Humara, a Spain-based real-time simulation platform for designing and validating waste management and recycling plants, has raised €1.2M ($1.4M) in seed funding led by Impact Shakers. The platform accelerates plant design from months to days using physics-based AI SaaS. The capital will fuel expansion across Europe and Latin America.
AI Cleantech Funding Heats Up
The raise arrives amid rising investment in AI for recycling infrastructure: Sortera raised $45M in November 2025 for AI-powered aluminum recovery. Humara targets waste treatment operators like Veolia and PreZero with tools replacing Excel-based engineering. Customers have designed 250 plants using the platform last year, freeing 162,086 engineering hours.
Excel Engineering Slows Recycling Push
Most waste plants today rely on spreadsheets for design, taking four months per project according to early users. This delays infrastructure needed for EU circular economy targets. Operators face high CapEx and engineering costs, with traditional methods yielding suboptimal layouts and mass balances.
Real-Time Design Cuts Months to Days
Humara Design enables instant plant layouts, equipment sizing, 3D modeling, and economic analysis with custom databases. It delivers 80% faster design, up to 70% engineering cost cuts, and 15% CapEx savings per case studies. Humara Operate adds an AI copilot integrating SCADA data for predictive optimization.
As Laura Rodríguez Álvarez, CEO, noted:
"Every plant we help design today will operate for the next 25 years — and most of them are still being engineered in Excel."
Investors Back Waste Digitization
Impact Shakers led the round, joined by Inclimo Climate Tech Fund, Zubi Capital, Ship2B Ventures, and angels. The backers signal conviction in digital twins for long-lived infrastructure. Yonca Braeckman of Impact Shakers highlighted the team's three decades of plant expertise.
Waste Software Market Scales Rapidly
The waste management software market stands at $11.97B in 2026, projected to reach $19.57B by 2034 at 7-9% CAGR per EIN Presswire. Europe's broader waste sector measures $366.83B this year, growing to $473.93B by 2031 via Mordor Intelligence. EU directives mandate higher recovery rates, spurring plant builds.
Founders Built Real Plants
CEO Laura Rodríguez Álvarez and COO Martin Nogueira Salgueiro bring hands-on experience designing and operating large-scale waste facilities. Their engineering background ensures the platform's physics-based accuracy. The 13-person team serves majors like FCC and Ecoembes.
EU and LatAm Expansion Accelerates
Funds support sales and customer success hires, plus projects like the AI pilot with EGF in Portugal. Humara eyes Italy's infrastructure gaps after publishing a market report there. Live demos at IFAT Munich 2026 will showcase capabilities to integrators.