses that to days?
Days, yes. By simulating how 82 different waste materials actually move through real separation equipment. You can test dozens of scenarios, optimize for cost or recovery rate, iterate with confidence. It's the difference between building a prototype and building blind.
The operational layer—Humara Operate—that seems like a different product entirely.
It is and it isn't. Same simulation engine, but now it's live. It's pulling real data from the plant floor, showing operators what's actually happening versus what should happen. That 4 percent reduction in landfill rejection—that's not theoretical. That's money and material staying out of the dump.
What's the Duplantis copilot actually doing?
It's watching the plant in real time and telling the operator what to do next. Adjust this separator, change the flow rate there, watch for this material coming through. It's turning data into action at the moment it matters.
Who benefits most from this?
The plant operators themselves, first. They finally have decision support instead of guesswork. But also the companies running the plants—Veolia, FCC—they see 5 to 7 percent OpEx savings. And the circular economy as a whole. Better recovery means less waste to landfill, more material back in the loop.
Why hasn't someone done this before?
Because it requires both deep plant knowledge and serious engineering. You need to understand what actually happens on a plant floor, not just theorize about it. Humara's founders have that. Most software companies don't.