Cristian de Santos and Ignasi Aliguer are two geotechnical engineers who met in the first year of their studies at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC). Upon completion of their studies, they began doing research in the university's Department of Ground Engineering, while also working as consultants on large engineering projects. As a result of their experience and research, the engineers developed a solution to address the problem of terrain uncertainty in the construction industry, one of the sectors with the lowest digitization rate worldwide. De Santos and Aliguer's desire to undertake did the rest.
In 2016, the entrepreneurs founded SAALG Geomechanics, a startup unrelated to the UPC because part of the research carried out was financed by private companies. "At the beginning we dedicated ourselves to showing the technology to companies to see if they were interested," recalls De Santos. There was interest, and not just nationally, but all over the world.
In mid-2018, the co-founders launched the Daarwin software, a platform based on machine learning algorithms that allows combining numerical models with data from geotechnical instrumentation to predict the actual behavior of the ground throughout the execution cycle of a project. “The solution represents a significant increase in security and efficiency in the use of resources”, says Aliguer.
SAALG Geomechanics had the initial support of private investors such as Xavier Capellades (Nomo), companies such as the multinational Mott MacDonald or the construction company Cemex, and became one of the first startups to participate in the Mobile World technology transfer program The Collider. Capital Barcelona. Currently, the start-up company has just closed an investment round of 3.65 million euros led by the EIC Accelerator program of the European Commission, Acciona and the Creand Crèdit Andorrà bank. With this new injection, SAALG Geomechanics leverages a capital of more than 5 million euros.
With headquarters in Barcelona and a staff of about twenty people, the startup works in more than 20 countries. The United Kingdom, where they are working on the high-speed train line that has to connect London with Birmingham, is today one of its most important markets. The founding partners explain that each year they have managed to double their turnover, which will lead them to reach a turnover of close to half a million euros this year.
